Abby Krieger's Blog (18)

Via the medical blog "Life in the Fast Lane," a link to a site about eating healthy, geared towards indigenous people with diabetes, and designed by the same community:

http://www.howsyoursugar.com.au/#/kitchen

Seems pretty great.

I mean, me and everyone, right?



But what Tim's doing is especially meaningful to me, because he's a force for education in a state that used to have one of the best education systems in the world. The UCs (Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Santa Cruz, every jewel in the crown) have been decaying for the last 20 years because of a restructuring in their money base. Property taxes were dropped in the 70s, and so education funds dropped. For a long time, the UCs attempted to combat the pressure… Continue

1. The Place. Where will you make a difference? Describe the institution, community, town or other geographic or virtual space in which you will focus your efforts.

Los Angeles. It's one of the largest cities in the world, with numerous large-city problems. There are myriad racial tensions, a long history of police problems. The city has historically attracted runaway children from around the nation. The local Catholic bishop was directly implicated… Continue

Posted site on Facebook, and what an incredible aggregator it is!



To me, this kind of thing always just underscores the need for new power sources. Because it's the power that, to some extent, allows for the internet that allows for this kind of specificity in communication.



I'm old enough to remember the days when all you had was the little cardboard box to put quarters into, and you gave it to the Church, and they spent the money and you didn't ask how.



How probably… Continue

I was thinking of putting this under urban resilience, which it also is, but that mission seems geared towards top-down disaster planning.



Top-down disaster planning is definitely important. But what about plain survival?



It may surprise you to know that there are a number of livejournal communities dedicated to being homeless, being poor, and dumpster diving. Basically, these communities let people who have very few resources share their knowledge. As you say: trust the… Continue

People in the ER don't like it when I tell them it may take a while to see the doctor, but it calms them down all the same.



The ER is a pretty stressful place. But I've been there long enough to know that a lot of the stress is optional. It's the result of judgment, and of the withholding of information. When you judge a person in pain in whatever way - as "faking it," as "not having a real problem," they can sense it. And of course they can; we're social animals.



The best… Continue

In the converted farm house near Sebastopol, CA, I gather with the fellow therapists and families I work with for one of our quarterly family days.



On these days, people we've been working with, who've been living with us or visiting us from nearby, come to have a day of fellowship, company, and connection. Some people present skits or scenes they put together. Others read aloud. There's a mini-maze, and the front room of the house has been made into a gallery.



For some… Continue

Having trouble getting box to acknowledge text. Retrieved post begins: The people who most directly feel the threat of food security in Los

Angeles are the homeless and the poor. Generally, food in LA is

abundant, and a great deal of it is cheap. The problems here are

general problems: grocery stores in bad neighborhoods have smaller

selections of food at higher prices. Overall, though, stores are

plentiful, and proximity to the growing regions of the state… Continue

The crucial point for me was how damaging it was for the forests for the people interacting with them to be seen as criminals. Once the people saw themselves as criminals, thanks to the new laws, they began to act as "criminals"; in for a penny, in for a pound.



I fear littering my blog posts with tutoring examples, but I see one here. I never let my students continue in a situation in which they're not doing homework or are somehow transgressing. I change the rules however I can to… Continue

I wake up in the morning and turn on the computer. I probably should wake up and exercise.



If I could wake up and power on the computer by going a few miles on a stationary bike or - lower impact is better - elliptical, I'd save power and improve my own health.



I understand that ellipticals as currently conceived themselves use power - but that seems basically the sloth of knowing you're going to be selling them to people who'll plug them in. I'd be happy to have a fully… Continue

Yes, evidently we can do this right now:

www.good.is/post/northwestern-students-turn-plastic-crap-into-clean-electricity/">http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/257KnQ/www.good.is/post/northwestern-students-turn-plastic-crap-into-clean-electricity/



Plastic can be converted into electricity without side emissions.… Continue

Here's Paul Ewald's TED talk about using water security to force evolution of microorganisms towards decreased toxicity:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/paul_ewald_asks_can_we_domesticate_germs.html



Basically, where microorganisms can only transmit themselves between mobile individuals, the virus itself evolves to be less virulent - so that hosts can remain mobile.



My favorite… Continue

How do you empower people? Well, basically, you do something that results in their saying "I' more often. It turns out that television is the unsurpassed tool for this:

http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/05/china_needs_fewer_tvs_or_a_bil_1.html



Basically, studies done show that women who watch soap operas, and communities where women are watching soap operas, become more liberal towards… Continue

Here's a video from UCLA about biological fuel cells:

http://www.youtube.com/user/UCLA#p/search/0/XuTqlEuQnNI

Basically, it's about using sugar for power.



Here's a link from a company working on using solar power with nanotechnology:

http://www.powernanotech.com/



I'm looking for the Calif. Nanotech Systems Institute talk, "Personal Power for 6 Billion"… Continue

Here's a video from UCLA about biological fuel cells:

http://www.youtube.com/user/UCLA#p/search/0/XuTqlEuQnNI

Basically, it's about using sugar for power.



Here's a link from a company working on using solar power with nanotechnology:

http://www.powernanotech.com/



I'm looking for the Calif. Nanotech Systems Institute talk, "Personal Power for 6 Billion"… Continue

I'm a one-on-one tutor. My goal is to maximize the time that my student spends directly engaging with the material. To that end, I try to avoid drawing attention to myself. And that means sussing out and fitting in with local culture.



Mostly, this is at an interpersonal level. Does this student tense up or relax when I acknowledge my own errors (my silly analogies, my hearing the wrong answer choice letter)? Does this student respond more to portrayals of the test as something to be… Continue

I'm a one-on-one tutor. My goal is to maximize the time that my student spends directly engaging with the material. To that end, I try to avoid drawing attention to myself. And that means sussing out and fitting in with local culture.



Mostly, this is at an interpersonal level. Does this student tense up or relax when I acknowledge my own errors (my silly analogies, my hearing the wrong answer choice letter)? Does this student respond more to portrayals of the test as something to be… Continue

I'm a tutor, and I have a lot of fun doing it, so I filter a lot of information I get about "what works with people" and "how to change situations" through my experiences there.



And I agree, it saves a lot of energy and pays off to greater effect when you don't fight culture.



For me, that means, when I go into a home, finding out what the culture is in the home. The kid I'm tutoring has a dynamic with adults, with other people. Part of my job is to suss out that dynamic and… Continue