Paul's Perambulations a personal blog

January 26, 2010

How Quakers Can “Support the Troops” Friends Journal

Filed under: Peace — admin @ 4:05 pm

I submitted the following  in response to an article in Friends Journal (February, 2010) asking how can we support the troops without also supporting the war. (more…)

January 17, 2010

Healthy Aging, With Nary a Supplement (NYTimes 1/11/10)

Filed under: General,Recreation — admin @ 11:15 pm

 I contributed the following post to the discussion that followed this NYTimes article    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/health/12brod.html?ref=health :

This is the best article in the magazine section today (and perhaps the only one to tell the unvarnished truth). My wife and I (in our 60’s) hike, camp, backpack outdoors, but most days simply walk. We eat relatively healthy (but don’t obsess over food choices) and take no medications. When I say we take no pills, most friends seem amazed. Sometimes their response feels critical or angry, because they see my behavior as implicit criticism of their lifestyle.  Living healthy doesn’t mean you don’t get sick — I’m getting over a month of viral bronchitis. I’m usually surrounded by many young people, both healthy and sick, and we all get sick at times.

See Comment for my responses to two related NYTimes articles regarding healthy living.

January 1, 2010

As Honor Students Multiply, Who Really Is One? (NYTimes 1/1/10)

Filed under: General — admin @ 6:20 pm

The following is my comment (#75) on the NYTimes article in the title above. Click my comment button for my second comment (#177) on this same article.

Honor societies often mean essentially nothing nowadays. I agree with the many comments that have already made this point. I disagree with #8 who says today’s students work harder. Number 8 and I are each expressing our own experience, but I expected much more work out of my students 40 years ago than I can expect today (and still keep my job). When I graduated from high school, there were four “recognitions” in the entire class of more than 100. My daughter regularly ignored various honor offers she received during her college years. I had to persuade her that $35 for a lifetime membership in Phi Beta Kappa was probably a worthwhile deal — she had dumped the letter.

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