MANSTYLE

Occupy THIS

Want to get involved in the whole occupy movement?  Not sure how to begin?  How about with your mind and your time?
1. Start by going to work tomorrow, and doing your best!
2. Don't have a job?  Go get one.  Have a job?  Get a better one!
3. If you can't find a job, then make one for yourself.
4. If you don't know how, take an entrepreneurial class.
5. If you don't have the money, then cut your neighbors' grass, rake their leaves, and shovel their snow.
6. If neither one of you has the money, then host a neighborhood yard sale.
7. If none of you have the time, fix that by cancelling cable and selling your TVs.  Then return to step 1 and get back to Occupying!!

Tea: a source of revolutions and antioxidants

Yesterday my family and I went on a Wild Tea Hike at Ohiopyle State Park with a park employee named Barbara Wallace.

It was quite fun; we sampled six teas made from native plants in Western PA.  These included tea made from oswego leaves, yarrow leaves, dandelion root, black birch twigs, sassafras leaves, and coltsfoot leaves.

Each of these has flavors as unique as their individual health benefits.  A quick Google search will yield such info as well as sites where these teas are for sale.

My favorite was dandelion root tea, which is made by baking the roots until brown and crumbly, then brewing like coffee.  It tasted remarkably like coffee too, but with loads more nutrients and no caffeine!

I learned dandelions grow best in sand or a sand, soil and/or mulch mix.  The looser the soil, the bigger the roots, leaves and flowers (all are edible).

Incidentally, words like tips and cash have their roots in the tea trade.

And while the British are credited with drinking lots of tea, it was the Dutch who drank it first, and even Americans drank tea before Great Britain.  New York City was first called New Amsterdam, a Dutch settlement.  In case you forgot, the Dutch were there before England...

I also learned there's a native plant nursery called Friendship Farms in Latrobe, PA where they sell things like sassafras and black birch saplings.  I plan to go there soon.

As for dandelions, well I have plenty of seeds, I simply need some sand or untreated mulch.

I'll probably grow some chamomile, chicory, and definitely echinacea next year too.

I'd strongly recommend you visit the DCNR website's online calendar to see what else Ohiopyle has to offer.  Just choose "Ohiopyle" from the facilities dropdown list.

What fun!  Manstyle fun.

Let's debunk some erroneous cohabitation statistics!

Here's yet another case of mis-representing the facts.  It's in response to this blog post entitled Living In Reality Or Living In Sin.  Straight Male Friend Marcus Osborne's take: "If I ever get married again there’s no way I’m not moving in with her first."

My beef here is not with Marcus' reasons for ditching someone (live-in or not) or the spiritual aspects of relationships, but simply his misuse of statistics upon which he bases his cop-out beliefs.  If you're living together and take this personally, well, whatever.  This is just some Twainian common sense for yinz future happiness:

1. Living together is considered to be more stressful than being married.  Great!  Why not get married without cohabitating first?  After all, it's less stressful.  Less stress equals a better relationship.
2. Just over 50% of first cohabiting couples ever get married.  Not impressed!  That's approximately equal to the US divorce rate.  And what if they're second or third or seventeenth cohabitating couples???  I can't imagine anything except a lower marriage rate for them.
3. In the United States and in the UK, couples who live together are at a greater risk for divorce than non-cohabiting couples.  Greater risk?  Then get married without cohabitating!  [Did he mean less risk?  How much less?]
4. Couples who lived together before marriage tend to divorce early in their marriage. If their marriage last seven years, then their risk for divorce is the same as couples who didn’t cohabit before marriage.  I'm not impressed nor convinced.  Insert sarcasm: "That's exactly what we should hope for!  Live together, marry, and get divorced quickly!"
5. In France and Germany cohabiting couples have a slightly lower risk of divorce.  Irrelevant. Most people don't live in France or Germany.
6. If cohabitation is limited to a person’s future spouse; there is no elevated risk of divorce.  IF.  Look at stat #2.  He's just repeating himself.
7. In the U.S., cohabiting couples taking premarital education courses or counseling are not at a higher risk for divorce.  Seriously?  Then marrying couples who take premarital education will still do better!

COMMON SENSE: This article lacks any real substance proving living together is better (if anything, it proves marriage without cohabitation is better), and instead offers one man's opinions and no sources.  For some good solid facts (with sources!) go to this USA Today blog post.

Here's a few snippits from that blog post:

• Cohabiting is a significant emotional attachment, and when you break up, "it's going to hurt a lot," says Scott Stanley, co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver. "By cohabiting vs. marrying, people aren't avoiding that aspect of pain."
• "These breakups are as devastating as if they were married, because they were really living as if they were married," says Jennifer Coleman, a licensed professional counselor in Charlotte.
• "They have to do everything they'd have to do in a divorce, except maybe not legally, to separate their lives," says Janet Laubgross, a clinical psychologist in Fairfax, Va. "They've built a life together. They have to divide friends. They've got to divide property. There are a lot of strong emotions — anger, bitterness, resentment. It's very similar to divorce."

Wheeee...doesn't sound like any more fun than a divorce.  And I've been through that.  I don't see much difference, except things like "you aren't guaranteed to have your portion of the stuff you bought" aka you have a load of fights about what you think belongs to you, and no legal system to support you through that battle.

My beef with your spanking beliefs

I've got three big pieces of beef (mmm, yummy beef) with the anti-spanking folks. Turn ON the common sense part of your brain, and eject the mental DVD of political correctness - you can put it back later, if you want.

1.  Someone I know was there when a mom asked a psychologist whether spanking was ok. Mom did it but felt bad when she had to do it.  He said, "Well I guess you answered your own question!"

CONCLUSION: That's HORRIBLE logic. When I say "No more cookies!" and feel bad about it, I should give them more cookies!  What?!  Letting emotions control your actions is what children do.  Adults devise a plan and follow it. No means NO, and some misbehaviors should result in a consistent spanking just like others should result in a consistent loss of the car keys, time in the corner, loss of toy, no TV tonight, loss of cell phone, sleepover is cancelled, or early bedtime.  Write each discipline you use across a sheet of paper and the behaviors under them that deserve each discipline. Next time, how you feel about your child's behavior won't matter. Go to the chart, choose the discipline and do it!

2.  You say parents shouldn't spank because they only do it when they're angry.

CONCLUSION: Is it any better to scream at them til they go to their room or yell until they stand in the corner? Of course not! The problem is not spanking, but any discipline in anger. Too much parental emotion is bad no matter what form of discipline you use. Bite your lip, leave the room, take a deep breath, then come back and deal with the behavior. Would a horse trainer yell at a horse til it was trained? No! A consistent training regime produces a well-trained horse, and this involves physical discipline too.

3.  You say parents who spank aren't expressing love toward their kids.

CONCLUSION: Spanking is not the issue; LOVE is. You can put kids in "timeout", give a hug, spank them, fix them dinner, drive them to a movie, and so on while expressing love (or not!). No matter what your discipline tactics you ought to verbally express:
    (1) You love them
    (2) You dislike their behavior
    (3) Ask why you disciplined them
    (4) Ask what they can do differently next time

Discipline means "to teach" and you are the teacher. Whether you spank or not, whether you use timeout or not, whether you pour milk on their head or not*, your discipline tactics should guide your children into better behavior.

Why is this so difficult to understand?  Oh wait, you haven't read Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals yet. Read this summary of it...you'll see why the anti-spanking radicals (any many others) are so effective at shaping your opinions.

* When I was age two I had a dump-milk-on-the-floor phase. My mom had "had it" so the next time I was about ready to dump it, she grabbed the cup and dumped it on my head.  Sure, she felt bad and I was upset, but I never dumped milk again!  The moral of this story is don't let your emotions govern your discipline.  Be an adult: devise a plan and follow it.

Cream Soda, MANSTYLE

I've concocted another delicious recipe.  Simple.  Awesome:

1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon yeast (ANY will do)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract (don't use the lame fake stuff)
Water (tap is ok, filtered is better)
Empty 2 liter soda bottle, washed
Funnel (roll up a sheet of paper into a cone if necessary)

Pour sugar and yeast into bottle through funnel.  Shake around so the yeast mixes into the sugar.  Add vanilla extract.  Fill bottle with water to 1 inch from bottle mouth.  Shake and invert the bottle until all sugar and yeast are dissolved.  Cap and let stand in your basement about 48 hours or until you squeeze the bottle and it feels hard.  The yeast has carbonated it for you! Refrigerated 24 hours and enjoy!

Note about alcohol content: if you use Scope or Listerine, or ever taken certain cold medicines or consumed vanilla extract in food, you've probably had a small amount of alcohol.  One big glass of this stuff equals the amount in one dose of medicine; not much, in other words.  I read somewhere it's about a quarter of one percent.  Drinking THE WHOLE TWO LITER of this would equal one beer's worth of alcohol.  Seriously, it's not much.  And if you drink that much pop, you have other problems.

A Better Ginger Ale

Ginger ale wasn't always made in factories owned by Coke and Pepsi.  Families used to make their own; and not just this but cream soda and root beer too.  Here's my incredibly simple recipe:

1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon yeast (baker's yeast is ok, champagne yeast is better)
1 or 1.5 tablespoon ginger root, grated
Water (tap is ok, filtered is better)
Empty 2 liter soda bottle, washed
Funnel (roll up a sheet of paper into a cone if you have to!)

Pour sugar and yeast into bottle through funnel.  Shake around so the yeast mixes into the sugar.  Grate/grind up the ginger and put it in.  Fill bottle with water to 1 inch from bottle mouth.  Cap and let stand in your basement 24-48 hours or until you squeeze the bottle and it feels hard.  The yeast has carbonated it for you! Refrigerated 24 hours and enjoy!

Note about alcohol content: if you've ever taken certain cold medicines or consumed vanilla extract in food, you've probably had a small amount of alcohol.  One big glass of this stuff equals the amount in one dose of medicine; not much, in other words.  I read somewhere it's about a quarter of one percent.  Plus I know of a biology teacher who does it for his high school classes.

My cider recipe

I've decided to post an exact version of my cider recipe, plus how you can vary it.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2L bottle of apple juice (not "cocktail"), no potassium sorbate or other preservatives, but ascorbic acid is ok
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1/2 or 1 cup sugar (optional)

Directions:
1. Open juice, pour out 1/2 cup or so of juice (you can drink this if you like)
2. Add yeast to bottle.  Sugar is optional, but will make it sweeter and/or yield more alcohol.  Breadmaking yeast is ok, but wine yeast is better.  I recommend yeast 1118.
3. Stretch plastic wrap snugly over the bottle mouth. Poke a hole in it with a pin.
4. Slide a balloon over the mouth of the bottle and poke a few pinholes in it.  The plastic wrap and balloon make a good airlock to keep the good flavors in, etc.
5. Put in a cupboard for about 3-4 days.  If you add sugar, let it go 4 days, if not, 3 or 3.5 is good enough.
6. Put the cap on, turn the bottle over repeatedly, gently stirring the mixture.  Put in basement for 24 hours or until bottle is hard (aka carbonated).
7. Put in fridge for 24 hours to stop the yeast action.
8. Enjoy!

A note about yeast: what kind you choose will affect the taste (bread vs. wine vs. multi-purpose), but its not dangerous, just each will taste a little different.  Yeast is natural and found on the surface of the food we eat, such as apples and grapes.

A note about sterilization: It's not necessary!  The bottle was sterile before you opened it.  And sterilization is overrated.  If you're reusing a bottle, add a little dish soap fill with hot water, shake, and continue rinsing with hot water til all the soap is out.

A note about the "cupboard time" in step 5:  You don't want to let it go too long or the fermentation will stop (all the sugar is eaten by the yeast.)  If this happens, the balloon will be flat again and the juice won't be bubbling.  If this happens, use a funnel to quickly dump about 2 tablespoons of sugar in and cap it before it "geysers."  That's enough to get the yeast going and carbonate your bottle.

Official Cider Recipe

I've decided to post an exact version of my cider recipe, plus how you can vary it.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2L bottle of apple juice (not "cocktail"), no potassium sorbate or other preservatives, but ascorbic acid is ok
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1/2 or 1 cup sugar (optional)

Directions:
1. Open juice, pour out 1/2 cup or so of juice (you can drink this if you like)
2. Add yeast to bottle.  Sugar is optional, but will make it sweeter and/or yield more alcohol.  Breadmaking yeast is ok, but wine yeast is better.  I recommend yeast 1118.
3. Stretch plastic wrap snugly over the bottle mouth. Poke a hole in it with a pin.
4. Slide a balloon over the mouth of the bottle and poke a few pinholes in it.  The plastic wrap and balloon make a good airlock to keep the good flavors in, etc.
5. Put in a cupboard for about 3-4 days.  If you add sugar, let it go 4 days, if not, 3 or 3.5 is good enough.
6. Put the cap on, turn the bottle over repeatedly, gently stirring the mixture.  Put in basement for 24 hours or until bottle is hard (aka carbonated).
7. Put in fridge for 24 hours to stop the yeast action.
8. Enjoy!

A note about yeast: what kind you choose will affect the taste (bread vs. wine vs. multi-purpose), but its not dangerous, just each will taste a little different.  Yeast is natural and found on the surface of the food we eat, such as apples and grapes.

A note about sterilization: It's not necessary!  The bottle was sterile before you opened it.  And sterilization is overrated.  If you're reusing a bottle, add a little dish soap fill with hot water, shake, and continue rinsing with hot water til all the soap is out.

A note about the "cupboard time" in step 5:  You don't want to let it go too long or the fermentation will stop (all the sugar is eaten by the yeast.)  If this happens, the balloon will be flat again and the juice won't be bubbling.  If this happens, use a funnel to quickly dump about 2 tablespoons of sugar in and cap it before it "geysers."  That's enough to get the yeast going and carbonate your bottle.

YoBaby Beginnings – An Interview with Gary Hirshberg « Stonyfield Farm: organic yogurt, organic living, & healthy food – BLOG

Baby ear infections?  This family did something different:

http://www.stonyfield.com/blog/2011/06/08/yobaby-beginnings-an-interview-with-gary-hirshberg

No deal!

90% of offers like these convert to payments with back-charged interest.  That means 9 of 10 don't pay off in 12 months and lose big money.  Don't do it!