.jpg)
Friday, August 23, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Turkey Vulture
A Turkey Vulture near the Eagle Cliff hiking trail above Humpty Dumpty at Mohonk Preserve.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Toast To the Ta Ta's
I recently attended a wine tasting event which was a fundraiser and promotion for breast cancer awareness.
One of my sisters died from breast cancer which metastasized to her brain. After she first discovered a lump she was scared and didn't go to see a doctor for over a year. She first decided to pray it away.
So ladies, get those things checked. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be afraid. Don't wait and see if it goes away. Many forms of breast cancer are completely curable if caught early enough.
For those of you who are religious and wish to pray over it, consider this - maybe God will cure you by sending you to a doctor. Even Jesus referred people to other experts. In Luke 17: 12-14 Jesus told ten lepers to go see the priest. Priests in those days were experts at diagnosing the vast variety of skin ailments since so many people went to them for healing.
In those days where skin disorders were very common there was a rabid, foaming at the mouth hysteria about leprosy. Mostly it was the Christians who had skin disorders because they refused to use the public toilets. Instead, they opted to void in designated fields for purposes of privacy and humility. They then walked back to the ritual bath area, often barefoot and tracking with them microbes from the fecal infested field. They then got into a bath that 500 people ritually cleansed themselved in before them. That germ infested water would go up their noses, in their eyes, mouths, ears and worse yet, into open cuts and scrapes. It is ironic that the religious zeal for cleanliness was the cause of their many disorders. Indeed, cleanliness was next to Godliness because it got you closer to God by killing you.
Back to the Ta Ta's. There is no shame in developing breast cancer. On the contrary, when you beat it, you will be both a hero and inspiration for others. If the worse possible diagnosis befalls you, still, don't feel bad or blame yourself or God. Keep your head up high and tell people not to feel sorry for you. Feeling sorry for someone is pity, not compassion. Pity puts one in a stance of looking down upon the sick one. Compassion (with - suffering) puts one side by side. The only healing possible in this world of medical miracles is the ability to accept one’s death even as one fights to hang on to life. With this emotional or spiritual healing comes hope. With this attitude comes compassion. With this inner peace comes resurrection of life.
Have you checked your Ta Ta's today? If you did, shout it from the roof tops. Tell your mom, sister, daughter, aunt, neighbor, friend. Whether you find a lump or not, whether you live or die, you have the power to save many lives. Be a hero.
Now, men . . .
http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-self-exam
One of my sisters died from breast cancer which metastasized to her brain. After she first discovered a lump she was scared and didn't go to see a doctor for over a year. She first decided to pray it away.
So ladies, get those things checked. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be afraid. Don't wait and see if it goes away. Many forms of breast cancer are completely curable if caught early enough.
For those of you who are religious and wish to pray over it, consider this - maybe God will cure you by sending you to a doctor. Even Jesus referred people to other experts. In Luke 17: 12-14 Jesus told ten lepers to go see the priest. Priests in those days were experts at diagnosing the vast variety of skin ailments since so many people went to them for healing.
In those days where skin disorders were very common there was a rabid, foaming at the mouth hysteria about leprosy. Mostly it was the Christians who had skin disorders because they refused to use the public toilets. Instead, they opted to void in designated fields for purposes of privacy and humility. They then walked back to the ritual bath area, often barefoot and tracking with them microbes from the fecal infested field. They then got into a bath that 500 people ritually cleansed themselved in before them. That germ infested water would go up their noses, in their eyes, mouths, ears and worse yet, into open cuts and scrapes. It is ironic that the religious zeal for cleanliness was the cause of their many disorders. Indeed, cleanliness was next to Godliness because it got you closer to God by killing you.
Back to the Ta Ta's. There is no shame in developing breast cancer. On the contrary, when you beat it, you will be both a hero and inspiration for others. If the worse possible diagnosis befalls you, still, don't feel bad or blame yourself or God. Keep your head up high and tell people not to feel sorry for you. Feeling sorry for someone is pity, not compassion. Pity puts one in a stance of looking down upon the sick one. Compassion (with - suffering) puts one side by side. The only healing possible in this world of medical miracles is the ability to accept one’s death even as one fights to hang on to life. With this emotional or spiritual healing comes hope. With this attitude comes compassion. With this inner peace comes resurrection of life.
Have you checked your Ta Ta's today? If you did, shout it from the roof tops. Tell your mom, sister, daughter, aunt, neighbor, friend. Whether you find a lump or not, whether you live or die, you have the power to save many lives. Be a hero.
Now, men . . .
http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-self-exam
Friday, August 9, 2013
Tendonitis, Playing the Piano and Skiing
I recently wrote a blog about the prevention and cure for tendonitis
where I opined that working on your piano or typing technique can
improve other activities such as skiing. Someone called me to task on
that comment and challenged me to explain.
It is not that piano playing and skiing are that much related as much as the physics behind them is the same. The concepts in common are gravity, alignment (kinematic chains) and reactions to actions.
One of the most common injuries to a skier is a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). It happens simply when the femur and tibia are not properly aligned and the torque doesn't go through the bones but is transferred onto the tiny yet powerful ACL. The ACL is very strong when properly aligned but break that alignment and it is as weak as a piece of paper.
Every movement has equal and opposite movements. In playing the piano the pianist has to play down and thusly he is required to have an up motion. The muscles to make the arm go up are much stronger than the arms which make us go down because to fall down, no muscle is required. The pianist also goes up and down the keyboard so in order to play left he has to go right. Here is why:
If I were to swing a tennis racquet, I would toss the ball in the air and swing my arm backward, then swing forward to hit the ball. To swing a baseball bat or golf club, I would do the same. When I swim, in order to stroke, my arm goes behind me, then up and in front of me, then down and behind me. If I were to swat a fly I would raise the swatter before descending down to smoosh its target. If I were to slap your face, I wouldn't start with my palm on your face. I would swing backward then forward across your cheek (and you'll let me do it seven times seventy times then turn the other cheek).
If I wanted to jump into the air, I would bend my knees and sink a little to the ground then propel myself upward. If I were standing on a glass floor and wanted to break it. I would jump up and keep my knees bent until I was close to the glass, then extend my knees and feet into the surface for maximum impact.
I come from the old school of parallel skiing where I keep my legs together and ski with them as one rather than two legs. When you ski with your legs or feet apart, you have four edges to worry about and control (dual muscular pulls). Catching an edge on the snow can cause you to lose balance and fall. When you ski with your legs parallel, you only have two edges acting as one limb. The skier always keeps the inside leg a little bit shorter by bending it slightly more. Both legs and feet have to be turning together in the same direction at the same time much like all five fingers of a pianist SHOULD only go in one direction at a time. The skier needs to have his torso and head perfectly aligned and balanced in one chain.
The parallel turn is accomplished not just by jumping or grinding your edges into the snow but by un-weighing yourself. When turning, there is a bend at the hip and the legs are extended to the right. You can experience this, sort of, if you stand sideways about four feet from a wall, lean toward the wall with your left hand so that you are at an oblique angle. All your weight should be in your right leg (inside the foot-radial side) and the left leg is parallel. At tremendous forces the edge is digging into the ice (if you ski in the east) and snow (if you ski out west).
That is kind of what a turn feels like but not as static. This is also a left turn. As you turn left by leaning into the inside right ski edge, your body will feel the momentum and you would then slightly tuck both knees up and shift your legs to the other side but when you extend your legs so that your skis go down, you lean into the inside of the left ski edge: These are equal and opposite motions, with perfect alignment, with both legs going in the same direction at the same time.
This method of un-weighing can look like the skier is jumping in the air but they are actually just extending their legs and shifting weight from right to left. With balance, momentum, extension and retraction, this keeps him upright and in control.
Also, the skier needs to keep the front of his body always facing down the hill where the fall line is or where gravity is pulling him. If he deviates from the fall line, there needs to be a lot of adjustments lest he catch an edge resulting in a face plant or yard sale.
It sounds complicated but if you are a parallel skier, it makes total sense. The skier's whole body can only do one thing at a time, either turn left or right or coast forward. Many skiers are taught to snowplow which is skiing on the inside edges of both skies at the same time but that isn't skiing. It is ice making and it puts pressure on the knees and maintains constant flexion of the muscles. As a novice masters the snowplow they are taught the stem Christie which is one step away from parallel but most skiers don't progress to the next step predominately because the nature of un-weighing the whole body is foreign to many people's concept and it requires a leap of faith. A shy skier will never move beyond the stem Christie. They lack the confidence that their edge will be there if they un-weigh so they remain advanced beginners or intermediate skiers at best because they don't understand nor trust the concept of a closed-loop kinematic chain.
Have you ever noticed that after somebody has a heart attack or loses a child or goes through anything really heavy, their outlook can change overnight? They see life on a more deep level than before. They tend to think about the bigger things and not care so much about the color their cars are or what clothes are in style. When your mind and body are at one with the mountain, all the obstacles and gravity melts away.
So, like the pianist whose arm can only go in one direction at a time, the skiers body can only go in one direction at a time. If his body or legs oppose that, he can still ski, just not well.
For the past twenty years ski makers have been designing parabolic skies which are shaped to promote parallel skiing and it is funny to see people skiing parallel without the un-weighing of their body. Instead they are rolling the ski from edge to edge. They still fall because they are trying to control the ground rather than control their body and go with gravity.
When skiing in deep powder or on ice, the skier needs this un-weighing as if they are trying to plunge through a glass floor. This makes it so that the ski edges can dig in to whatever they are resisting. Lack of un-weighing is why most skiers cannot ski on ice or in deep powder. They then complain about the mountain or the conditions.
A skier who tries to control the ski, control the ground and control gravity, will not be a good skier and can easily hurt themselves. If they use the ski as an extension of their body and they go with gravity rather than fighting it, they can control everything and it will be effortless because they won't be static and engaging the same muscles all the time. On the contrary. Our muscles which aid in us going up are much stronger than our muscles that help us go down (Hamstrings Vs Quads). Ironically, it is engaging the weaker hamstring which gives the quads a break and allows them to work more efficiently and most importantly - rest.
A pianist who fights with the mechanical nature of a piano will forever be challenged by it and their own bodies and, most likely, injured by it. The pianist is not the engine to the instrument as much as a conduit to the music that already exists. Only when the closed-loop kinematic chain of the body is achieved and alignment between body and instrument coalesce into one can a musician become an artist or a skier master the gravity of the mountain.
It is interesting to note that true artists or true prodigies don't know what they are doing. What they do is simply natural to them. When they try to explain what they do they get it wrong because they explain how they feel. Bach, for instance, taught his students to scratch the key in a carrezando technique because what he was feeling when he played was his fingers caressing the keys. What was really happening was as he was lifting and dropping his arm and moving in and out onto the keys because instinctively, he knew his fingers were different lengths and equalizing them caused micro tension. The sensation of caressing the keys was a result of his arm moving the fingers. That is what he felt but caressing the keys was not what he was doing.
Another thing teachers get wrong is when they tell their students to relax the hand. They need to relax the correct muscles at the right time. But that is a topic for another time.
Original slide on Tendonitis
http://www.slideshare.net/sa/8652ca32b9f25fa5adb94fe916c18599
It is not that piano playing and skiing are that much related as much as the physics behind them is the same. The concepts in common are gravity, alignment (kinematic chains) and reactions to actions.
One of the most common injuries to a skier is a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). It happens simply when the femur and tibia are not properly aligned and the torque doesn't go through the bones but is transferred onto the tiny yet powerful ACL. The ACL is very strong when properly aligned but break that alignment and it is as weak as a piece of paper.
Every movement has equal and opposite movements. In playing the piano the pianist has to play down and thusly he is required to have an up motion. The muscles to make the arm go up are much stronger than the arms which make us go down because to fall down, no muscle is required. The pianist also goes up and down the keyboard so in order to play left he has to go right. Here is why:
If I were to swing a tennis racquet, I would toss the ball in the air and swing my arm backward, then swing forward to hit the ball. To swing a baseball bat or golf club, I would do the same. When I swim, in order to stroke, my arm goes behind me, then up and in front of me, then down and behind me. If I were to swat a fly I would raise the swatter before descending down to smoosh its target. If I were to slap your face, I wouldn't start with my palm on your face. I would swing backward then forward across your cheek (and you'll let me do it seven times seventy times then turn the other cheek).
If I wanted to jump into the air, I would bend my knees and sink a little to the ground then propel myself upward. If I were standing on a glass floor and wanted to break it. I would jump up and keep my knees bent until I was close to the glass, then extend my knees and feet into the surface for maximum impact.
I come from the old school of parallel skiing where I keep my legs together and ski with them as one rather than two legs. When you ski with your legs or feet apart, you have four edges to worry about and control (dual muscular pulls). Catching an edge on the snow can cause you to lose balance and fall. When you ski with your legs parallel, you only have two edges acting as one limb. The skier always keeps the inside leg a little bit shorter by bending it slightly more. Both legs and feet have to be turning together in the same direction at the same time much like all five fingers of a pianist SHOULD only go in one direction at a time. The skier needs to have his torso and head perfectly aligned and balanced in one chain.
The parallel turn is accomplished not just by jumping or grinding your edges into the snow but by un-weighing yourself. When turning, there is a bend at the hip and the legs are extended to the right. You can experience this, sort of, if you stand sideways about four feet from a wall, lean toward the wall with your left hand so that you are at an oblique angle. All your weight should be in your right leg (inside the foot-radial side) and the left leg is parallel. At tremendous forces the edge is digging into the ice (if you ski in the east) and snow (if you ski out west).
That is kind of what a turn feels like but not as static. This is also a left turn. As you turn left by leaning into the inside right ski edge, your body will feel the momentum and you would then slightly tuck both knees up and shift your legs to the other side but when you extend your legs so that your skis go down, you lean into the inside of the left ski edge: These are equal and opposite motions, with perfect alignment, with both legs going in the same direction at the same time.
This method of un-weighing can look like the skier is jumping in the air but they are actually just extending their legs and shifting weight from right to left. With balance, momentum, extension and retraction, this keeps him upright and in control.
Also, the skier needs to keep the front of his body always facing down the hill where the fall line is or where gravity is pulling him. If he deviates from the fall line, there needs to be a lot of adjustments lest he catch an edge resulting in a face plant or yard sale.
It sounds complicated but if you are a parallel skier, it makes total sense. The skier's whole body can only do one thing at a time, either turn left or right or coast forward. Many skiers are taught to snowplow which is skiing on the inside edges of both skies at the same time but that isn't skiing. It is ice making and it puts pressure on the knees and maintains constant flexion of the muscles. As a novice masters the snowplow they are taught the stem Christie which is one step away from parallel but most skiers don't progress to the next step predominately because the nature of un-weighing the whole body is foreign to many people's concept and it requires a leap of faith. A shy skier will never move beyond the stem Christie. They lack the confidence that their edge will be there if they un-weigh so they remain advanced beginners or intermediate skiers at best because they don't understand nor trust the concept of a closed-loop kinematic chain.
Have you ever noticed that after somebody has a heart attack or loses a child or goes through anything really heavy, their outlook can change overnight? They see life on a more deep level than before. They tend to think about the bigger things and not care so much about the color their cars are or what clothes are in style. When your mind and body are at one with the mountain, all the obstacles and gravity melts away.
So, like the pianist whose arm can only go in one direction at a time, the skiers body can only go in one direction at a time. If his body or legs oppose that, he can still ski, just not well.
For the past twenty years ski makers have been designing parabolic skies which are shaped to promote parallel skiing and it is funny to see people skiing parallel without the un-weighing of their body. Instead they are rolling the ski from edge to edge. They still fall because they are trying to control the ground rather than control their body and go with gravity.
When skiing in deep powder or on ice, the skier needs this un-weighing as if they are trying to plunge through a glass floor. This makes it so that the ski edges can dig in to whatever they are resisting. Lack of un-weighing is why most skiers cannot ski on ice or in deep powder. They then complain about the mountain or the conditions.
A skier who tries to control the ski, control the ground and control gravity, will not be a good skier and can easily hurt themselves. If they use the ski as an extension of their body and they go with gravity rather than fighting it, they can control everything and it will be effortless because they won't be static and engaging the same muscles all the time. On the contrary. Our muscles which aid in us going up are much stronger than our muscles that help us go down (Hamstrings Vs Quads). Ironically, it is engaging the weaker hamstring which gives the quads a break and allows them to work more efficiently and most importantly - rest.
A pianist who fights with the mechanical nature of a piano will forever be challenged by it and their own bodies and, most likely, injured by it. The pianist is not the engine to the instrument as much as a conduit to the music that already exists. Only when the closed-loop kinematic chain of the body is achieved and alignment between body and instrument coalesce into one can a musician become an artist or a skier master the gravity of the mountain.
It is interesting to note that true artists or true prodigies don't know what they are doing. What they do is simply natural to them. When they try to explain what they do they get it wrong because they explain how they feel. Bach, for instance, taught his students to scratch the key in a carrezando technique because what he was feeling when he played was his fingers caressing the keys. What was really happening was as he was lifting and dropping his arm and moving in and out onto the keys because instinctively, he knew his fingers were different lengths and equalizing them caused micro tension. The sensation of caressing the keys was a result of his arm moving the fingers. That is what he felt but caressing the keys was not what he was doing.
Another thing teachers get wrong is when they tell their students to relax the hand. They need to relax the correct muscles at the right time. But that is a topic for another time.
Original slide on Tendonitis
http://www.slideshare.net/sa/8652ca32b9f25fa5adb94fe916c18599
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Nathanial Cyrenius Ingram
My good friend Nathanial "Cy" Ingram was born on December 5, 1925 and
passed away on Thursday, March 7, 2013. There was no funeral, no
announcement and no wake for this wonderful man. His family, friends
and church only found out this June that he died and was secretly
cremated. We recently held a private memorial service for him and only
family, his church and friends were invited to attend. There, many
wonderful stories of Cy were told as we celebrated his life and
friendship.
Cy was a war hero who earned many awards for his service to our great country. In the accompanying picture, you can see Cy proudly displaying the medals, badges and patch he received.
Left to right, rear: Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge with clasps for Rifle, expert infantryman and four combat actions!
Bronze Star, awarded for acts of heroism, merit or Meritorious service in a combat zone.
Silver Star, the third highest military decoration for Valor awarded to Cy for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States, in this case Nazi Germany. In this one instance he saved the lives of ten men. Injured and unable to walk, one by one, on his butt he dragged them away from enemy fire and hoisted each of them over a stone wall to safety.
Purple Heart, awarded for being injured while serving with the military.
Left to right, front: Victory Medal, awarded to all who served in the military during World War II.
European Theater Medal, with three oak leaf clusters for three years of service there.
Good Conduct Medal awarded to active duty members of the U.S. military who complete three consecutive years of honorable service.
Shoulder patch of the 30th Infantry Division (Old Hickory) who valiantly served in Normandy, France, Germany and the Battle of the Bulge.
One story which I shared was about Cy's garden. Cy, like a new Antaeus, had about six acres of back yard and it was laced with flower beds, fountains, arches and lattice which supported the growth of Trumpet Vines, Clematis and Wisteria. Among his prized floral arrays were several Peony beds.
Cy had an addition built onto the back of his house. It was a large octagon shaped room with a marble fire place and several double glass doors which could be opened up.
Cy told me about one spring morning when a woman knocked on his door asking if she could cut some of his Peony flowers for her wedding that weekend. Cy asked her where she was getting married and she said that it was going to be at the court house and performed by a Justice of the Peace.
Cy said,
"Nonsense. Have the wedding in my back yard and you can hold the reception in my octagon room."
She did and Cy even gave her a cash gift. That was the kind of gentle man he was. He is sorely missed.
The Department of the Aging and family and friends need to be vigilante against people befriending and tricking our elderly into signing everything they own over to scrupulous individuals.
Cy was a war hero who earned many awards for his service to our great country. In the accompanying picture, you can see Cy proudly displaying the medals, badges and patch he received.
Left to right, rear: Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge with clasps for Rifle, expert infantryman and four combat actions!
Bronze Star, awarded for acts of heroism, merit or Meritorious service in a combat zone.
Silver Star, the third highest military decoration for Valor awarded to Cy for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States, in this case Nazi Germany. In this one instance he saved the lives of ten men. Injured and unable to walk, one by one, on his butt he dragged them away from enemy fire and hoisted each of them over a stone wall to safety.
Purple Heart, awarded for being injured while serving with the military.
Left to right, front: Victory Medal, awarded to all who served in the military during World War II.
European Theater Medal, with three oak leaf clusters for three years of service there.
Good Conduct Medal awarded to active duty members of the U.S. military who complete three consecutive years of honorable service.
Shoulder patch of the 30th Infantry Division (Old Hickory) who valiantly served in Normandy, France, Germany and the Battle of the Bulge.
One story which I shared was about Cy's garden. Cy, like a new Antaeus, had about six acres of back yard and it was laced with flower beds, fountains, arches and lattice which supported the growth of Trumpet Vines, Clematis and Wisteria. Among his prized floral arrays were several Peony beds.
Cy had an addition built onto the back of his house. It was a large octagon shaped room with a marble fire place and several double glass doors which could be opened up.
Cy told me about one spring morning when a woman knocked on his door asking if she could cut some of his Peony flowers for her wedding that weekend. Cy asked her where she was getting married and she said that it was going to be at the court house and performed by a Justice of the Peace.
Cy said,
"Nonsense. Have the wedding in my back yard and you can hold the reception in my octagon room."
She did and Cy even gave her a cash gift. That was the kind of gentle man he was. He is sorely missed.
The Department of the Aging and family and friends need to be vigilante against people befriending and tricking our elderly into signing everything they own over to scrupulous individuals.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Healing from Tendonitis
I put together a slide show on healing from tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. It can be found on SlideShare:
http://www.slideshare.net/sa/8652ca32b9f25fa5adb94fe916c18599
http://www.slideshare.net/sa/8652ca32b9f25fa5adb94fe916c18599
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