The Tenth Muse

Trendwatch: stickK.com - Put a Contract Out on Yourself

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:04:40 -0400

NEW SITE HELPS PEOPLE REACH THEIR GOALS WITH COMMITMENT

Whether your personal goal is to drop 20 pounds, quit smoking, hit the gym, or even stop biting your nails, stickK uses the power of a "commitment contract" to encourage you to "stickK" to your word.

Developed by two Yale professors with backgrounds in law and economics, the stickK concept is based on the idea that most people will commit to something if either their reputation or their funds are at stake. With this in mind, users are asked to create a Commitment Contract in which they choose a goal and a timeframe, add stakes (completely optional), choose a referee (sister, coworker, etc.) to monitor progress, and choose supporters (your cheering section). The Commitment Journal, in which users leave detailed accounts of their progress (or lack thereof), facilitates an honest, well-documented account of the journey to success or the shameful downward spiral to failure. Add optional stakes? Success gives you your money back, and Failure gives the money to charity (or the lucky someone you've chosen).

Maybe with your rep and your wallet on the line, the road to a healthy lifestyle will be a bit easier.

Find out more at: http://www.stickk.com/

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Lunch at Adobo Grill

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:30:54 -0400

A good friend of mine treated me to lunch at this spot. Soooo yummy! They make your guacamole fresh tableside and it's the best in the universe! They have a gazillion types of tequila and even Tequila Flights. The one I had was only $9 and that's a Steal for 3 shots of premium tequila (Don Julio blanca, repasado and the extra aged tequila...the name escapes me)

Delicious. Visit: http://www.adobogrill.com/

Here are pictures to drool over...

Beso de Maria - Patron soaked dessert.JPG

Tequila Flight.JPG

Chicken Enchiladas.JPG

Making Guacamole.JPG

Guacamole.JPG

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Google Turned Out the Lights

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:16:10 -0400

[this is good]

Google Lights Out

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Note to White People & Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s 9/11 sermon - “The Day of Jerusalem’s Fall.”

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:03:37 -0400

Note: The first part of this post is written by Roland S. Martin, CNN Contributor

Excerpts follow but you can read the entire article and hear Jeremiah Wright's Full Sermon at: http://intheknowchicago.com/Issue1Link1.htm

My personal notes appear at the end....

Barack Obama and Pastor Jeremiah Wright

As this whole sordid episode regarding the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has played out over the last week, I wanted to understand what he ACTUALLY said in this speech....I have now actually listened to the sermon Rev. Wright gave after September 11 titled, “The Day of Jerusalem’s Fall.” It was delivered on Sept. 16, 2001.

One of the most controversial statements in this sermon was when he mentioned “chickens coming home to roost.” He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan’s terrorism task force, who was speaking on FOX News. That’s what he told the congregation.

He was quoting Peck as saying that America’s foreign policy has put the nation in peril:

“I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday did anybody else see or hear him? He was on FOX News, this is a white man, and he was upsetting the FOX News commentators to no end, he pointed out, a white man, an ambassador, he pointed out that what Malcolm X said when he was silenced by Elijah Mohammad was in fact true, he said Americas chickens, are coming home to roost.”

“We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, Arikara, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism.

“We took Africans away from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism.

“We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel.

“We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenage and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working fathers.

“We bombed Qaddafi’s home, and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against the rock.

“We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to pay back for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hard working people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they’d never get back home.

“We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye.

“Kids playing in the playground. Mothers picking up children after school. Civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff that we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.

“Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y’all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that.”

He went on to describe seeing the photos of the aftermath of 9/11 because he was in Newark, N.J., when the planes struck. After turning on the TV and seeing the second plane slam into one of the twin towers, he spoke passionately about what if you never got a chance to say hello to your family again.

“What is the state of your family?” he asked.

And then he told his congregation that he loved them and asked the church to tell each other they loved themselves.

His sermon thesis:

1. This is a time for self-examination of ourselves and our families.

2. This is a time for social transformation (then he went on to say they won’t put me on PBS or national cable for what I’m about to say. Talk about prophetic!)

“We have got to change the way we have been doing things as a society,” he said.

Wright then said we can’t stop messing over people and thinking they can’t touch us. He said we may need to declare war on racism, injustice, and greed, instead of war on other countries.

“Maybe we need to declare war on AIDS. In five minutes the Congress found $40 billion to rebuild New York and the families that died in sudden death, do you think we can find the money to make medicine available for people who are dying a slow death? Maybe we need to declare war on the nation’s healthcare system that leaves the nation’s poor with no health coverage? Maybe we need to declare war on the mishandled educational system and provide quality education for everybody, every citizen, based on their ability to learn, not their ability to pay. This is a time for social transformation.”

3. This is time to tell God thank you for all that he has provided and that he gave him and others another chance to do His will.

By the way, nowhere in this sermon did he said “God damn America.” I’m not sure which sermon that came from.

This doesn’t explain anything away, nor does it absolve Wright of using the N-word, but what it does do is add an accurate perspective to this conversation.

Note from MsGenevieve: I blogged this because I think it's important for folks to gain their own perspective on the issue and remain an advocate of finding their own truth. I've visited Trinity numerous times in my youth and heard Pastor Wright speak. He's a brilliant man with a tremendous gift for moving and inspiring his congregation. I am a better person for having had heard his words and would never denounce him under any circumstances. However, I'd heard a story recently on NPR discussing how a lot of white people have never been to a Black Church service and have no idea about our ways of worship and teaching. Although most black folk have been to a white church service at least once (remember spending that night over your white friends house on the weekend's and going to their religious services on the Sunday morning??) I wonder then if it is possible to really wrap one's mind around something when they really have no point of reference.

Jacques Berlinerblau, program director and associate professor of Jewish Civilization at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, has a posted Note to White People where he recalls his findings during research for his book on African-American oratory. He writes:

Last week the junior Senator from Illinois found himself trying to explain the pulpit indiscretions of his spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Aware that many wanted to know how he could spend years listening to such remarks without having decamped from Trinity, Obama tried to place those remarks in their proper context:

"Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear."

Things are often said in African-American oratorical contexts—sometimes the most lyrical, provocative and over-the-top things—which are rarely intended to be marching orders. Those who hear these things may indeed be dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting, but they are acutely aware that they are not hearing fighting words....I want to suggest that African-American public speakers understand that their role is to uplift, educate, entertain, and even outrage. Audiences, in turn, understand that they will enjoy, reflect, absorb and then promptly adhere to the stunt man’s credo: don’t try this at home. I am not saying, however, that nothing of substance ever comes out of the Church. When the pastor asks for volunteers for the soup kitchen across town, people cheer and sign up. When the pastor asks for congregants to help tutor children, people cheer and sign up. But on those occasions when the pastor suggests some sort of radical political action leading to macro-structural change, people only cheer.... And while Obama’s argument about taking these words in context was, in and of itself, valid, it does not in any way neutralize the advantages that will accrue to those who take them out of context.

Well that's all I wanted to post about that.

And now for a little comic relief.....

Rich Praytor - Black Churches

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Starving Vultures Have No Fear...

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:09:27 -0400

Vultures

Drought and scarcity of carcasses is forcing vultures in Spain to go after live animals. Farmers in southern Spain are alarmed over recent attacks on their livestock by starving vultures.

In the Mena Valley, an area in northern Burgos province that is home to many cattle ranches, about 100 vultures killed a cow and her newborn calf.

A rancher alerted police after seeing the birds swarm on a cow that had just given birth and kill both animals.

The phenemenon is on the rise in that valley and elsewhere in Burgos, said Jose Manuel de las Heras, president of the local chapter of a union called the Farmers and Ranchers Coordinator. Attacks on live animals have increased since a vulture feeding station set up for farmers to dump their animal carcasses was closed several months ago.

Traditionally, farmers and rural officials designate areas to dump the carcasses of farm animals like mules so vultures could feed on them.

But there are fewer and fewer of these places, in part because of mad cow disease: it is now illegal to dump cow or any other ruminant remains at such feeding troughs, de las Heras said.

The result is that vultures are so hungry they have even shed their wariness of humans to swoop down near farms and feast on live animals like cattle and pigs, de las Heras said.

"We have seen them land 100 meters from people. They are not afraid of anything."

Hear more about it here: http://www.theworld.org/wma.php?id=0327084

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ToDo: Be a Peacemaker - Decalogue of Assisi for Peace

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:19:05 -0400

More than 200 leaders of the world’s dozen major religions got together January 24 2002 in Assisi, Italy and denounced all religious violence and unanimously agreed to make this plain, clear and bold statement to the world:

1. We commit ourselves to proclaiming our firm conviction that violence and terrorism are incompatible with the authentic spirit of religion, and, as we condemn every recourse to violence and war in the name of God or of religion, we commit ourselves to doing everything possible to eliminate the root causes of terrorism.

2. We commit ourselves to educating people to mutual respect and esteem, in order to help bring about a peaceful and fraternal coexistence between people of different ethnic groups, cultures and religions.

3. We commit ourselves to fostering the culture of dialogue, so that there will be an increase of understanding and mutual trust between individuals and among peoples, for these are the premise of authentic peace.

4. We commit ourselves to defending the right of everyone to live a decent life in accordance with their own cultural identity, and to form freely a family of his own.

5. We commit ourselves to frank and patient dialogue, refusing to consider our differences as an insurmountable barrier, but recognizing instead that to encounter the diversity of others can become an opportunity for greater reciprocal understanding.

6. We commit ourselves to forgiving one another for past and present errors and prejudices, and to supporting one another in a common effort both to overcome selfishness and arrogance, hatred and violence, and to learn from the past that peace without justice is no true peace.

7. We commit ourselves to taking the side of the poor and the helpless, to speaking out for those who have no voice and to working effectively to change these situations, out of the conviction that no one can be happy alone.

8. We commit ourselves to taking up the cry of those who refuse to be resigned to violence and evil, and we are desire to make every effort possible to offer the men and women of our time real hope for justice and peace.

9. We commit ourselves to encouraging all efforts to promote friendship between peoples, for we are convinced that, in the absence of solidarity and understanding between peoples, technological progress exposes the world to a growing risk of destruction and death.

10. We commit ourselves to urging leaders of nations to make every effort to create and consolidate, on the national and international levels, a world of solidarity and peace based on justice.

Peace from the Quantum Level

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Turn Off the Lights...Light a Candle: Earth Hour 3.29.08 20:00:00

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:40:06 -0400

This Saturday March 29th, 24 global cities will participate in Earth Hour a World Wildlife Foundation initiative to turn off the lights in cities around the world for one hour at 8pm local time.

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.

Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis and, this Saturday, a number of Chicago restaurants will participate in Chicago's Earth Hour including Cyrano's Bistrot & Wine Bar, where all lights are going out for the entire evening as they transform the dining room into a festival of candles. Four Seasons Hotel Chicago will also hold a candlelight dinner from 8-11 p.m.

If you're not in the Windy City this weekend, Several Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts are joining in and inviting local patrons and guests to dine by candlelight as an enjoyable and delicious way to observe Earth Hour together.

Earth Hour is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

Find out more about Earth Hour including tips on what you can do to reduce your impact on climate change at: http://www.earthhour.org/

Turn Off the Lights and See the Difference You Can Make!

Earth Hour 2008

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Things on Tuesday 3.25.08

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:31:02 -0400

Loathe - regrets, migraines, crazy defeatist talk, the flu, backtracking, unladylike behavior, that my best friend is having such a complicated pregnancy, the rat race, unclear intentions, working for the machine

Love - seeing my boys consciously create their lives, jill scott, every step that has led to now, loving without expectations, long sunday drives, my abundant life, the limitless sky, making new friends, red beans and rice, positive vibrations, knowing the Universe is conspiring to shower me with blessings, champagne and strawberries, the secret

Jill Scott - My Love

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International Pillow Fight Day 3.22.08

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:19:04 -0400

On Saturday March 22nd 2008, there will be massive pillow fights in cities around the world! Let out that urban aggression and Join the mob -- and as always, BYOP (Bring Your Own Pillow). The Chicago club will fight on Michigan and Monroe (outside of the Art Institute).

Bring all your fighting friends and compete for prizes for best costume and best decorated pillow!

Pillow Fight

Find or host a local pillow fight by going to: http://www.pillowfightday.com/

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ToDo: Wake Up & Create My Day

nobody@vox.com(Ms Genevieve) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:04:40 -0400

The most often referenced interview from the film What the Bleep Do We Know is Dr. Joe Dispenza's comments on creating his day. The following is the transcript of that part of the interview and the scene from the movie.

Excerpt from What the Bleep Do We Know - I Create My Day

"I wake up in the morning and I consciously create my day the way I want it to happen. Now sometimes, because my mind is examining all the things that I need to get done, it takes me a little bit to settle down and get to the point of where I'm actually intentionally creating my day. But here's the thing: When I create my day and out of nowhere little things happen that are so unexplainable, I know that they are the process or the result of my creation. And the more I do that, the more I build a neural net in my brain that I accept that that's possible. (This) gives me the power and the incentive to do it the next day.

".. then I have this little pact that I have when I create my day. I say, 'I'm taking this time to create my day and I'm infecting the quantum field. Now if (it) is in fact the observer's watching me the whole time that I'm doing this and there is a spiritual aspect to myself, then show me a sign today that you paid attention to any one of these things that I created, and bring them in a way that I won't expect, so I'm as surprised at my ability to be able to experience these things. And make it so that I have no doubt that it's come from you,'

Find out more about Dr. Joe Dispenza at: http://www.drjoedispenza.com/
Find out more about the movie at: http://www.whatthebleep.com/

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