Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking

Inspired by the book "Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking" by Susan Cain

Steve was a quiet guy.  To get out of talking, he became a monk and took a vow of silence.  At his monastery, monks had an annual review where they were allowed to say two words.  After his first year, he was asked "What would you like to say using your two words?"  Steve replied "Food Cold".   

At his second annual review, once again he was asked "What would you like to say using your two words?"  Steve replied "Bed hard"

His 3rd year passed and again the abbot asked him "What would you like to say using your two words?"

Steve said "I quit."  The abbot replied, "I'm not surprised.  Ever since you got here, you've done nothing but complain"

What is an introvert?

Why is it hard being an introvert?

How can we help introverts?

What is an Introvert

Introverts don't have a social disorder.  They just respond differently to social stimulation.  Instead of being energized by intense social interaction, they prefer a trickle charge; which they get from alone time or maybe with a close, trusted friend.

1/3 to 1/2 of the population are introverts.  There's a good chance there many of us are introverts.

How can you tell if you might be a redneck...er...introvert?

• You might be an introvert if you enjoyed timeout as a child.
• You might be an introvert if one of your favorite games is solitaire.
• You might be an introvert if you can’t understand what’s so bad about solitary confinement.
• You might be an introvert if you like it when the librarian shushes people in the library.

Introverts are just one type of person.  As you know, there are two types of people in the world: Those that divide people into two types and those that don't.

Actually, the two types are introverts and extroverts, but in reality, we all have a little bit of introvert and extrovert in us and each of us lies somewhere on the spectrum.

Introverts may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas.  They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues and family.  They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation.  They tend to dislike conflict.  Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.

Why is it hard to be an introvert?

Society identifies two types of people: extroverts and people that aren't extroverts.

It wasn't always this way.  When our communities were smaller and tighter knit, it was your reputation and character that mattered.  With the industrial age, our cities got larger.  It was hard to establish a reputation, so the outspoken extrovert got the job.

In our extroverted world, the extroverts typically end up being in charge.  But there's a problem with this.  While we are most likely to agree with the most outspoken person in the group, research shows that we tend to agree with them even when they are wrong.  Besides being wrong, we tend to ignore the introvert.

This is unfortunate since introverts tend to be more intelligent and creative.  Research shows that introverts make better leaders because they allow their employees to run with their ideas instead of suppressing creativity.

How to help an introvert

Nurture the introvert inside of you.  Embrace quiet solitude, let your mind wander and dream so that you can have amazing thoughts.  Amazing things happen when the noise of the world is shut out and the mind is given a chance to work.

But, remember:

How many introverts does it take to change a light bulb?  Only one, but 3 others show up with a light bulb; they forgot to tell anyone their plans.

Introverts are awesome, they just keep it to themselves.

Don't be like Steve the monk, taking a vow of silence and then sound like a complainer when you say your two words.

How many extroverts does it take to change a light bulb?  Only one, but they only change it if the light is going to shine on them.

For your extroverted side, remember to resist the temptation to hog the spotlight.  Identify the introverts around you.  Listen to them, and let them be creative.

Summary

Steve discovered he was an introvert.  He just didn't need much social interaction.  He found it hard to make it in our society that emphasizes and rewards extroversion.  Steve joined Toastmasters to improve his extroverted side.  His club members found him clever, smart and funny.  At first, they weren't sure if Steve liked them because he avoided small talk after the meetings.  They discovered that he did like them.  How did they know?  Instead of looking at his own shoes, Steve looked at their shoes.

Staying in Shape - Should you do CrossFit?

While walking the dogs today, I came across a group training for a Spartan Race.  They had their obstacle course set up and were really pushing themselves.  When it comes to staying in shape, it seems many think "more is better".  I decided to do a little analysis on the different approaches to staying in shape.  Call it science or math, but my analysis agrees with my experience over 50+ years.

Imagine you have achieved your ideal physical condition.  You're at a perfect weight, muscle tone, strength, etc.  To celebrate, you decided to take it easy for 100 days.  What happens?  If you did nothing, your muscles would waste away, or atrophy.  (see figure)

Of course, we are never completely inactive.  The next figure shows that our muscles would atrophy until a certain point sustained by pushing buttons on our remote controls, getting up off the sofa, opening the refrigerator door, lifting forks to our mouths, etc.  

But we miss being in shape, so every weekend we go crazy.  We hike, do yard work, ride our bike, play tennis, soccer, basketball, etc.  The figure below shows that we are doing better than our couch potato days, but still not to our ideal because we atrophy during the week.

 We make an effort and commit a little time on a regular basis.  Hit the gym 3 days a week or play tennis or whatever.  It's much less exercise than what we did on the weekend, but we keep atrophy in check and finally maintain our ideal condition (see figure).

This should be good enough for you, but then you watch an episode of American Ninja Warrior and hear your friends talk about the upcoming Spartan Race and Mud Run.  You can do it!!!  You decide to go hard core and join a local CrossFit gym.  You're working out harder than you ever have before.  It feels good!!!  After about a month, you get hurt.  You have to stop working out for a few weeks (while your muscles atrophy).  Then BAM, you're back in the gym KILLING it!!!  You get back to your peak and then you hurt yourself again.  With atrophy, you're on your way back to couch potato.  Good Job!!!  (See Figure)

So what's it going to be for you?

I want to be the Pelican

Last weekend I took my sons camping at Two Harbors campground on Catalina Island.  We enjoyed our view of the harbor from our campsite and enjoyed snorkeling in the clear water.  On our last day we hiked over to the "other" harbor.  We watched the pelicans "dive-bombing" into the water.  I don't think I've ever seen so many pelicans fishing.  We were amazed at how they could spot a fish from high up, dive, plunge into the water and come up with a fish.

Each time a pelican would come up with a fish, several annoying island birds would immediately start squawking and try to steal the fish out of the pelicans mouth.  The pelicans learned to come out of the water slowly, bringing their large bills out of the water last.  This way they could secure their catch.

I realized this was a metaphor for life.

There are those that are equipped and skilled at "catching their own fish".  These are the pelicans/producers: entrepreneurs, skilled craftsmen, tradesmen or other professionals.

Then there are those that decide to "squawk at" and take from the producers.  These are the thieves and "re-distributors".

I want to be the pelican.

I can't trust him

A while back I was coaching a boys basketball team, a group of 14-18 year old boys at church.  We would hold practices in the basketball gym at church. I tried to teach the boys basketball skills while teaching myself how to coach.  I enjoyed the experience even though it took time away from my young family.

One day I needed to leave practice early and the boys wanted to stay.  The problem was that I had the key to the building and the building needed to be locked.  I identified a boy to trust with the building key.  His parents were leaders in the church and community.  They had a large family and were very organized and responsible.  I thought I could trust him.

Next time I saw this boy I asked for the key.  "It's at home".  I kept at him, calling him several times.  Finally he admitted to me that didn't know where the key was.

What should my reaction be?  My trust was broken, so I resolved to NEVER lend a key to a teenage boy again.  They can't be trusted.  The problem is, that means that every teenage boy that I would meet for the rest of my life would be punished for the error of one boy.

It's true that teenage boys make plenty of mistakes.  But if I followed this pattern of broken trust, all teenage boys would be punished for the failings of others.  I wouldn't be able to trust a boy to wash my car, mow my lawn, walk my dogs, bag my groceries, date my daughter or grand daughter, etc.

Luckily I realized this pattern early and adopted a policy of trust first.  A key can be replaced.  A boy experiencing an unjust loss of trust and freedom can result in a lasting scar.

That's why I cringe when I hear the emotional cries for stricter laws.  Every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist.  We take our shoes off, empty our pockets and sometimes get patted down when we want to fly on an airplane.  Luckily this policy has been slightly reversed [link]

Every gun owner is a potential mass murder.  There are just as many deaths from drunk driving as there are from guns.  We tried taking away the freedom to drink and that ended up giving more power to criminals.  Why will taking away guns be better?

Laws are passed.  Signs pop up all over the place restricting access or behavior.  Is it any surprise that more and more people escape into virtual worlds of video games and social media?    

It's something to think about.

Flying to Financial Freedom

While we all consider flying to be a safe form of travel, not all flying is safe.  For example, general aviation (small planes) and space shuttles are less safe than commercial airlines.  There are principles related to flying an aircraft that relate to how you manage your finances.  Some of these principles are as follows:

• Altitude - How high you fly.
• Lift/Weight - How the wings make you lighter than air
• Propulsion - How the engine pushes you forward   

See if you can figure out the underlying financial principle.

How high you fly - Altitude

The lowest safe altitude (LSALT) is defined as 1,000 feet about any obstacle or terrain for the planned route.  Stunt pilots may like to fly low, but this is dangerous.  Obstacles (trees, power-lines, buildings) and terrain (hills, mountains) are unforgiving obstructions.  Commercial airlines fly around 35,000 feet.

A common cause of aircraft crashes is CFIT ("see-fit") or Controlled Flight Into Terrain.  That's what JFK junior did.  Basically its when the pilot doesn't see the mountain they are heading towards or don't realize that they are actually flying into the ground.

Lift/Weight

The shape of the wing is an amazing discovery.  As it slices the air, the wing creates lower pressure on top and higher pressure on the bottom to lift the airplane.  If there is a pressure change in the air, it changes the lift.  This is why turbulence (a mixture of high and low pressure) shakes a plane so much.

The weight of the plane has to be less than the lifting force from the wings in order to get off the ground.

Lift can be increased by changing the size and/or design of the wing.

The Power Plant - Propulsion

The power plant or engine is what propels the aircraft through the air, creating lift from the wings.  The more powerful the engine, the greater the lift from the wing.  Loss of power will cause the aircraft to lose altitude (fall from the sky).  For safety, many aircraft have more than one engine.

The Story

Your flying your aircraft and you decide to fly at 5,000 ft., well above the lowest safe altitude. You hit a pocket of low pressure and quickly drop to 4,000 ft.  As you increase your throttle to climb back to 5,000 ft, your engine stalls.  You're rapidly losing altitude while you try and restart the engine.  You get it restarted but now you are at only 1,500 ft.  Still, the engine doesn't have full power, so you have trouble climbing back to safe altitude.  You know a mount range is coming up, so you need to climb.  You have some heavy cargo that you push out the door.  With less weight, your able to climb back to 5,000 ft just in time to navigate a safe route through the mountain.

What does this have to do with money?

Altitude is like your savings (your "nest egg", the result of "saving for a rainy day").  Having $1000 is the lowest safe "altitude".  Having $5000 is better.  Having $35,000 results in safe travel.

The obstacles and terrain are the late fees, finance charges, interest payments, etc. that kill us when we are in debt (negative altitude or below the ground).

The loss of power that made you quickly lose altitude is the unexpected expense (car repair, doctor bill, etc.).  If you lose your savings, it takes time to rebuild it.

The power plant is your income.  The engine stalling is like losing your income (job, etc.).  It results in you burning through your savings while you try to restart it (find a new job).  A weaker engine (smaller income) reduces your ability to climb (save).

The weight is your debt and monthly obligations.  The debt load needs to be small enough for your "wings" to overcome it.

The wings are how you manage your money.  Even with a small engine (income), you can have high-lift wings that can elevate you to great heights.  This means saving more of your monthly income.

  

Solar powered airplane after flying 24 hours up to 29,000 ft altitude

Global Warming Update: Polar Bears vs. Melting Glaciers

Let's discuss two concerns regarding the changing climate:  endangered Polar Bears vs. Melting Glaciers.

Which do you think is the biggest problem?

The findings may surprise you.

	Fear	Reality
Polar Bears	The extinction of the polar bears could upset the entire ecosystem of the Arctic and may represent a "canary in the gold mine" scenario.  If they are wiped out, what species is next?	There are 20-25,000 polar bears and the populations have been stable for 30-40 years.  Many areas use hunting to keep the populations in check.  The biggest threat to polar bears right now is hunters. [1]
Melting Glaciers	The melting of glaciers is a serious problem.  The areas of the glaciers will be turned into deserts and the oceans will rise and flood islands and shoreline.	The glaciers have been melting since the end of the Little Ice Age 400-500 years ago and will melt even without Global Warming. "There is high confidence that current glacier extents are out of balance with current climatic conditions, indicating that glaciers will continue to shrink in the future even without further temperature increase." [2]

I think that a bigger risk than endangerment of polar bears and melting glaciers is the lack of honesty in the climate change discussion.  This disregard for reality creates skeptics.  If climate change is real and a risk for our futures, let's be honest about it so that we can work together to figure out a solution.

References:
[1] http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/polar-bear
Two months ago I reviewed the World Wildlife Foundation website regarding Polar Bears.  It clearly stated that the polar bear populations have been stable for the last 30-40 years and that hunting is used for population control.  The website has been redesigned and this information is no longer available.  The primary focus is on the risks of Climate Change.  The previous site had a map of subpopulations showing which ones were increasing in population, which were stable and which were decreasing.  The new site only states that 8 of 19 subpopulations are in decline.  Here is the old graphic (which I luckily saved)

[2] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Technical Summary for 2013 regarding melting glaciers.  http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_TS_FINAL.pdf  page 41

Average = Beautiful?

Tom's stroke resulted in very specific brain damage.  In every way he was normal except in his ability to connect names with things.  When asked to draw a picture of a rose, what he drew was definitely a flower, but his flower didn't exist on earth.  The type of flower he drew was actually a rare glimpse into the human brain; it was the "average" of all flowers he had ever seen.  The way our brain remembers things is to create a composite picture of the "type" of thing.  Seeing new flowers is simply processing the differences.  Our brains do the same thing with faces.

In separate research, a number of photographs of faces is averaged using a computer.  The mouth, nose and eyes are average size.  The eyes are an average distance apart, etc.  Most people find the resulting "average" face more attractive than any of the original faces.

In the context of both of these ideas, the phrase "easy on the eyes" makes sense.  Someone with an attractive face resembles the average in our brain and requires less brain power for processing; literally their face is "easier" to look at.

So this got me thinking about the broader context.  What about people that look different from our "average"?  Is it really that they are "unattractive" or is it that our "average" is too narrowly focused?  If this applies to flowers and faces, can it also apply to ideas and beliefs?  What would happen if you had a greater diversity of people you associated with and exchanged ideas with?

References
The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human, V. S. Ramachandran
Try averaging faces yourself here: http://faceresearch.org/demos/average
More info here: http://faceresearch.org/students/averageness

Scarcity: Avoid the squeeze by building slack

We all remember our mom telling us to “Eat your vegetables!  Don’t you know there are starving kids in Africa?”  I always thought that scarcity was a far away problem.  I was wrong.  While hunger and poverty are scarcity of food and money, being too busy is a scarcity of time.  Having too much stuff is a scarcity of order.  Loneliness is a scarcity of sociability.  Obesity, drug addiction, violence are manifestations of the scarcity we live in. 

'Eat Me' Cake or 'Drink me' Potion

In Alice in Wonderland, Alice finds a bottle of potion with a tag that reads "Drink Me".  She drinks the potion and becomes too small to reach the key she left on the table. She then finds a small cake with a tag that reads "Eat Me".  She takes a bite and becomes so large her head hits the ceiling and she starts to cry.

We all are afraid of being too small, and so we've been convinced to eat the cake.  Now we are so large, it is making us miserable.   In "The Power of Vulnerability", Brene Brown writes "We're not rich enough, good enough, safe enough, certain enough, perfect enough, extraordinary enough".  The result is that we have got ourselves into a scarcity trap.

Scarcity Trap

We require mental bandwidth: time and energy to think, plan and decide.  When we make decisions that result in scarcity such as using our time or money unwisely, we can end in this trap.  We then focus on immediate, urgent demands and ignore more important decisions ("Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much", by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir).   

Slack and avoiding the Squeeze

In the book Scarcity there's an example of packing a suitcase.  If your suitcase is too small, you need to spend a lot of time (bandwidth) packing it just right and thinking about what to pack or leave home.  If your suitcase is large, you can throw in whatever you want.  You have "slack".   Slack is what frees up people to not have to spend time worrying about the little things.  Wealthy people have financial slack.  

The problem is that we tend to try and "squeeze" as much out of life as possible.  In "Antifragile: things that gain from disorder", Nassim Taleb writes about the high cost of "squeeze".  Being 15 minutes early to the airport (slack) costs 15 minutes.  Being 15 minutes late to the airport (squeeze) costs time, money, stress.  Squeeze occurs when people have no choice but to do something, do it right away, regardless of the cost.  We need the "potion" with the tag "drink me" to shrink our life and create slack.

Here are some things I've been trying to do to increase slack in my life:

• Don't stay up late trying to get that one, last thing done (squeeze).  Instead go to bed early (slack).
• Instead of worrying whether the payment due today is going to bounce (squeeze), keep a large balance in your checking account (slack) .
• Instead of waiting to the last minute to get ready, hurrying, worrying that you'll hit traffic, and arriving stressed out (squeeze), leave early with enough time to account for traffic (slack) 
• When you push yourself, you'll feel tension in your shoulders, back, face, or wherever (squeeze).  This is the time to take a break and think about if you really have to push yourself so hard and strategize about how to avoid this pressure in the future (slack).
• If you're doing something that you can do alone (checking your Facebook, email, text messages, etc.) (squeeze), drop it when you have a chance to interact with real people (slack).  

Do you have any more suggestions?

Supernatural?

Attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.

Do you believe in the supernatural?  Let's see.

Science has a high degree of confidence in evolution as explaining the richness of life on Earth.  This is attributed to the engine of life: the mechanism used for replication genetic material in creating new cells and organisms, as well as the creation of specialized cells for nerves, skin, muscle, blood, etc. and for growing these specialized cells into complicated organisms.  Science is achieving a greater understanding of how this engine of life works, but where it came from is one of the great mysteries of science.

Conclusion: How genes/DNA originated is beyond scientific understanding.

One of the laws of nature is related to entropy; the tendency for things to become more disordered.  Left unattended, paint fades and peels; buildings crumble; rocks and mountains erode into sand and dust.  Life, on the other hand, creates order from chaos.  Plants organize dirt into beautiful, elaborate structures; trees, flowers, etc.  Animals create populations of sophisticated hunter gatherers.  People create living habitats in inhospitable locations.  

A volcano erupts, destroying all life for miles.  This is entropy at work.  In a short period of time, slowly life reclaims this land, first with plants, then trees, then animal life.   Life defies entropy.

Conclusion: Life is a force that defies the laws of nature.

Go outside.  Everywhere you look you see life or signs of it.  It's hard to find anywhere on Earth where life doesn't exist.  Life is supernatural.  The creations of the genetic engine, the source of which is beyond scientific understanding and the demonstration that the laws of nature can be defied.

Why I Changed My Mind About the Vietnam War

It seemed that all that I've heard has lead me to believe that the Vietnam War was a big mistake and a waste of lives.  This was reinforced by a memory of a Vietnam Vet I would see often near where I worked.  He would walk up and down the sidewalk and spontaneously burst out yelling incoherent words.  It only made sense that such a mistake as the Vietnam War would result in mental distress for its participants.

Then someone joined our carpool.  A young Vietnamese engineer.  I was very impressed with him.  Masters Degree in Engineering, respected professional, savvy investor, well read, etc.  As I got to know him better, and respect him, I decided to ask his opinion of the Vietnam War.  His reply shocked me.  "I think it is great that the United States got involved".  Why?  His father was one of the Boat People that were refugees after the U.S. left Vietnam and the communists took over.  I remember hearing about the Boat People on the news at the time, but I never connected with their plight on an emotional level.  My friend's grandfather was a political prisoner and died in prison.  I didn't ask any more questions.  I assumed he was glad that the U.S. involvement opened the opportunity for him to come to America.

Recently I asked again about his father.  He told me to search "Boat People Archives" on the internet, where many people had recorded their stories.  I did and couldn't make it past the first YouTube video.  I found out that 1.5 million people fled Vietnam after the U.S. left, and that 500,000 perished.  There are makeshift graves all over south eastern Asia.  It had a similar impact that I experienced when I went through the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, D.C.  The feeling was an overwhelming sense of tragedy.  Why haven't we heard more about this?

Today, I asked my friend another question "Were the Boat People fleeing a known fear or unknown fear".  Here in the United States, it seems like most of our fears are unknown.  We feared the Affordable Care Act before we experienced the consequences.  We fear the wrong candidate being elected.  We fear Global Warming.  My question was really "Did the people flee because of what the communists might do, or was it because of something they already did?"  He said most all of them fled because of what happened: their property was seized and everything was taken from them.  He then told me a little more of his families story.  His grandparents and parents were wealthy.  His father was drafted in the war and fought for the south.  He is very proud of his service fighting against the communists.  After the war, he returned home and the communists gradually infiltrated the South, confiscating property and arresting enemies.  My friend's grandfather was sent to prison where he died.  The grandparent's home and parent's home were next to each other, so whenever the troops would do midnight searches for "traitors", his father would sneak over the wall back to his parents house.  Only his mother and aunts lived there.  Finally, his father fled the country on a boat and eventually was able to bring his family over.  After hearing this, I said "You have an amazing family heritage".  And I decided to write this post.

Technology and the Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant

In the parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant, each man feels a different part of the elephant and when ask what an elephant is, responds

• "An elephant is like a rope" (the tail)
• "An elephant is like the trunk of a tree" (the leg)
• "An elephant is a wall" (the body)
• "An elephant is like a spear" (the tusks)
• "An elephant is like a hose" (the trunk)

Nature provides us many amazing things and our finite human minds are sometimes like the blind men.  We can't always see how all of the pieces fit together.  A classic example is early attempts at using baby formulas.  The percentage method was used to achieve what was thought to be the correct ratios of nutrition for baby formula.  The result was scurvy, rickets, and other dietary related diseases. [1] .  It would be like using just the right ratio of rope, tree trunks, walls, spears and hoses to try and duplicate an elephant.

Eventually baby formula was improved, but mother's milk is generally accepted as the best for infants.

Still, we continue to look to technology to solve our problems.  I'm not saying all technology is bad.  I'm saying that technology has advantages and disadvantages and we might not be fully aware of the unintended side effects.  Rather that write an exhaustive thesis about this, I decided to share drawings that show a modern twist to the parable of the "Elephant and the Blind Men".  Please "like" on Facebook and "tweet" or "text" to a friend.

A caveman and a vegan walk into a bar...

Whenever I have what I think is a clever idea, I search it in Google and find that someone has usually done it better.  You can see what I mean here "a-caveman-and-a-vegan-walk-into-a-bar".  This is part 2 from a previous post on the subject of healthy eating (Orthorexia)

Vegan-like

A good friend tried to convert me to living on a plant based diet.  I don't use the word vegan, since it carries a political/religious-like connotation.  My friend is an engineer and presented an abundance of scientific evidence for his diet.  The main conclusion: we are not carnivores nor omnivores; we are instead herbivores.  Something about the length of my intestines and something about the physiology of pigs; I don't remember all of the details.  The enemy for him was cholesterol and he managed to get his cholesterol levels to negative 100 (I know there is no negative, but it seemed unhealthy to me, especially since he looked unhealthy).

Paleo Diet

I recently watched the documentary "The Perfect Human Diet".  They had a paleo-archeo-anthropological-dietary-geneticist person who did spectroscopic analysis of the stuff in caveman bones and said we resembled prehistoric carnivores (wolves, etc) more than prehistoric herbivores (deer, etc).  They did a distracting comparison with a football field where they said the last 1/2 inch represents modern history, and the previous 100 yards represents 2 million years.  The conclusion: we should eat like cavemen, or at least what the producers say that cavemen eat.

"Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food"

In the book Omnivore's Dilema, the author (Michael Pollan) makes an interesting point (before he totally freaked me out about the food industry).  Herbivores and carnivores don't think "Should I have Pizza, Mexican, Chinese food?"  Instead they eat what they are meant to eat.  Panda's eat bamboo and lions eat other animals.  The problem is that if they run out their usual diet, they starve.  Being an omnivore is much better since we are flexible and can eat almost anything [1].  The challenge isn't so much finding food, it's deciding if eating it will kill us.  Apparently we evolved our big brains to help us make this decision.  

It seems our "food rejection circuitry" is still active in-spite of an abundance of edible stuff.  The result is that just about all food gets a bad grade from someone: 

• Vegans say all animal protein is bad (meat, eggs, dairy)
• Paleo diet people say grains, beans are bad
• Dietitians say to avoid processed foods
• Scientists say that fresh produce grown with pesticides is bad.

There's not much left over to eat.  Fruit and nuts, I think.

Michael Pollan also wrote "In Defense of Food".   It's a much more balanced, reasonable approach to healthy eating for us omnivores.  Personally, I like the title.

Until science figures it all out, I guess I'll just stick with "The Word Of Wisdom" written 180 years ago.

True Californian

Years ago, I drove an airport shuttle at the Los Angeles airport while putting myself through college.  I met interesting people from all over the country.  One of my passengers was from Ohio.  He had long, wavy, bleach blond hair.  He had a Hawaiian shirt on, baggy shorts and flip flops.  I seem to remember a guitar swung over his shoulder, but I think he was just carrying a guitar case.  He was so excited to be in Southern California.

He took a look at me and asked where I was from.  I was wearing long pants and a dark blue polo shirt with the "Super Shuttle" logo.  My hair was cut short in a conservative style and I wore glasses.  I said I was from California.  He had a look of shock on his face.  I was an enigma in his California fantasy.  His reply "No way!".

I was born in Redondo Beach, the same place the Beach Boys sang about in the song "Surfin' U.S.A."  I grew up 1.5 miles from the beach.  My mother was born in Southern California.  "Yes way! I'm Californian".

So let's address a couple of myths:

1. Surfing.  Not all Californians surf.  I like the beach, swimming in the waves, body surfing.  I didn't even try to surf until I was 40 years old.  I'm no good at it and don't have a desire to spend the time learning.

2. Partying.  I'm talking about drinking-until-you're-stupid partying.  I enjoy hanging out, having fun, socializing.  I've never had a drink in my life.  I know a lot of people (other Californians) in the same boat.

3. Hollywood.  I always rolled my eyes when the naive tourist would get in my van and say "Take me to Hollywood!".  You don't want to stay in Hollywood.  It's not very nice.  All the images of Southern California are usually, Santa Monica, Venice, or Malibu.

4. Liberals. Yes there are liberals in California.  My history teacher when I was a freshman in high school wouldn't say the pledge of allegiance.  But, there are also many conservatives.  There are a lot of great, conservative families with good fathers (absent in most of all TV shows and movies), loving mothers, and normal kids.

5. California is about to suffer a financial collapse.  A couple years ago I met a guy on vacation from Louisiana.  He was shocked to see so many expensive cars and homes.  All he heard on the news was how messed up California was.  The truth is that there is A LOT OF WEALTH in California.  There is also a lot of successful companies.

6. Everyone is rich.  On the other end of the spectrum, is the assumption that everyone is wealthy.  That's not true either.  I've known many people who have been out of work for over a year at one time or another.  There are a lot of people struggling to get by in California.

Conclusion: There's more to California than meets the eye.