10/10/10 stands for so many things: Some people are choosing to get married, some are choosing to celebrate being cancer-free or the lives of those they lost to cancer (October is Breast Cancer Awareness month), some people are deciding for whom to cast their vote for governor and other state or local candidates, and still others are joining forces to demand non-genetically modified foods be available today and in the future. Interestingly, all of these represent decisions -- choices -- that we as individuals make, but have impact on the global level. When we make these seemingly individual choices (or when we fail to make choices) we affect the future health of our partners, our children, our pets; the prevalence of cancer and other diseases, allergies and syndromes; the future of the U.S. health care system and the food production system (and their inextricable link); our (U.S.) relationship with our global partners (i.e. other countries).
Amidst all these decisions and choices we have to make, one stands out on 10/10/10 that may not have the awareness of breast cancer, or political candidates, or the financial and health care crisis in the U.S. But it should, because GM foods (genetically modified) act as a thread that pulls all of these and many other issues together for us all, thus it should demand our attention.
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With the recent hubbub over picture books, I thought it timely to look at the latest technology that takes picture books to an entirely new level -- the vook. A vook blends the text of a book, with video, audio, and Internet linking to enhance the content. With this innovation, your child can read the book, listen to narration, watch videos, connect with the author and friends -- all on one device -- without switching between platforms. Vooks can be viewed on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad by downloading as an app through the Apple iTunes store. Or view it on any web brower by purchasing it through the Vook online store.
A search at the Vook site shows 20 titles in the children's category, ranging from The Three Little Pigs, Humpty Dumpty, and The Frog Prince, to The Sherlock Holmes Experience, the Phantom of the Opera, and The Lincoln Letters. In helping your child choose a vook, you'll find a description, author bio, publisher and filmmaker details, and reviews. In most cases, your child can be the first to write a review. The handiest feature at the site is the video trailer that provides an immediate look and feel for what's "inside" each vook.
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Cross posted from thenation.com
When a football player, standing by himself, points a finger to the sky, he is usually either giving praise to God or stating, if you were unaware of this fact, that he is indeed number one. Other players have also been known to raise a different finger in fits of self expression. But last night when two teams, billed as bitter enemies, walked onto the field before the start of the NFL season, holding a finger in the air, you knew that this wasn't business as usual. As the national anthem ended, the defending Super Bowl Champs New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings raised their finger in a gesture directly aimed at the fans and the owners, and the message was clear: "WE are one. We aren't opponents who want to rip our heads off on the field. We are unionists locked in a bitter labor battle against 32 of the most powerful people in the United States, and we will not be moved." On the NFL's website, the heading for this particular clip reads, "Players show solidarity."
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The Oval Office has been renovated, and five quotes chosen by President Obama now ring the circle in the new carpet. One of those quotes is "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself," Franklin Roosevelt's declaration in his second inaugural address that irrational fear is the biggest bogeyman of all. How appropriate that this quote is literally stitched into the fabric at the center of arguably the most powerful office in the world. So much of what is decided there, and so much of what we do in our own individual daily lives, is driven by fear, the conscious name we give to the overpowering subconscious animal imperative to survive.
But may I humbly suggest to the current team that works in the Oval Office that Roosevelt was only half right. We do have to fear "fear itself", but we have to fear too much, and too little fear. We have to be afraid of being too afraid, yes, but we also need to beware of not being wary enough. What we really need to fear is getting fear wrong, worrying too much about relatively smaller threats and not enough about the bigger ones. It's not quite as pithy as what Roosevelt said but, in the gap between our fears and the facts lies perhaps the greatest danger.
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I don't know about you, but I'm tired of two things: Articles about aging women that shout about being "Fantastic at 40!, "Fabulous at 50!," Sensational at 60!" And articles about aging French women along similar lines. Several pieces have made recent headlines in the latter category, with familiar fare about how the older French woman ages gracefully thanks to her life-long beauty regime, her au-naturelle make-up routine, and her Royal Don't-Get-Fatness. Invariably, they all miss the point.
After living over a decade in France, I've learned that the point is as much about us as it is about French women. While older French women do, indeed, generally enjoy lives of accrued sensuality, we American women are often busy whipping ourselves into shape with a vengeance (or feeling guilty for not doing so). And that's because a wicked feel-good paradox sears its way through our culture. Take a look at any American magazine for women forty-plus. Celebrations of age usually come with a clarion call for emulating youth in all its age-defying Fantastic-at-Forty-Plus firmness. As we age-defy (which, let's face it, is just shorthand for age-deny), we can finally "Be Ourselves," because after all those decades we've earned it, right? We've finally figured out who we are. We can finally not give a damn, as long as we still look Absolutely Fabulous!
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