BREAK the HABIT

I watch Bill O'Reilly on FOX News most weekday nights. He is in my opinion, the best commentator on TV.  That is however akin to saying "He is the tallest of the 7 dwarves."  TV commentators are habit forming and if not a TOTAL waste of time, are close. It's not like my opinion will change America one way or the other about this or anything political.  I am not being socially irresponsible by turning off these news shows.  You can get all the news you need in about 15 minutes a day from any number of sources.  I can't recommend any specific one, just try not to believe everything you hear. They all have an agenda.   Last night, Mr. O'Reilly announced that he was going on Christmas hiatus and would not be back "On" until 2 January, 2014.  This means two things: I won't be able to watch his show for 2 weeks, and I won't have to watch his show for 2 weeks.  I appreciate the fact that I am somewhat accustomed to watching these shows. I am not a news "junkie" but my name is Islandoracle and I have a habit.

I plan to begin the 12 step program to break the O'Reilly habit over the holidays.  The fact that he is not being broadcast will make it easier.  Hopefully I will have kicked the habit by the time he returns. He would then have one fewer viewer.  There are plenty of more active things I can do during that hour rather than passively sitting on the sofa in a state of osmosis.  I am not planning anything dreadful like an hour on the treadmill, for example, but I am thinking that playing the piano or guitar would be pretty cool.  I know how and I just don't play much.  I think this will also help me practice the Serenity Prayer more meaningfully.

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And wisdom to know the difference










 

WE NEVER LEARN

I heard a very interesting discussion on TV last night concerning the Syria decision to "go in" or not go into a conflict of any kind with this country, SYRIA.  It seems that the President plans to choose one of these options but hopefully Congress (that's the Senate and House of Representative for you public schoolers) will be deeply involved.  Joe Biden, the current Vice President said in the past that if Bush, when he was President, went into a similar conflict without Congressional approval he, then Senator Joe Biden would push for impeachment.  So, it would be a good thing to get consensus not only in our own elected government but also at the U.N.  And also, not to be a bunch of Hypocrites in which you shoot your mouth off as a Senator threatening Impeachment, and then as Vice President you clam up when an identical situation arrises and your President acts without Congressional approval. Hypocrisy is not cool.  Hip Hop is not either.      

The point brought up by the two retired military officers whose careers were in "intelligence" is that it is impossible to pick sides in Syria.  The government is an amoral bunch lead by a man who has no problem using poison gas on his own people, including women and children, the most innocent of citizens (possibly believing that those kids will grow up to be the next generation of Jihadists since they are uneducated and hungry).  The rebels are, more of less, the same people who attacked us on 9-11, Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas, you know the folks who hate us and want us all to die a horrible death.  So these military men suggested that we not take sides at all and let the two sides kill one another.  They likened it to having Japan attack Germany in the 1940s and then we jump in one the side of one of them when it would be best to let them duke it out while we watch. For those of you educated in America's high schools in recent times, I am referring to World war 2.  It happened a very long time ago, way before the birth of Beyonce' and Miley Cyrus.  

VENTUNO Restaurant NANTUCKET Reviewed

We went once last year and were not impressed.  We went once this year, last night and this is my experience.  We started off with some red wine since the motif was Italian and the menu was laid out like a high-end Italian restaurant.  There were some wines by the glass but since there were 5 of us, we ordered a bottle.  It was a bottle of La Mailina Gertrude that they sold for $14 dollars a glass.  The waiter told us that the bottle price would be 5 times the individual glass price or  $70.  We agreed and when it was brought out, we tasted it, it was "fine" and he poured most of the bottle into our 5 glasses.  Since this is the 21st Century and we are all iPhone users at the table, we searched for the retail price of the wine by scanning the barcode on the back...an easy thing if you have the APP.  It was $11 a bottle.  It must have been considerably less wholesale, the price the restaurant paid for this $70 bottle of wine.  It could have been $7 which would make the MARK UP 10 X ( Ten Times) the wholesale cost.  Not a good start value-wise.

We ordered salads which were typical restaurant salads at typical Nantucket (New York-ish) prices.  They were tasty.  Everyone got a different main course.  They were all rated as delicious by the individual diners at our table including mine except I did not actually see any eggplant.  Not the best ever eaten but tasty.  My choice was a macaroni with eggplant, cheese, and something else.  The picture above was what I got for $34.  Essentially the same entre' at my favorite local restaurant in Sarasota Florida would have been $7 and it would have included a salad and a soft drink with unlimited refills.  We chose to be in Nantucket and at this restaurant and know the prices up here are steep. We can afford to pay the prices and I am not complaining about the quality of the food.  The owner and chef have a perfect right to price their meals any way they wish.  Cuisine is like art.

The dessert was yummy.  A Ricotta cake individually cooked in an iron skillet in the oven.  Retrospectively I should have had a couple of them for dinner.

Overall I give the restaurant a 6/10 on service, 8/10 on ambiance, 8/10 on food deliciousness, and a "typical" on price, except for the wine.  Based on more than one of us doing a quick check on the bottle we ordered using different scanning APPs,  if one could buy a bottle of TWO BUCK CHUCK from Trader Joe's at VENTUNO, it would cost $21 there.  I don't know what they call that where you come from but in my other island in Florida, it is a RIP-OFF.  The table cloths were covered with white freezer paper with the ends folded in.  The owner (I believe) was not apparently a graduate of the Dale Carnegie  School.  Either that or when he asked "how was the wine" and I answered "Usurious" he did not know what that meant.

A I K I D O the OTHER OPTION

There is an asian martial art called Aikido in which the goal is self defense without excess damage to your opponent.  It turns the energy of the assailant against him not in a "knocking-heads" way but by redirection of force and  skillfully deflecting the attack.  I use this art as a metaphor for dealing with life when I am not wearing my diametrically different other hat of confrontational-man.  In the long run, when dealing with assault of any variety, Aikido has proven a better friend than the violent impact  reminiscent of  two 300 pound lineman banging into one another in American football.   It feels good for a moment to whack your opposition like sacking the quarterback but then there is the inevitable regret if someone is hurt, or if after all the exertion you get nowhere.  How much better is it to absorb the energy of the oncoming problem and redirect it to your own best use.

Some of my recent posts in which I lambast the other political philosophy or those who are gaming the system feel intellectually satisfying but then the feeling comes over you like you would get if you were clubbing a baby seal.  I then reconsider my actions and my head-butting ways, put on my yin-yang hat, and mellow out.  In the long run, Aikido as a self defense art and a way of dealing with adversity, real and perceived, serves me better.  That is not to say that Rhino toughness is not a plus.  There is a difference between being tough and being pig-headed.

LIBERAL WHINE AND CHEESE PARTY

IT IS NOT our president that is thin skinned but rather his loyal followers.  It seems our president has had to have developed more intestinal fortitude than to complain about some poor rodeo clown wearing an Obama mask that is just doing his job.  His followers,  liberal victims of this and that of course have to blame everyone else for everything that is wrong with their lives.  They also live vicariously through the perceived offenses against their hero. Anyone who worked as a community organizer or made it through law school, like Mr. Obama, has been on the receiving end of much worse. I'm sure he's tough enough to take it. Get on with your own lives, boys and girls, and let him defend himself.   His sycophants are all incensed by some rodeo clown doing what he has done with masks of several previous presidents and never got any whining from (Reagan, Bush, Clinton) them or their supporters.

What is it about liberals in general that makes them such pussies and wimps? They are victims in search of an offense and find racism and misogyny under every rock.  What the Hell do they expect the  clown's mask to look like if it is to represent  President Obama?  Should it be white, or half-white like he is, genetically?   Our president is a self-declared black man and to represent him it is reasonable to have a mask in his skin tone.  Comedians and clowns are supposed to do what this guy did.   I am not being critical of the President or his office. How could a country that elected a black man president twice in a row be racist...the accusation made by his defenders? I AM being critical of the folks who make a religion out of whining and complaining that the world owes them something, maybe everything, because they are members of whatever class of unfortunate they think they are. Poor pitiful us, we can't make it because of our color, poverty, parents, rich people, or we have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, bad hair, or have two X chromosomes.  So, call me anti-whiner, I'm sure you Lefties have created a neologism to describe that.  Whineist? Antislackeritic?

Man,  if you can't make it in America where everything is free to those who can find their way to a government office as well as they can find their way to a voter booth, then get down on your knees and thank God that you don't live anywhere else.  If you were in Africa, the Middle East, or most of Asia or South America, your whining ass would be dead of starvation by now if you did as little for yourselves as you do here. If you blamed others for your lot in life and waited for the government to bring your food stamps to your door, the chances that the secret police would come to your door would be more likely.   We have reached the point in America where those who work for a living are outnumbered by those who VOTE for a living.  Go buy some Brie to go with your whine and get over it.

INVESTING WISDOM

I am not a stock market professional but I have been around the block a few times as an investor and this is something I personally believe.  If you are going to turn your hard earned money over to a financial planner, wealth manager, or some other licensed individual, you have to hold them to a high standard.  They will be charging you, somehow, for their services.  These expensive services should be of value to you.  That value could be a feeling that someone is watching over your money (though they will never care as much as you do) and they will get a return on your investment that exceeds what you could do by yourself by investing in a Total Market Index fund.  Any number of companies have products like Vanguard's  ETF or fund (VTI) that are suitable. Those index funds you buy directly have very low expenses as compared to your manager who will charge somewhere around 1% of the total value of your portfolio whether they are losing your money or making you more.  

The return you get on your money is called Total Market Return because using a complicated formula they buy shares in the the whole market and yield an average that reflects the performance of all stocks traded in the U.S.  (more of less).  This would be the benchmark of performance that you should expect out of the person managing your money.  If he or she does not do as well and yields LESS than this number, they are not worth their cost (remember to figure in their fees when comparing their performance to the index).  If they do the SAME they are still not worth the trouble of all that buying and selling, commissions, management fees, tax consequences of short and long term capital gains, and the meetings about sectors, strategy, etc.  Remember to include the dividends you get over the year, which are additional to the market yield.  For the Total Market Index, dividends are currently about 1.7%.  You expect them to make your stocks yield MORE in total for the year than the index and by at least a percentage point or two.  This is referred to as Alpha (the amount by which you beat the benchmark).  What's the point if they don't?

At least after a year, maybe sooner, of working with your chosen and trusted manager (January to December works best for an easy comparison) see if they are doing the job you are paying them for.  It is easy. Insist that they don't dazzle you with smoke and mirrors or B.S.  Just compare the % yield of the entire pile of money you gave them to manage (unless you set aside a portion for bonds because you were nervous then don't count this part) to the yield in the same time period of the Total Market Index. Their number will either be LESS, the SAME. or MORE.  Like they say about a forward pass in football, of these three things that can happen, two of them are bad.  Accept no excuses even if the manager is the nicest guy in the world,  holds your hand, and buys you flowers.  Many really smart wealthy people put the equity (Stock) portion of their wealth in these index funds and don't touch it for years.  If you are a long term investor, this could be right for you.  In the short term, or if you will need the money right away, maybe the whole STOCK investing thing isn't right for you at all. That is the subject for another day.  

Don't use this advice for anything but its entertainment value and remember, the Oracle is an amateur investor who has made all the mistakes one can make and is just telling you this after learning many lessons the hard way.  Oh, and I am a surgeon, so take that into account. 

AMERICA the UNREASONABLE

UNREASONABLE

The Democrats and the political left are whining and complaining about the RACIST unfair Republicans and the political right.  It seems that the most unfair thing in the world is to require that a person wishing to participate in that most sacred of all American activities “voting” show some identification to prove that they are entitled to do so.  OMG, can you believe the insurmountable hurdle that has been placed in the way of the poor black and Hispanic community and others?

Of course if you want to board an airplane, or cash a check, or attend the Democratic National Convention, just to name a few activities, you need to show a government issued I.D.  All the other countries on the planet with whom we are constantly being compared because their health care system or educational system is better than ours, require a government issued I.D. to vote.  Canada, Mexico, and Germany come to mind. You can check it out.  Mexicans have to have I.D. to vote in Mexico where they are citizens but not in the U.S. where they could be illegal and no one can challenge their citizenship by requiring I.D.

One more reason why the U.S. is doomed to become one of those countries that used to rule the world.  Portugal, Spain, Italy (Rome), and England.  In our rush to be overly fair to folks that can get everywhere they want including driving without a license and insurance (in Florida, uninsured motorist auto insurance is a must for YOU to buy)  if necessary, we call it an unfair requirement that they have to leave their home to get an I.D. card to vote.  Anyone can get a free government I.D. in the same place as they would get a driver’s license. You don’t have to speak English you just have to bring in something to prove you are a citizen. The requirements are pretty slim. 

Of course, if you are the Democrat party and you depend on a huge turnout of voters who are not entitled to vote in order to win more elections, you would do whatever you could to prevent the I.D. requirement.   You will stoop as low as you can to accomplish this including playing the race card, the “Republicans hate the poor” card, and Granny, who was pushed over the cliff in the last election, won’t be able to get to the driver’s license office or her wheelchair won’t fit through the door, or something. Oh, puleeeze.  It’s not a poll tax, it’s a requirement you show you are a citizen.  They have to do it in our neighbor to the north and the other one to the south (that’s Canada and Mexico for those who went to high school in Detroit).  The current U. S.. administration can’t wait to have Canada’s health care and gun control, or to get a lecture from Mexico’s president about how to deal with our border, but when it comes to voting, we are the FAIR country.     

Are you a RHINO or a COW?

RHINO through life or just Moooo?

About 30 years and 2 million books ago, Scott Alexander, then 20 years old, wrote a book called Rhinoceros Success.  In this book he wrote that 95% of people are cows, willing to moo and complain and hang around all day chewing their cud, rationalizing why they are victims of this or that and doing nothing to change their lot in life.  About 5% of us are RHINOs, the powerful beasts of the jungle whose thick skin protects them as they charge straight ahead at their goals, unperturbed by the actions of others.

In America today, it has become a state policy to prevent people from becoming RHINOs.  It’s not “fair” that some people have more than others so let’s redistribute the wealth. (Except for politicians who leave office and get a million dollars to give one speech)  You should sacrifice your own welfare for the sake of the hive, like a social insect.  It’s easier to control cows than Rhinos. The entire system from the woefully underperforming school system controlled by self-serving teachers unions, to the bread and circus distraction offered to the people through mass media.  There is nothing on Dancing with the Stars, The Batchelor, or American Idol…on televised sports of any kind…or on social media that will advance your life.  It is all designed to keep you stupid and content as the economy falters, joblessness increases, and the moral fabric of America erodes. 

We accept this as NORMAL today:

A 50% graduation rate from high school in some big cities where money has been thrown at the problem for years by the truckload? 

A 73% illegitimacy rate. children born to unwed mothers, in one racial group?

More murders in Chicago than there are deaths in an all-out war in the Middle East?

Twelve million illegal immigrants living in America and nobody cares?

All your emails and phone calls are intercepted by the government?

50 million people on food stamps?

A congress that can’t figure out how to balance a budget and would rather address trivial issues affecting a tiny minority  than our entire economy that is killing our country?

The list is endless and we  accept it all as if it were inevitable.  As long as we have the same clowns leading our country it probably is. 

We have a President who had this “outstanding academic career” yet nobody who is paying attention can figure out how a mediocre student in an ordinary college managed to transfer to Columbia, then get into Harvard Law, then law review, and none of his classmates can be found to tell us what he was like in school? We still haven't seen any of his transcripts? Well, I guess we are in a country where education is so far into the crapper this is not important to most people, certainly not the Media who are only interested in selling papers, TV ad time, and their own prejudices. 

Anyway, you will have to continue to stand by and watch the RHINOs charge straight ahead while the COWs stand by, chew their cud (that’s a wad of grass for you graduates of American secondary education)  and watch 8 hours of TV every day numbing your minds from the miserable existence you accept.  It is a life brought to you by a government that promises you everything and delivers nothing other than distractions from what is important. It is not the rich man, or the white man, or the man at all that is at the root of failure for those who are not making it in America.  No country has more advantages than ours and fewer people availing themselves of them.  Food stamps and welfare and Aid to Dependent Children are not advantages, they are safety nets, to be used by those who are disabled, and those truly unable to get by, not millions of people who are COWs standing around complaining about how unfair life is when they did nothing and are still doing nothing to improve their lives. Get off your ass and do your part.  Mooooooo. 

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

I was typing something on my computer this morning and I used "their" instead of "his" and my word processor flagged it as worthy of grammar checking.  Over time we have been taught by the P C police that the pronoun "He" or possessive pronoun "His" is a sexist misogynistic term that excludes women.  One should never use the expression " Everyone must put on his own life vest." when addressing a mixed group of men and women, and presumably "other". Some bright bulb even came up with the term Wimyn, which eliminates the word "men" from within the female gender term.  My word processor knows it is wrong to use "their" but society imposes bad grammar on us to satisfy the femiNazis and gender-benders.

This week, The California Legislature passed a law, and Governor Moonbeam signed it, that allows children and young adults to decide which gender they want to be, and it can change from moment to moment.  They can enter into the restroom or locker room of their choice or participate on the sports team that is the team of the biologically other sex or gender.  Girls can be on the men's basketball team even if they have a team of their own, and vice versa. Biology, internal and external primary and secondary sexual characteristics mean nothing.  It is all about what you, at that instant feel you are... as in "I am feeling like a girl today, or a boy today," Sheep was not mentioned in the statute.
 
I am recommending a strategy for those parents on the Left Coast to resist this insanity.  Tell your sons to go into the girls locker rooms and showers and use them at a time when they are filled with females. Use the girls bathrooms and leave the seat up (it is not popular when I do this at home)  each and every time, or maybe just pee on the seat a little.  Lets see what happens to this attempt at eliminating gender as a differentiation in school facilities.

How paradoxical, in a world of increasing hyphenization and purposeful racial and ethnic division that a basic biological difference can be intentionally ignored in the interest of gay transexual and transgender choices. Changes that can be momentary, changeable, and obviously will cause the  elimination the laws against indecent exposure, at least in schools, from the California PENAL (no pun intended) code.  How could you have both a prohibition of exposing ones "Stuff" to a member of another biologically different gender when you are just as entitled to be naked in that shower as he, she or it is?   After Jerry Brown completes his term, maybe Anthony Wiener can move out there and run for Governor.  He would be right at home. Tweet me if you agree.

OFF ROAD VEHICLES

There is a hierarchy among off road style vehicles.  The really tough ones that go on safari or into the Outback, the Rubicon Trail, or in some mud bog are usually 4-wheel drive.  They use a system that you have to shift into in order for all your wheels to do their work of gaining traction against the earth beneath. Those same vehicles usually have solid axles like a full size pickup truck that make off-roading better but give you an uncomfortable ride on the highway.  Land Rovers and Jeep Wranglers fall into this category. They often have full frames that run the entire length of the vehicle.

When you say that your BMW or Mercedes is 4-wheel drive, and many of them are including their passenger cars, you really mean ALL-wheel-drive.  The system is on all the time to all four wheels to some degree determined by computer, according to which wheel needs traction. It is instantaneous.  They usually have independent suspension to all four wheels without an axle that runs from one side of the vehicle to another. They are often unibody construction without a full steel frame underneath.  SUVs and passenger cars like the German, Japanese, and Korean brands are usually All-wheel-drive (AWD).  They are considered inferior off road but offer a smoother bounce-free highway experience.

Most of us would prefer the latter because we seldom really go off road and our traction needs are related to snow (not a problem in Florida usually) wet weather, and accidentally getting off the pavement into the sandy or muddy shoulder of the road.  We spend most of our time on city streets and highways where "Going up the side of a mountain" traction is not a priority.   Yet, we see lots of Jeep Wranglers everywhere.  They are real off road vehicles, especially if additionally equipped with oversize tires and wheels with aggressive tread patterns. Predictably, they ride poorly on the highway even with their 4-wheel drive (4WD) systems disengaged.   On top of that, the short wheelbase ones with two doors can wander all over the highway at the expense of maneuverability in tight places.  When well equipped, JEEP applies a "TRAIL RATED" badge to the front fender.  It means that you can safely go out on the trail or back woods and will probably be able to get out of most low traction conditions.  Some folks say that it just entitles you to get stuck in more inaccessible places.

Even with all that, and owning a Mercedes GLK-350 SUV with All-wheel-drive, considered by the in-crowd of 4-wheel-drivers to be "MALL RATED" or instead of an off-roader, pejoratively referred to as a SOFT-roader, I still am lusting for a Wrangler.  Why?  They just look cool and remind me of my childhood and the TV show Rat Patrol. Practicality be damned.

The lesson here...in so many situations in life, we collect data, learn all there is to know about our options, and make choices from our hearts and souls that make no sense.  Think of other areas in life that we do this.  It is a common occurrence.

G R A T I T U D E

We had dinner with friends last night.  By common consent, before dinner, we attended a free (it was worth a lot more) lecture by a man named Jerry Posner, whom I had never heard of before.  His work is motivational speaking.  His twist, or schtick if you will, is simple... you don't have to go to a monastery in Tibet or spend a weekend with Wayne Dyer or learn everything there is to learn about Positive Psychology...just follow a few simple "suggestions."  Ask yourself: What is important? What is Meaningful? What is right for me? What do I want most?

The title of his talk was "Making Miracles Happen." or something like that.  He suggested that to do that (and the definition of miracle is different for everyone) there are a few steps...
Visualize the outcome and the path to it
Desire it
Anticipate it, expect it, believe in it
Ask for assistance, accept when offered
Put your "miracle" on your to-do list and review daily
Choose optimism and remember motivation
Give yourself permission
Make a plan and adjust as necessary

There were many other interesting and insightful things that he shared with our intimate group but one of the "take aways" (make sure you always have a couple of important points to take away from every meeting or why have a meeting at all) is WRITE A GRATITUDE JOURNAL.  What is that you ask?  It is a simple list, written anywhere, the "NOTES" app on an iPhone works great, listing 5 things or whatever number you feel comfortable with that you are grateful for today.  Research by real medical experts specifically in the field of Positive Psychology tells us that the simple act of WRITING this stuff down will make your life better.  Remembering the good things overshadows the insults, injuries, and perceived injustices that bombard us every day. There is no need for me to tell you the things I am grateful for (for which I am grateful, grammatically speaking) you have your own list.  Suffice it to say, I am writing my 5 things down every morning.  One thing for certain...my days are waaaaay better when I start with positive thoughts rather than the 50 ways that our government is screwing us, lying to us about Benghazi, or secretly recording all our conversations.  Give it a try.  As an iPhone user, for the first few days until I got into the habit, I set a calendar reminder for myself every morning. "Write gratitude journal" at 7 am.  

GREY LADY

Nantucket is known as the Grey Lady because it is so often cloaked in fog, and possibly because all the houses are the same color regardless of price, faded cedar..gray or grey (which is it anyway?)  Here is a view of the Old North Wharf and some cottages at the end that belong to some prominent residents and are in some cases for rent. On the day I took this photo, there was not a cloud in the sky.  The temperature was in the low 70s, Flowers were blooming.  Many of the days here are like this and even when they are overcast, and there is fog, it is a special place.  I love it most when everyone else has gone back to what is known on island as "America." It is earlier  in the season or later in the fall and jackets and sweaters are welcome additions to the wardrobe.  I get on my scooter, "Daisy" and ride everywhere seeing almost nobody else on the road.  I can go to Something Natural, my favorite sandwich place, and not have to wait a half hour to be rewarded with a culinary delight.  Restaurants, could exist in July and August with an unlisted phone number though they charge New York prices for ordinary fare, because they can, and really have to because the season is so short.  In late or early season, some cut their prices by half, and there are specials everywhere.

The natural beauty is still here in September and October but the young have returned to some level of school. Your chances of running into or being run into by a tourist on a bicycle wearing an iPod and earphones coming from a keg-stander at the beach, is far reduced.  People who are generally always nice, become nicer.  About 10,000 people live on island (you say "on island" not on THE island if you are in the know) all year 'round.  I am not one of them and the weather change drives me south like a Goose in the winter.  I guess I am a migratory Oracle, from this island to my winter home, another island in Florida.  It is probably a little early to think about fall, but on some days, especially on the weekends when the ferry disgorges a throng of day tourists with t-shirts from the last place they visited, I do get nostalgic for the quieter days.

WIDOW

Colonial Penn life insurance company advertises on TV.  In this ad, 4 women working at a cafeteria line are discussing the benefits of having bought the right life guaranteed life insurance on their husbands because they would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle if they had not.  Please notice the conspicuous absence of men in this picture.  One is lead to conclude that women outlive men (100% in this picture) and it is important that men have life insurance to cover the additional years women have on Earth after their demise.  I really am at a loss for what to say about this.  Political correctness comes to mind.  Can you imagine the outcry of there were an advertisement in which a bunch of men were at a job site or worse yet at a ball game being grateful that they had bought insurance on their wives?  I did not think so.  So much for equality.

Book of RULES?

The UNEXAMINED Life

It is basic philosophical dogma that “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In keeping with this “truism” I have examined and reexamined my life in many ways.  Since we do not have any “do-overs” in our existence, we cannot go back the way writers of textbooks do and reinvent the past.  We can however alter our present and future if we wish to do it.  Our direction need not have any relationship to our past since “the wake does not propel the boat.”  We get to decide “Quo Vadis,” where we are going. There is such a thing as examining too much and living too little so be careful of that trap...also known as "stinking of Zen".  

Of course there are things holding us back, most of which are imaginary. Some have referred to this as our internal book of rules, picked up over time living in society. we are enculturated by our tribe. We then become self-restricted based upon this indoctrination….what else can you call it when it is drilled into you? If we go against the rules our internal judge punishes us somehow.  Or we can discard the rule-book entirely.  This is difficult yes, but not impossible. Many modern day sages, aka self-help authors, suggest a computer metaphor…”Delete the old program and install a new one” based upon where our hopes and dreams lead us.  

I believe that the premise that very few of us are living the lives we had hoped for as children is valid.  At no time did I envision working indoors as a doctor, all hours of the day and night, usually in a windowless room, not to mention the icky parts.  Other people might say “I never dreamed that I would be outdoors with a shovel at a construction site in the middle of winter.”  Only those who are in music, entertainment, the arts, and professional sports are "probably" living their dream, but then I am none of those so I am sure there are some who can’t stand going on stage or the playing field one more time.  The pervasive drug culture in those careers may be the result of their discontent.  Anyway, we can dream that there must have been a better road that we could have selected.  Lawyers wish they were doctors, doctors wish they are venture capitalists, etc. Fireman and cowboy, favorites of children everywhere, never enticed me.  I do think it would have been cool to be Jacques Costeau or Eugenie Clark, or, Robinson Crusoe, even though he was fictional.  Most of us understood that super-heroes were not real, even though there was this “one guy” who jumped off his garage roof wearing a sheet as a cape and broke his leg.  

Being Kwai Chang Kaine always intrigued me, right up to when David Carradine apparently died in an auto-erotic asphyxiation mishap indicating that the Kung Fu guy was probably just an acting part in a TV series. Well. at least I never wanted to be A-Rod or Dennis Rodman.   

PULL vs RIDE

We are born alone with nothing and leave the world the same way.  It is possible that there is an afterlife, but nothing scientific to prove it. No one has come back like Columbus to report on a New World out there. The tales of light and tunnels, and meeting dead relatives are not scientific evidence.  Which leaves us with “This is not a dress rehearsal” it is our one and only life.  Do we spend it the way we want or do we subordinate our seeking of pleasure (the prime directive of homo sapiens) to some civilization-constructed set of rules, obligations, moral standards, and the concept of altruism; the needs of others or the collective are more important than my own? Are we individuals or are we members of a hive like bees and ants?  Do we accept the biological imperative of the species, increase and multiply, and when you no longer can, you are expendable? Lots of questions...

Religion and politics might be for people who can’t think for themselves.  The number of folks who not only can’t think but can’t DO is rising geometrically.  The huge number of unemployment and food stamp recipients and the “entitlement” programs sprouting like mushrooms attest to this. Not long ago, self-reliance was core to the American character.  Now, it is reliance on the government, so we can go back to watching “Dancing with the Stars,” or “Monday Night Football.”  On the other hand, those who are not paying attention to the direction of our country and only caring about what’s in it for them, may well be following the previously mentioned prime directive…it’s all about their pursuit of pleasure and an apparent easy life.  The people who work for a living are being outnumbered by people who VOTE for a living.  Maybe they are right, at least in the short term, and caring about the American way of life, is just another form of altruism and hive behavior. 

Perhaps we members of the older generation and the one before us, who made our world safe for this one by fighting and dying in the last justifiable war…WW2, and who invented everything that young people take for granted today, can learn from the young and spend our lives neither worrying about the economy, nor knowing anything about how our government works.  We can “turn on, tune in, and drop out” as Tim Leary suggested.  If things go to Hell, we’ll be OK with our Social Security, Medicare, and AARP. It’s the next generation, the one that hasn’t invented anything I can think of but Facebook and Twitter, that will have to do without those things they have grown entitled to. Let them attempt to support the government programs and agendas they care about so much with income from the best jobs they can get considering they did not graduate from high school, or at least did not learn anything there. Thank you, Teacher's Union.

In a last ditch effort to not have to do anything for themselves like “get anything out of their education” or show up at a job, or think twice about their lifestyle choices so they don’t get type-2 diabetes, they may well demand that their fearless leaders pass one more tax on the wealthy just to be FAIR.  A tax on the net worth of the previous generation in addition to the confiscatory 55% Estate (death) Tax will put gas in the engine for a little while, but after that runs out, the country we know today will look like all those other 1^st world countries that are now 3^rd world in comparison to us…England, Spain, Italy (Rome), all of which Ruled the World and fell to nothing much. The people will look away momentarily from their flat-screen surround-sound 3D TVs and ask themselves…”What happened?”    In the meantime, don’t look for me to pull the wagon any more, I have jumped into the back and am busy watching “Dancing with the Stars.” Now where’s my remote?

  

MACHO JEEP

This started life as a JEEP Unlimited 4 door Wrangler.  Then the owner started flexing his creative muscles.  The entire body both interior and exterior including the Bushwacker fender flares has been coated with a thick matte finish bed liner material.  It is jacked up and has oversize tires and wheels.  The hard top is not factory but has a sloped rear.  I will not presume to analyze the particular choices of springs flares tire wheels etc...I would like to congratulate the owner for creating a custom Wrangler that gets as close to a Military Hum-Vee as any vehicle I have seen and I have my eye out for custom Jeeps.  This one is PRIMO.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

She may be, in my book, a phony-baloney, and I  disagree with almost everything she has said since 1984, but there is truth to her quote, and the title of this book..."It takes a village"  I don't buy into the governmental definition of "We know how to raise your children better than you do." but I do firmly believe that there are more people involved in raising children than their parents.  Of course we turn them over to school teachers readily where they get "our culture's lessons" for 12 or more years.  Then there's the church of your choice. The list is endless.  Somewhere in that mix, particularly when you study cultures where longevity is significantly better than average, the siblings, uncles and aunts, grandparents and even the great grandparents play a significant role in teaching and caring for the young, unless we stifle the natural order of things in the interest of some social science experiment, like Dr. Spock.

In  21st Century America, we "elders" of the tribe are relegated to the trash heap pretty early.  Fortunately, among the benefits of immigration from Latin America, along with "they do work our own people wont do", the delicious cuisine and great music, and Sofia Vergara, are the family traditions that they bring with them. Very similar to the old traditions of the Italians and Irish who have come here before them, they believe that "it takes a village" in the real sense. I know people who are so thankful to their grandmothers for helping them in life, that they honor them by naming their children after them.  

I recently wrote a blog post entitled "I resign as General manager of the Universe."  Perhaps I should clarify that in light of several comments I have received in response to that post, more comments in fact, than I usually receive.  They range from "I refuse to accept your resignation." to ""You are the patriarch, and you don't have the option of not giving your opinions to your family, it is your duty." I asked "What if my near and dear don't agree with me?"  The reply was "Just because they don't want to hear what you have to say on a particular issue, or disagree, is no reason not to say what you believe, and say it with the force of parental and seasoned wisdom."

As for resigning as GM of the U, perhaps that resignation would be best confined to matters of politics and religion.  But then again, in those things, my opinions are as good as anyone else's.  If it's a career for Ariana Huffington why must I defer to her or anyone else when I feel strongly about an issue?  Come to think of it, "I withdraw my resignation." Phew! I guess I can keep expressing my opinions in this blog now without feeling guilty.

RESIGNING as General Manager of the UNIVERSE

As I look back at my 3 score and 10 years that I have spent on the third rock from the Sun, I reflect upon the opinions I have had, the decisions I have made, and the things, with the best of intentions, I tried to teach to others. My track record would be great if it were a batting average in baseball, but abysmal if it were a survival rate in cardiac surgery.  Retrospectively, I have been wrong more often than I have been right.  Now that I am the old wise man in my family, I mistakenly believe that this will somehow raise my success rate.  Au contraire.  It probably renders my opinions irrelevant to the young whose world is so different from the one I grew up in.  Who am I to stand in judgement of an army of young people who think that gay marriage is a necessity, "Change" of any kind is good, and no problem exists that can't be cured with the right government program, and if that doesn't work, spend more money we don't have.

I have my beliefs about these things and others as well.  In my dreams I would want all creation to follow my advice.  In actuality, that would not make sense. At least a third of my recommendations would not work at all, and another third would probably make things worse.  At best I would bat .333. ARod would be proud, Michael Debakey, MD, would be sued.   So, in keeping with that, and the realization, which since it comes from my mind could in itself be wrong, that I don't know as much as I think, I am tendering my resignation, effective immediately, as General Manager of the Universe.

Any opinions expressed do not represent those of the staff, management, or shareholders of IslandOracle and all resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.    copywrong MMXIII

The question is: WHY?

As I was passing the paper section at the Stop and Shop supermarket, I could not help but notice this product.  Everybody uses, or should use, toilet paper.  Not many people like it to resemble sandpaper on a roll and expect some modicum of softness, especially in America.  But quilted?  Were there people out there who were clamoring for the feeling that one gets when you use the drapes or bedspread for personal hygiene?  Talk about a variation on the Scarlet O'Hara theme.  And, it's 3- ply.

We have one of those water saving toilets that you have to flush 3 times for number 2.  Or is it 2 times for number 1?  Is there a number 3?.  We are worried about government in the bedroom, what about government in the bathroom?  And on top of that, you can't see what you're doing under the light of a 12 watt fluorescent CFC bulb.  Maybe that's why you need three plies, in case you overshoot your target.  It used to be so easy.


  

The POWERFUL Dieases

No, not powerful as in “these will kill you in 24 hours” I mean powerful as in “we are on the receiving end of more charity and governmental dollars than the other guys” kind of power. The Big Kahunas of disease are of course Breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, AIDS, and Autism, I shall deal with these one at a time.

Breast cancer is a terrible disease that almost exclusively attacks women.  I love the women in my life and I would never want them to get this disease and if they did, I would want them to be cured.  Their ribbon is pink. The “CURE”  is dependent upon money for research etc.  Prostate cancer kills almost as many men as Breast cancer kills women and is more prevalent, but nowhere near as sexy. There is no Prostate cancer month and the government spends about half as much on prostate cancer as it does breast cancer.    Plus, what color would the ribbon be, if there were one, brown? You wouldn't dream of telling women they should not get screening tests but men...take you time, what's the hurry?  

Cancer sucks, and contributing for research to overcome this group of diseases is a worthwhile endeavor. Oncologists are driven or drive themselves (never ask a barber if you need a haircut) to treat patients way too long and for cases that they know are hopeless from day one.  There is a joke, if that is ever appropriate in cancer, that goes…”Why do they put nails in coffins?  To keep the oncologists away.” The American Cancer Society works hand in hand with cancer doctors and as the song goes “seldom is heard a discouraging word” when it comes to chemotherapy until the final day. As a doctor, I think we owe patients the truth not a bunch of "where there's life there's hope."  

AIDS "victims" keep looking for a cure as if it is some kind of mystery where the disease comes from.  If I had a disease that came from doing carpentry, for example, I sure as Hell would give away my hammer. I would start with prevention. And not accepting any kind of sexual rampage is OK.  To add to it, the disease did not get the benefit of epidemiology and quarantine when it first started because it was re-classified as a "disability." Our friend "reclassification."   

The psychiatric profession used to classify Homosexuality, among other things, as a disorder but some time ago they voted to reclassify it as a choice. They update a guide book to psychiatric disorders based upon their latest meeting.    It would be as if we could reclassify Hepatitis as a decision to turn yellow and therefore reduce the number of cases. OR, we could increase other conditions by the same method.  That’s what they did with Alzheimers and Autism.  They are two serious disease and when they are full blown versions they are devastating.  Unfortunately, the specialists in those area have “discovered” (read: redefined) a spectrum of Autism that includes all sorts of learning disabilities, with once distinct names, once they found out there was virtually unlimited funding for Autism and charities there were few charities for lesser neurological or developmental disorders. 

It seems that the Alzheimer’s folks have discovered this pot of gold as well. Even in the absence of any hard laboratory tests or “biomarkers” (high blood sugar in diabetes or high cholesterol in cardiovascular disease are examples of biomarkers)  or reliable physical findings of pre-clinical or pre-symptomatic disease. There are no markers that doctors can use now to establish the early diagnosis but the National Institute on Aging is working overtime on it.  So, the  “pre-symptomatic” diagnosis would be “seat of the pants” by its very nature.     

I have recently been asked how a person would know if he was just having a “Senior Moment” or being forgetful vs. whether they were getting Alzheimer’s.  The pre-clinical stage is a SWAG (scientific wild-ass guess).  This is when we think we might be getting it because we can’t find our keys for the 5^th time this week, or this day.  Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a clinical diagnosis based upon a group of observations and history. There is NO certainty just a probability.   In Dementia due to Alzheimer’s Disease, memory, thinking, and behavior changes are classic.  Specialized scans and spinal fluid analysis can affirm the diagnosis but most well trained doctors believe (as Justice Learned Hand said about when he could not precisely define pornography) ”I know it when I see it.”  The answer to everything in this field is “MORE RESEARCH” with all that entails.  In the mean time, live a cleaner healthier life which has been considered a reasonable preventive measure, and don’t worry, be happy. 

Why should I care about Nelson Mandela?

Nelson Mandela was born in South Africa in 1918 which makes him about 94 years old this year.  He has been very sick lately and by some reports might even be on life support. He has been in the news a lot this week, possibly because our president, who has African roots, will be visiting that continent at a cost to American taxpayers of about $100 million (not counting  Billions in foreign aid which will likely follow).  Not a small amount. Just think of the income taxes you paid last year and see how far this “big number to you” goes toward making your country a better place when L. L Cool Prez blows a hundred mil on his summer vacation at taxpayer expense.  Martha's Vineyard is so much cheaper (you don't hear that often).  

Why should you or anyone else care about Nelson Mandela other than as a curiosity, like you would any historic or biographic figure? Like Che’ Guevara?  I really don’t know.  My life is no better as a result of his time on this planet.  I tried to think of ways it might be but I came up empty. I couldn’t find a solid reason to care any more about him than I cared about,  say…Kurt Cobain.    Mandela was President of South Africa, not the one I grew up learning about in high school but the other one, the post-apartheid one with the violence and crime. 

In fact, the whole damn thing seems pretty inconsistent.  Here in America we are supposed to be all enthusiastic about TSA and Homeland Security and be anxious to line up to be frisked and have our phone calls and e-mails monitored for the good of all.  We are taught obedience to our flag and to our government and respect for the National Anthem.  Violently opposing the American Government, could be considered an act of treason.  Yet, in South Africa, Mandela was arrested, convicted of sabotage and imprisoned for 27 years, where he became the symbol for government oppression.  There were good reasons to call him a terrorist and he was aligned with anti-government interests.  Like our President, Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize, but I can't tell why for sure. I still don’t get why Mr. Obama won it, he had yet to do anything significant at the time of its awarding, 15 milliseconds after his election.  Some would say he still has not.  Maybe the whole prize is just a popularity contest where leftists get to cast all the votes. 

Anyway, I love my country and wouldn’t want some rabble-rouser overthrowing the government and changing the whole country to fit a new model, which is what happened in South Africa.  So, it comes around again to “Why do I care about this guy?” I don't and I wonder why the press is so invested in this story.  They like big government more than most people do and Mandela's life work was overthrowing one.  Just rebellion?  Unjust?  Who is the judge of that? 

LIME GREEN POLYESTER LEISURE SUIT

When we charge out to the store to buy the latest fashion, the platform pole-dancer shoes, or whatever Vogue tells us we won't look good without, think back to those days in our past when we were absolutely sure we were "TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL" wearing items such as these, complete with the hair style, belt, and wide collar.  More often than not the shirt was silk or rayon with a gaudy floral pattern.  The car in the photo was a 1970 Mercedes so it was taken sometime in the mid to late 70s.

Do what you love, Love what you do

If this chart looks interesting to you for reasons other than you convince yourself that you "might" make some money by knowing how to trade stocks, then go for it.  Personally, it puts me to sleep.  I have tried to do fundamental and technical analysis of stocks for a while.  It is not ME.  I enjoy investing in its many forms and have done so for decades, and there are opportunities for creativity in real estate, stocks, or whatever.  Equity trading and the more "sane" longer term investing, can go right to the core of those who are good at it.  It is in harmony with their spirit and they follow the axiom that I have used as the title to this post. In an attempt to be a partner and friend with someone who is very gifted at this and loves it, I bought the books, took the courses, and executed trades.  I am not without skills and  have made some money.  I would rather trim hedges than be a hedge fund manager. I will have to be true to myself and do something I love more than "charts."   

I have a portfolio manager who is doing exactly what he loves to do, and he has helped me, his client "Don't worry, make money".  If I were to study the subject for 1000 years, considering I don't much love it, I will never know as much useful stuff as he knows.  There is no substitute for mastery and the 10,000 hours needed to get it. And, if I ever get tired of trying to "Seek Alpha" (get better than market returns) with a manager, there are always Index Funds like Vanguard Total Market Index that ride the total ups and downs of the DOW, NASDAQ, S and P, etc.  Over a lifetime, that is a generally good idea since the Dow, for example,  is now at 15,000., and it was in the hundreds during my lifetime. 

Anyway, this post is about doing what you love and not talking yourself into doing something because it is good for you, like Broccoli,  or what Society thinks is acceptable and the "high ground" more traveled.  We only get one life to live and to spend it doing what you don't love for some secondary gain like trading your life for money does not seem to be a good idea.  Even the bible had something to say about this..."What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his immortal soul?" 

WISDOM 2013

Years ago Simon and Garfunkel wrote and sang that "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls."  Today, the greatest wisdom and stupidity can be found on T-shirts and bumper stickers.  Examples of these include the ubiquitous "YES WE DID" implying that the driver of the car ahead of you, who obviously has not figured out life based on their obvious circumstances, is joyous over another four years of messianic rule by the great provider of free cell phones, unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, and more welfare than you can shake a stick at.  All this high-fiveing celebrates the preservation of the status quo for the aforementioned driver and her smoke-belching Toyhonkiazuki. Thank God there is also a "Save the Environment" sticker on the bumper or a person could assume that she did not care.

Every opinion possible can be found on the bumper of a car in front of you if you are stuck in traffic enough.  Once you exit your car you have to rely upon T-shirt wisdom.  Some of it is simple and quick to read like a giant Polo Pony with the words POLO in 8" high letters.  It means " bigger is always better and I have no taste."  Or "CHOICE" as in "Biatch, we all wish your mother had made a different one."  The T-shirt pictured above says a lot but it is too wordy to be read on a quick walk-by.  Maybe if it were on the back of the shirt, the fashion equivalent of a bumper sticker one could get through all the words.  Then again if some Sofia Vergara-esque woman were wearing it facing front, the words might be bigger and easier to read and most men would not mind struggling with the wordiness to get the message.   Go ahead, call the P C Police...see if I care.

HE'S the MANN

No, that is not a typo or a misspelling of "man."  I went to high school in the 50s and 60s, not today in America so I actually received an education.  I did however not have the benefit of attending a class called "Heather Has Two Mommies"  like our modern secondary school students have. To get an award, I actually had to do something special or, excuse the expression, "win."  This postage stamp honors Horace Mann, who is considered by most historians to be the founder of compulsory government sponsored secular education in the United States.  As the expression goes, he must be spinning in his grave over the wreckage of K-12 in 2013.

Even back over a decade ago, student-athletes in senior high school would come to my office where they were asked to fill out a brief questionnaire about their vital statistics, and health history.  These must have been very difficult questions, things like "Where were you born and on what date?" seemed to baffle them.  It was apparent that their reading skills were at a first grade level yet they managed to get into the 12th grade and were on the cusp of graduation.  Someone in Florida state government came up with the "radical' idea of statewide testing to assess schools to see if local schools and teachers were preparing their students  to enter the world, the job market, or go on to higher education.  You would have thought they wanted to do body cavity searches on all the teachers.  "OMG. I am going to have to teach to a state standard? I will be judged by others and  have to follow some master plan?"  The outcry from the teacher's unions was deafening.  "Imagine trying to impose a one size fits all model on our students.  Well, I never."

Accountability is a bitch. When I grew up in New York in the Paleolithic era, We had a course curriculum in EVERY course with a final exam that came from the Board of Regents.  Surprisingly these tests were called the "Regent's" tests.  If you did not pass that test you did not pass the course no matter how much the teacher liked you or how well you did in his or her exams.  We had a near 100% graduation rate, no shootings in class, there might have been one pregnancy (we are not sure but Ellen went away to live with her grandmother for a year), and everyone went on to military service or employment, or further education at some level of college or vocational school.  If you failed, you were an outcast. Everyone DID NOT get a trophy for showing up.

Horace Mann was born in 1796 in Massachusetts.  He was a farmer, a legislator and a lawyer.  He went on to run the Massachusetts Board of Education and a national spokesman for how important public education would be for the future of our country. He modeled our education after the Prussian (German) system.  "Character development was just as important as reading, writing and arithmetic. Obedience to authority, promptness in attendance, and organizing the time according to bell ringing helped students prepare for future employment."

Fast forward to 2013 and we see that the K-12 system no longer cares about character development in the traditional sense but does spend a disproportionate time teaching about cultural diversity, sex education, and Liberal politics.  Our graduation rates are abysmal, as low as 50% in some major cities, even though it costs $15,000 per student per year to support one child in public school in places like New York City. Nothing new has happened in education that has made us more competitive in the world.  We spend so much time worrying about the sensibilities of our students and building self esteem in those who think they deserve it for "Showing up" that there is little time for Readin', Writin' and 'Rithmatic." Everyone does have a computer or an iPad and we have  gaggles of graduates ready for employment, as long as they start in management where their teachers have told them they deserve to be because they "showed up" and the only job skills required are the ability to play video games and spend all day on social media.    

SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE

In the past year or so, the Oracle has been living with a type of high blood pressure called "Isolated Systolic Hypertension" where the upper number, the SYSTOLIC pressure is elevated but the lower one is normal or even low.  I wrote about this in previous posts.  When a person has this condition, there are several things that are necessary for normalizing the  blood pressure.  There are pills which work, to a varying degree with some side effects.  Reduction of stress, by avoiding other people problems for example and resigning as General Manager of the Universe, is another. Moderate exercise helps.   Reducing the SODIUM (salt) content of one's diet is very important.  As in almost everything in life, a four legged stool stands better than a one or two  or three legged one, so I chose to do all four.  It seemed to be working, mostly.  

I put a picture of a salt shaker at the top of this post.  I NEVER shake salt on my food and am not particularly fond of salted peanuts or french fries.  I figured if I just watched out for obvious sources of salt, like "saltines" I would be able to reduce the sodium content of my diet and I would be able to maintain a good blood pressure on minimal medication, serenity, and physical fitness. Au contraire, my friends.  My pressure remained a bit elevated, sometimes more, despite these steps.  I started looking at the nutrition labels on the back of every store bought product in our pantry.  Some things have so much sodium in them that one serving put me over the sodium limit for the day...approximately 2000 milligrams. Innocent products that you would not even think had any salt in them at all are loaded with it.

Last night I had a very healthy dinner at our club consisting of poached salmon, a green salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing, and snagged some of the Kitty's pickled beets off her plate.  The beets were delicious.  I began to wonder what they were pickled IN.  And at the same time I researched why, when I look at processed food labels I would see such a high sodium content in almost everything. I found the answers.  When something is corned, pickled or cured, it is either packed in salt or soaked in salt water (brine).  Why do that?  Are people so in love with the taste of salt ?  Many folks are, but no, it's because the presence of salt and sugar prevents bacterial growth. Extra salt is added for this reason  to most foods that need a reasonable shelf life.   Salting food to preserve it is as old as civilization itself. One would think that in the modern world we would have something else to keep food longer lasting.  Apparently not.

So, I guess it's a good thing that I don't live in times when salt pork, salt cod, and pickled everything made up most of our diet.  I might not be alive to write this post, then again I would be sending it out by smoke signal because there was no electricity.  I would have had more exercise chasing down dinner or running away from what I though was going to be dinner.  There would have been more roots and berries in my diet.  I doubt the stresses of the day would have been the same.  They probably would have been more about real things like having enough food and a cave roof over my head. There were no pills but perhaps I would have been lucky enough to find some natural solutions...chewing the bark off the right tree, or finding the right fruit or vegetable with all those nutrients that we are told are good for us when we shop at Whole Foods.

So, don't forget to look for the hidden salt in everything.  Our government in one of it's saner moments required that food manufacturers list the sugar, calorie and salt content of packaged foods. Restaurants don't have that requirement but the chain restaurants like Wendy's and McDonald's, for example, each have a website where all of their products are listed, along with the nutritional or non-nutritional information.  What you will find out is scarier than a Stephen King movie. A small Mickey D's cheeseburger (one dollar) has about 800 milligrams of sodium in it.  That's almost half your daily allowance.  Chick-Fil-A sells a grilled chicken sandwich that tastes healthy but somehow they manage to put 1000 milligrams (mg) of sodium in it. We (used to) stop there when we are on the road because it is so seemingly healthy. Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich...don't even ask.