mjh's blog

John Irving: "Dropping dead at my desk, writing, seems like a pretty good idea to me." on NPR

He’s 70. Started his next novel on Christmas Eve, 2011. Always writes the ending first. It’s easy to foreshadow when you know how things are going to end.

A Better Way to Assess Body Fat and Health Risk?

Waist to height ratio is much easier to calculate than BMI — and easier to track changes.

A Better Way to Assess Body Fat and Health Risk?

"Keeping your waist circumference to less than half your height can help increase life expectancy for every person in the world," says researcher Margaret Ashwell, PhD, of Ashwell Associates, in Hertfordshire, England.

Calling waist-to-height ratio a "one-size-fits-all approach," Ashwell says that it should replace BMI and waist circumference alone as a way to assess body fat and health risks everywhere.

A Better Way to Assess Body Fat and Health Risk?

It’s like a hurricane without any moisture — damn unbearable all day long.

Gah! Arg! [bites arm and screams]

» Unhinged (a seasonal poem) by mark justice hinton

» Wind Makes Crazy (a timely poem) by mark justice hinton

Recycling on Earth Day

I’ve been recycling pieces of this Earth Day blog entry for 10 years.

“Because of all the places within a year’s ride of here, this is the only place to be.” — World Party

Happy Earth Day, Everyone!

Some say the “Environmental Movement” has itself become a corporation indistinguishable from its foes. Some say that “the people” no longer trust “the movement.” Some even say the movement is irrelevant because everyone is an environmentalist now. Yeah, that last one is especially funny.

Whatever bits of truth float in those views, all of us are coming to realize how fucked up the World has made the Earth. We see the climate change, and the severity of destruction it spawns. We see the diseases that may very well be Earth’s antibodies against humans. We see the end of the Era of Fossil Fuels and the shorter-term sputters of that dying system. We have a good sense of what is wrong, how we play into that, and how we are going to be part of the change. We all *know* that in a single lifetime everything will change dramatically. Our house is on fire. mjh

PS: Wow — I used that analogy 10 months before Al Gore used it. (4/22/06)

mjh’s blog — Hug a Hippie

I nest between a great river and greater mountains beneath a stunning sky. I think Frank Zappa said it best when he said, “It’s fucking great to be alive.” (There goes my parental rating. Sorry, kids.)

It’s not that I’m always high on life. It is obvious that it is far easier — more natural — for humans to destroy than preserve. And the End of Days are going to be hideous and slow. But, optimist that I am, I believe the Earth will rebound and return without out the infection of humankind. (To our successors: Learn from our mistakes, even though we could not.)

Thirty-eight years ago, Earth Day began as an extension of the hippie movement. Yes — thank the hippies! Thank the liberals. Thank Tricky Dick Nixon — whose daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, supports Obama — for bowing to democracy momentarily to support the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Endangered Species Act. Every one of those things *infuriates* the Radically Wrong, who would condemn Nixon for his liberalism. (Such insanity may be a consequence of environmental degradation, ironically.)

Peace, love and happiness,

mjh

mjh’s blog — Hug a Hippie

mjh’s blog — How Some People Celebrated Earth Day (updated 5/8/07)

As I do every other day, I walked Lucky Dog around the neighborhood park today. Our park has two soccer fields, both of which are in use most Saturdays and, maybe, Sundays. Today, all around the two fields, I picked up small water bottles thoughtlessly tossed on the ground by players or fans (parents). We tell ourselves many lies, one of which is that “sports build character and discipline.” The evidence of that litters fields all over the world. Another lie: “environmental consciousness has become mainstream.” Or any kind of consciousness, for that matter.

To all the coaches, referees and parents: how about a post-game sweep of the field to clean-up? Show some leadership, teach some discipline, encourage some character. To the athletes: it’s up to you to keep your world from becoming a pigsty. mjh

PS: original blog entry 04/23/07; printed in abqjournal.com 5/8/07

mjh’s blog — How Some People Celebrated Earth Day (updated 5/8/07)

mjh’s blog — A Finger in the Eye

Billboards are a finger in the eye. An erect middle finger. A billboard is a selfish and cowardly statement. It says anonymously, “my profit is more important than the environment.” It places personal gain ahead of community values. Every billboard in the world should be pulled down by angry mobs.

Isn’t this picture beautiful? Doesn’t it make you proud to live in New Mexico? The mighty Tijeras Arroyo is already doomed by Mesa del Sold. In the meantime, enjoy the view. As you drive this stretch with its dozen billboards, notice most are for Clear Channel, the owners of most billboards. Buy stock and demand they get out of this business.

Farther south, Isleta shows what Indians really think of Mother Earth, with their dozens of billboards north of Los Lunas. No stoic native with a tear in his eyes at the sight of all the garbage — those are dollar signs.

Where’s your shame? mjh

mjh’s blog — A Finger in the Eye

Earth Day 2002

I celebrated Earth Day idling in line at the drive-up window. As I burned my part of the world’s resources, I waited for chemical-laden beef raised on clear-cut forest land, served with genetically modified potatoes grown in the desert, watered by rapidly melting polar icecaps. On the radio, the president called for arctic drilling. On the TV, the vice-president called for nuclear power plants. On my cell phone, I called for replacement batteries for my laptop, my digital camera, my CD player, my pacemaker. On my palm-pilot, I wrote “need to get away.” I used a search engine to look for a campground with hook-ups, preferably near a convenience store. mjh

The Dell Debacle – Verified by Visa

I’ve lived at my current address for nearly 25 years. I’ve had my Visa card for nearly 30 years. In all that time, I’ve had two phone numbers until very recently. I don’t recall my phone number ever being a problem when using my Visa.

Two nights ago, I decided to buy a touchscreen monitor as part of my research for my book, Windows 8 for Seniors.  After an hour online, I decided to buy a Dell monitor. I’ve owned several Dell computers. Merri loves her aging Studio Hybrid (no longer made).

Amazon couldn’t match Dell’s $30 discount or free 3 year warranty, so I decide to buy directly from Dell. I remember when Dell’s website was state of the art and extremely useful. Not so much anymore. I stepped through half a dozen marketing screens to buy my one item. I agonized over whether to spend $25 for one day delivery (I did). Several screens later, I learned that meant 1 day after shipping but that shipping would be in a week. Good grief. That really made me appreciate Amazon’s onscreen message that if I buy an item within x hours, I can have it the next day – not the day after a week from now. (As well as Amazon OneClick and Prime.) I grimaced and went on.

I filled in all the required information for billing and shipping. I noticed something I don’t remember seeing before: a phone number for the billing address. For quite some time, I’ve used my Google Voice number for purchases. However, Visa doesn’t have that number, so I entered the most likely number.

On the next screen, Verified by Visa appeared. As I understand it, this comes from my credit card issuer and is direct communication between us to guarantee that only I am making a purchase. I now wonder if Verified by Visa means anything, at least to Dell.

A confirmation screen appeared, followed by confirmation email. A week and a day from now, I would have my monitor. I went to bed.

The next morning, a new email alerted me that there was a problem processing my order, but not the nature of the problem. I checked the website, which only indicated my order was “in process.” I looked for an email address for customer service; no luck. Reluctantly, I clicked the Chat Now link. The resulting Web page informed this service is only available during certain hours. But it was within those hours, so why didn’t chat work? Sigh.

I girded my loins and called the 800 number. Richard answered. I gave him customer number, order number, and purchase number. I recited every bit of my address. I confirmed the last 4 digits of my Visa number. After a long pause, Richard said there was a problem with my billing address. That’s not possible, I said. Then give me the correct billing information, he said. I have. I did on the website. It was Verified by Visa. I’m sorry, he said (and sounded sincere). I don’t know why he didn’t offer to give me to a supervisor, except that he probably gets demerits for such.

I felt like screaming on a street corner, so I tweeted, “@Dell threw away a sale. My billing address is incorrect? They’re wrong. Take a lesson from Amazon, for gawd’s sake!” Minutes later, @Dell replied, “@mjhintonNM Sorry to hear about that! Hoping our @DellCares team on twitter can assist you with your order. We value your business!” Hey, that’s a positive step. Or so I thought before half a dozen direct messages with @DellCares (Scott). I emailed Scott all my billing address info. Eventually, I learned that there may have been a problem with my phone number and that “a Credit Card specialist” should take care of it.

I said to Scott, as I said to Richard and to you: it shouldn’t be this hard. Eighteen hours after Verified by Visa, three nice Dell employees couldn’t fix this. That’s enough time. I have a book to write and I have a touchscreen already, purchased hassle-free with my 30 year old Visa card.

Hyperpolyglots with “a restless linguistic promiscuity” — admirable, enviable

I’ve never heard of “hyper”-polyglots. Wondering now about hyperpolymaths and hyperpolyhistors. [hat tip to dangerousmeta]

A Teenage Master of Languages Finds Online Fellowship – NYTimes.com

By JOHN LELAND

Published: March 9, 2012

[A] small but vibrant subculture of language geeks, one made possible only by the Internet.

The linguist Michael Erard, in a recent book called “Babel No More: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners,” describes these autodidacts as a “neural tribe,” joined not by common language but by a restless linguistic promiscuity. As English dominance has made it possible to navigate more and more of the world with just one language, these hyperpolyglots are no longer isolated in their passion for learning dozens or more. …

Do you know what ergativity is?” he asked her, referring to a property of some languages, including Hindi, by which a verb’s subject changes case when the verb is intransitive. [mjh: damn!] …

One day, discussing Turkish, he asked a visitor if he knew what an agglutinative language was. (It is a language in which new words are created by adding prefixes and suffixes.)  …

Hyperpolyglots have been the objects of curiosity at least since the 19th century, when Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti of Bologna was said to have mastered more than 50 languages. For nearly as long, people have debated whether their ability was innate or learned.

A Teenage Master of Languages Finds Online Fellowship – NYTimes.com

The day Internet porn ended

In the interest of fairness, Rush Limbaugh released his own sex tape today. “Who wants to watch a lumpy wanker shake is limp wang at a JC Penney’s ad while chanting, ‘Come on, Viagra!’?,” wrote the one volunteer brave enough to watch the video, in his suicide note. Overnight, the Internet crashed as ditto-heads uploaded their own wank-flicks.