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"Short Notes" | will's diary pages ARCHIVES: jan 2000 | feb 00 | mar 1-16 00 | mar 17-31 00 | apr 10-16 00 
15 april 00 |
Gardening Time Again
|| This time my own stepmom has
beat me to the punch and sent me a seed packet for starters.
The package promises "the longest, straightest, hardest
cucumber of all". Prompting me to wonder aloud what ma's thinking
these days. We plan on growing them, though I remain skeptical of
how they might hold up in the pickling process | On other garden notes,
the Rhododendron are about to bloom, Forsythia is well along, and all the
other conventional spring flowers for domestic southern New England are
up and out already.
WTO | IMF | World Bank || The demonstrations in Washington are interesting for what they represent. Finally a voice is acknowledged, even if still outside the doors, that insists on accountablility from those who decide on the economic directions of the planet. Poor nations demanding participation; affluent idealistic college kids angry at social injustice; labor rights groups insisting on coming to the table. Don't think 
I've recalled such a collection since Vietnam era. Nice of the media to notice. But don't
expect CNBC or the USA based network moguls to do much in-depth reportage on this, however. Instead you'll have to rely on places such as
Pacifica Foundation's news page
can keep you up to date. Once there, bookmark the page for a fresh non-corporate perspective on
world events.
USA military homophobia has to some day be addressed. Surely the issue isn't just about
fags in shower rooms (not when one considers how many "straight guys" seem to
enjoy getting blow jobs from homos, even to the point of sometimes forcing some homos to, ahem, "help out" those
frustrated hetero soldiers with their shower-room urgencies, not
ours). Anyway, I saw the above bumper sticker posted on another site and had to
share it with the rest of you. That's all for now.
14 april 00 |
I really don't feel like writing about the Connecticut Governor's Blue Ribbon
Commission on Mental Health, but I must. I'm just too frustrated over listening
to the treaters (the docs and self-appointed gatekeepers to the System)
and their totally incoherent blather of pseudo-academic psychobabble
["focusing on new treatment techonolgies" and "synergizing the
clinical dynamic"]. These people still don't get it.
If they are talking about new meds then just say so dammit!.For the Commission's charge to be successful it requires gaining the trust of the general public. Now~ there are few things that more swiftly engender distrust than being forced to listen to a handful hyper-verbose idiots who can't speak clearly. Using military-style doublespeak and "code words" only serves to foster distrust and conveys the strong impression that such speakers really don't know what they are talking about (even if they do know what they want to say, but lack the ability to effectively communicate). Let's be honest here. When it comes to treating complex mental disabilities / disorders, NONE OF US really have a clue as to what really works and what doesn't or why. So come clean boys. You really haven't a clue either!!! In venues such as this, honesty is more important than fluff and bluster. The other frustrating component arising from trying to work with such a group [note I'm being careful not to say "professionals" here] is the almost total disregard toward and virtual ignorance of the reality of recovery from long term psych disabilities. And this is troubling for it implies a certain level of arrogance. And Arrogance (or the appearance of such) is a trait that, ultimately, is destructive and harmful to the collective good of all. 
More on Turkish wrestlers The site that got the Turkish Wrestling Federation all upset
started out just innocently letting the world know about their website. Who would have known the commotion they'd
start up? So go visit the Turkish Bear Website, better known as AYILAR.net. Can you say "Vuf"? ||
My son Gareth and I spoke last winter about doing an Amish webpage for April  1st but never really got around to it. Luckily, we found
that some folks have already developed some decent 'Amish' sites so they are cited here. One is how to circumvent
the avoidance of technology and be able to go online with
The Amish Laptop.
After you've gone online, you can also look up the famous trio of musicians known as the
Electric Amish. Search around this site and look for the nude beach photo. Had me laughing enough to almost
wake up Bruce. Finally, I also located a site if you were seriously looking for info, there's the Amish FAQ Page ||
Next, a couple of real synapse firers~ There's adult content here folks,  but we're not talking nekkid pictures; we're talking the necessity to
get your brain out of storage and actually think! (and Gawd, does that ever feel good!!!). First, the
Spread Eagle Ranch. You'll have to look at the
landscape here to see what it is that I like. Hard to pick just one thing. Well designed. Entertaining reads, a photo album section that didn't just look
like your average thumbnails formats (tho' can a really belive that Che Guevera is part of the family?). Oh, and a links page,
not large in size, but definitely impressive in scope || And then there's
2600: The Hacker Quarterly which
provides some entertaining examples of famous pages they'd
like to hack but didn't. Check out the White House page.
Hackers are intersting folks. I'm not certain I agree with them tactically, but when the end product
is satire, it can really be on the mark. ||
Finally, there's public health to think about. Two jam-packed sites include The Virtual Naval Hospital (check out the Providers info page in particular) and the Well Digger's Workstation ||
11 april 00 |
Getting back on track ||
While there is much to add, I haven't the time to do this right now. What you can expect to see later on
(probably as soon as tonight) are ruminations about the CT Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Mental Health,
some thoughts on "getting organized" and, maybe, a new pen & ink sketch.In the meantime, (and to freely borrow from David Gwynne web journal keeper extraordinaire), here are some things that intrigue, irk or inspire me. You can guess which is which: First, some useful mental health sites • A psychiatrist speaks against managed care Marcio V. Pinheiro MD 
•
Shewire another outspoken feminist site that scrutinizes what happens to your rights when becoming a psychiatric patient ~basically, you lose them!
• an altogether undernoticed perspective again asking are mental patients more violent than others? This item says "No, that's not the case." to that idea. Thank God someone is speaking out against false stereotypes! Wish more people would speak out. • a site listed on the rondak psyche pages diverse and ex-patient developed website Mental Health Matters • and, finally, VIP Therapy, a unique and different perspective to relationships with psychotherapists Volunteers in Psychotherapy Mind you, what has got me going on this today is the gross pandering to fear perpetrated by politicians, by cushily comfortable media taking heads, and some altogether absolutely scary individuals who hide behind clinical titles while pursuing a control freak's social agenda. Take E Fuller Torrey for instance, a man whom (back in the early 1980s) I once believed presented some valid critiques against the mental health treatment system, but who now "advocates" to forcibly treat people whom he identifies as "non-compliant" (those who oppose him may consider themselves fighting against unwanted emotional/psychic mental abuse). Now working under contract for the USA Department of Defense, he also promotes his own fear pandering through the auspices of the so-called Treatment Advocacy Center. To get a more reasoned perspective, check the lengthy list of more credible resources compiled at MadNation's website 
Other things of curiosity • Reuters let us know the other day that the Turkish Wrestling pros don't want homos as spectators at competitions (huh? as if this has never happened). What then? I suppose not a single one of the judges never had anything but the purest of motives for wanting to watch these burly, sweaty, greased up muscular men grabbing into one another's pants, eh? Anyway, here's some sites that show everyone what the judges want to look at with no homosexuals around to compete with the judges. Bibollet's Kirkpinar pictures and Lawrence Grecco's TURKS Oh avert thine eyes from temptation! • The IRS! Finally, almost have my taxes done. They will certainly be postmarked before April 15th. Got all confused on deferred income which is not taxable, but try to find an easy way to learn which forms to use in order to determine this. Paperwork reduction my eye! 
• Man Eating Bugs
On the lighter side, I came across this site which helps talk show hosts come up with offbeat guests,
such as someone who has developed spaghetti made from mealworms (karmic justice, eh? after eating up all your flour)
or a speaker who is ready to tell us about "the lies behind UFOs." No lie! So next time you have a couple of
thousand dollars to spare and need an interesting speaker... try this site.
Global Warming For those of you who think just because we still have 
snowstorms and freezing temperatures that Global warming is some eco-fanatic's
hysteria, some sobering data is provided by
Worldwatch Institute that
identifies how rapidly glaciers and the polar ice caps are melting.
Once you are through at Worldwatch's site take a peek at
Rice University's site on the study of Antarctica and glaciers and what all of this means to the
global ecosystem.Related to Antartica, I just learned from my friend Emmett Dwyer that he is willing to have be upload his very comprehensive list of books and articles on the Arctic and Antarctic regions to my Remote Places pages. This will be an honor to add to the site. Watch for it. ARCHIVES: may - sep '99 | nov - dec '99 | jan 2000 | feb 00 | mar 1-16 00 | mar 17-31 00 | apr 10-16 00 by way of clarification... || favorite pages Catch you on the rebound! ~Will Brady |
Go to: mental health homo ruminations rondak.org web essayists Media / Journals / e'Zines about "Short Notes" "Short Notes" was the title of a column I wrote while working for a newspaper in the Adirondack Mountains some years ago. The format was similar to what you'll find here, except augmented with pictures and maps. The subject matter shall sometimes be personal, at other times comments on events or situations of which I am aware. Comments, suggestions welcomed but not always acted upon. search engines I hope you've found this site interesting, even thought provoking || Occasionally some images come from commercial sources and are reproduced here under fair use guidelines of US Copyright law || Please don't write to me about the content of other peoples' sites linked from here || On the other hand, please let me know of any inactive links || Constructive comments, suggested links to add, are welcome. This website is maintained by Will Brady / wbrady@connix.com / Last update: see most recent entry |
