The KYS Principle

Do You Know Your Source?

2019-07-25T23:30:00.003-05:00

This blog is about engaging with life and feeling positive, realistic, and happy.

Twisted systems are the opposite of that. Twisted systems are bloated, lethargic bureaucracies that waste life and cause insanity, and self-respecting human beings try to avoid them. So what does one do when a twisted system dishes out more punishment than one wants to accept? One sidesteps the system, goes around it, outside it, goes above it or below it.

If you live a conventional life, it might sound lonely or risky to step outside the box of a familiar system, even when the system has inflicted plenty of pain on you. On the other hand, if you live an unconventional life, you probably already know plenty of people who manage quite well without the system.

My first business card

2017-02-04T07:56:00.001-06:00

Fresh out of school and going to work as an engineer. Every corporate office worker needs a business card (don't they?) . . . . This was mine.

photo credit: Josy Welty

Stanley Consultants, Inc employed about 400 people when I worked there.

The Indulgence of Washing My Hair: Part II

2013-11-02T07:41:00.000-05:00

. . . . continued from The Indulgence of Washing My Hair: Part I

The Second Oil ~~ Second Scene: Anointing

Well, I made a lot more of the second oil than I needed.   After all the roots, scalp, and tips were oiled, I went back over them and oiled them again until they were well-oiled.   Then I stroked the remaining dry hair with oiled fingertips until all the hair from root to tip was oiled.   Still more oil left, so I saturated the roots, scalp and tips.   Still plenty, so I did an abhyangha, oiling all my skin from forehead to toes.   Oiled all the rough or dry parts a second time.   Still some oil left, but I figured I'd had enough.

Anointing took about an hour.

A complete oiling limits some activities. The bathroom was a bit warmer than the main room (60 degrees) because I ran the ceiling heater.   That matters because temperature determines how many clothes I like to wear.   Clothes tend to absorb and hold oils against laundering, so I preferred to stay in the bathroom where it's warmer and I didn't need to wear clothing.

Blogging while soaking with oil doesn't work ~~ computer is in the main room and I didn't feel like moving it.

My hands were oily ~~ so no reading books, no writing notes.   Traces of oil can dissolve inks.

What to do . . . what to do . . . .

I figured since I started oiling an hour ago, that might be enough time for the roots and scalp to have received enough benefit.

The First Rinse and the Second Rinse

I rinse first with cool water to wet the hair thoroughly.   I think it may help distribute the oils more evenly while leaving them in the hair.   Clean, gentle water is important: by the time the tap water leaves my tub faucet, it has been filtered twice for chlorine and by-products.   Chlorine and its by-products are among the harshest things to punish hair with.

I rinse second with the warmest water my scalp can stand.   Hot water melts and carries away some oils and dissolved solids from the hair and scalp, and distributes the remaining oils/fats/waxes more evenly.

I also rinsed my skin with warm water.

Shampoo (Shikakai)

I must have mixed a lot more shikakai than I needed.   After applying it liberally everywhere from root to tip, there was still some left.   So I smeared it all over my skin except around my eyes.   The moistened powder was pleasantly rough and seemed as if it would exfoliate skin.   Recommendations are to let shikakai sit on the hair for about 20 minutes and up to an hour. I wrapped my hair in a loose twisted strand, wound it into a loose bun, and clamped it up on top of my head.   I didn't use the plastic grocery bag as a cap after all.

This was the first time I tried shikakai on my skin, and I was unsure of how long to let it set. After debating about which to rinse first, hair or skin, I rinsed my skin first and then scrubbed with a sisal cloth.   Fresh, fresh, fresh!

The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Rinses

I hoped the shikakai had enough time to do its job.   I unclampled, unwound, and unfurled my hair to prepare for rinsing.   I do all water work under the tub faucet, head upside-down.

The third rinse (first rinse after the shampoo) is hot.   I start rinsing at the tips and gradually work up the shaft to the roots.   After I've rinsed thoroughly and there seems to be no more shikakai anywhere, I stand up and squeeze water down the shaft as if I'm milking the length from head to tip.

The fourth rinse (second rinse after the shampoo) is cold, rinsing until the hair changes from a warm temperature to cold.   Same pattern of rinsing from tip to root.   Same pattern of squeezing from head to tip.

As I squeezed the cold water down the shaft, I realized I'd forgotten to prepare the Fifth Rinse.   So I stepped out of the tub all wet, filled a repurposed plastic water bottle with cold water from my drinking water filter and squirted one full squeeze of lemon juice into it from one of those refrigerated yellow plastic lemons.   Back to the tub to pour lemony fresh rinse water over my head and down the length of hair, replacing the neutral pH of tap water with the lower pH of lemon water.   Again, same pattern of squeezing water down from head to tip.

Curtains!

A big fluffy towel wraps around like a turban, arranged with just enough towel on the left side to catch the long right side of the towel in the wrap.   I (probably somewhat unnecessarily) squeeze the wrapped towel a few times, thinking that I'm pushing water into the terry fibers.   Then I unwrap it and turn it to the other side and the other end, so the driest part of the damp towel is around the back of my head and the damp end hangs long.   Wrap it up and tuck the end under the back.   I think wrapping twice allows twice as much water to escape from hair to towel.

The End

And that's the end of this hair-washing experience!   Rinsing, shampooing, rinsing, and wrapping took about an hour, which included shampooing, rinsing, and scrubbing my skin.

The Bow

After sleeping on it, I concluded that I did NOT let the shikakai set long enough.   My hair is still oily the next day ~~ smells nice, feels healthy, but quite oily.   A very wet look.   One might even say "slick".

The Encore

When I have time, I'll go through all of Part II here except for anointing, since I still have plenty of oil in my hair.   That encore would entail two rinses, a good long shampoo, three more rinses, and a wrap.

The Indulgence of Washing My Hair: Part I

2013-11-01T05:19:00.004-05:00

So I'm home on Halloween night washing my hair.   Washing my hair doesn't always take all night, but tonight I'm doing the long, indulgent process and during intermissions between acts, I'll tell you all about it.

First I'll explain that my hair measures at least 51 inches from the hairline at my forehead to the tips behind my knees.   I didn't measure the longest of the fairy tale ends (the wisps that trail even longer).

Prelude: Massage

First, I just finished a deep scalp massage for blood and lymph circulation. That took about 10 minutes.   Using my fingers to gently push together from opposite directions, I aim to push the skin away from the skull, which allows blood and lymph to fill the space between.   When your skin is tight against your skull, it squeezes fluids away from the roots of your hair, starving your roots.   Your healthy scalp will have some room to move around like the hide of an animal, and will allow your hair to grow thicker and stronger.

To continue the massage after my break for blogging about it, I'll focus deep massage on the hairline around my face and the top of my head, and then exfoliate over the rest of my scalp.   During this phase of the massage, little flakes start falling, and I want to put those flakes in the sink or tub, not my carpet or keyboard.   I use my nails very lightly to exfoliate the skin (and not scrape unnecessarily at the hair itself) until I don't see any more flakes dropping.

The massage and exfoliation I've described so far, along with the brushing in the next step, enhance the health of your scalp between washings.   Brushing and washing are not all that great for hair ~~ manipulation causes damage.   It's been 19 days since I last washed, and it could go a few more days without much trouble.

Stimulating!   That took about 5 minutes. I put extra attention around my face and top of my head because the skin is tightest there, and thus, that's where thinning happens first. Now I'll use my brush with wooden bristles to detangle, distribute scalp oils, and stimulate the scalp again.

Ahhhh!   Only a few minutes to gently separate the tangles and stroke from root to tip a few times until the scalp feels satisfied.

Foreplay: Search and Destroy

Next is search and destroy: find and slice off damaged ends with my sharpest scissors.   I keep a scissors only for hair so it doesn't get nicked or dulled by other objects.   To expose the damage, I separate a lock of hair and twist it into a loose strand.   Twisting releases the ends of individual hairs from the lock and they stick out from the strand like bristles of a bottle brush, making them easy to see and slice off.   Again, I want these in the sink, not my floor, so off to the bathroom I go.

Before I settle down to search and destroy, I mix some shikakai powder with filtered water to soak and become a paste. Later, this will do the job of shampoo.

Found less damage than I had anticipated: it's been several months since the last s&d mission. Seven locks of hair averaged about six minutes per lock. I took breaks between locks to prep and eat a snack.

Brushing out the twisted locks is the reward for a search and destroy mission. The brush glides through my hair easier now . . . ahhhhh.

Time to change my shirt from a pullover to a button style so I don't have to pull a shirt over my hair after it's oiled.    In the summer, I do this in the nude and don't have to worry about clothes.

The First Oil

I applied a special castor oil treatment that I cooked up last summer and stored in the fridge. Castor oil is heavy and sticky and goes on the scalp to nourish the roots and improve hair growth. I warmed about a half-tablespoon measure of the oil, and applied it to my scalp with my fingers.   It took about a half hour to part the hair, touch oil to the skin and rub it in, part the next spot, touch oil to it, rub it in, in dozens of places until my whole scalp feels lightly oiled.   I did that treatment while bent over at the waist with my hair hanging in front of me to the floor.   Then I gathered my hair and clipped it into a bun to roost on my head as I type this blog and fiddle around with oils.

The Second Oil

Now I'll mix the oil for treating the hair and lifting the castor oil. I could have done this at any time, but I hadn't decided what to use.

The coconut oil is STIFF, and I guess that's predictable since it's only 60 degrees in the room.   I have not yet turned on the heat for the winter.   Started with coconut oil and added some ghee for the cholesterol which is good for hair and skin.   Added some borage oil and a little argan oil.   Heating a little on the stove as I type this.   I'll add drops of carrot seed essential oil and geranium essential oil. I use all organic oils so I feel good about letting it soak into my skin.

Smells nice.   Now I'll put this on my hair, bit by bit, starting at the roots and working some through to the tips. The most important parts are the scalp, roots, and tips. I don't need a soaker, just want the feeling of moisture. This is messy and little drips of oil drop to the floor, so I'll do it in the bathroom.   I have a plastic grocery bag ready to use as a cap when I'm done.

. . . . continue with The Indulgence of Washing My Hair: Part II.

Take a stand (literally)

2013-02-08T17:24:00.000-06:00

Belmonte music stand (5051)

As part of reorganizing my space, I put my laptop computer on a (very) sturdy music stand so I could stand at it while surfing the web. Sitting has poisonous effects on one's physiology, and standing helps posture (if one practices good posture while standing). Pain is one incentive: poor posture invites pain; good posture relieves pain and stimulates energy. Another key difference is lipase activation.

I like the effects so far: less sedentation; more stir.

OGM: Wonderful day to be alive

2013-02-08T16:44:00.001-06:00

It's a wonderful day to be alive ... and it's a really good day to hear your message!

Emulsifying mocha

2013-02-08T16:37:00.002-06:00

I have been experimenting with emulsifiers lately. For my mocha, I like honey better than lecithin for smoothing the texture. Just a bit, a half teaspoon in a big mug, makes a difference. Probably less than that would work, but I love a sweet mocha.

Wafers of cocoa butter

The mocha needs an emulsifier because I've been using cocoa butter instead of dairy cream or some other emulsified fat. I wonder why everyone doesn't use cocoa butter: it works SO WELL in coffee, cocoa, or mocha. It's about 2/3 saturated fat, 1/3 monounsaturated fat ~ this unrefined butter of cocoa is so much better than a pasteurized dairy product.

I twist apart a wafer and use about 1/3 to 1/2 of it in a big mug for smooth deliciousness.

* I just measured "big": 16 ounces.

I'm the 0%

2011-10-17T08:38:00.001-05:00

I must be one of the 0%.   Not in the 99%, not in the 1%.   I know how to do math, and there is no room left for alternative opinions.   The 100% live in a black-and-white world.   No room for me in that world ~ my world has colors and shades.

OccupyWallStreet raised my suspicion from the beginning, but it was a fuzzy suspicion until I found a fact to back it up.   What I found is that the 1% and the 99% have a lot of common ground.   Both groups are confused, misguided, and deceived, and so they have been for many long years.   They are ironic partners in their debacles.

It's so provocative, isn't it? The groups pretend opposition; we watch the reality show unfold, sometimes photoshopped, sometimes not; people pretend that something could change as a result.   But nothing fundamental will change as long as fundamentals stay buried under the same confusion, deception, and faulty advice that caused this trouble to escalate.

The problem is that some people ~ the 100% ~ think there's a free lunch out there, and by god, they've got a right to eat it.   They have advisers and commentators and Congress and the president, and even bloggers (!), telling them, "YES!   There IS a free lunch out there and it has YOUR NAME on it!!   Now go out there and get it before this offer expires!"

Take the 99% back to 1999, for example, when Congress passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.   (Note our own Congressman Jim Leach's name in the title of the bill.   Wikipedia says, "The legislation he [Leach] is perhaps best known for is the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, one of the seminal pieces of banking legislation of the 20th century." The final bill passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and passed in the House 362-57-15.

Not much controversy there.   The bill had widespread support; it was veto-proof. Not that Clinton wanted to veto it: it finally had the provisions that he and the Democrats had been arguing for. From a New York Times article published at the time of the bill's passing,

But the White House . . . had its own ideas about community lending. It wanted the legislation to prevent any bank with an unsatisfactory record of making loans to the disadvantaged from expanding into new areas, like insurance or securities.

Now, in this particular situation, an "unsatisfactory record of making loans" does NOT mean that the bank made too many risky loans.   It means just the opposite: the bank didn't make enough loans to the disadvantaged, meaning those people who were more likely to default on the loan.   In order to qualify for the advantages offered by the change in the legislation ~ that is, to keep up with the changing landscape in banking, investment, and insurance ~ banks would have to make enough risky loans to create a "satisfactory lending record".

So they did.   They made risky loans.   They created "satisfactory lending records".

Whatever else you might think of them, the people running our banks, investment firms, and insurance companies are not stupid.   They are creative and adaptable.   So they applied their creativity and they adapted to the new game ~ the game that had over 80% support in Congress plus the support of the president.

They put the toxic assets (the risky loans) into derivatives and sold them.   Why?   Because they could.   It was legal.   Nobody told them they couldn't.

When you've waded through multi-hundred pages of documents, you might figure that lawmakers put everything they wanted into the law, right?   Lawmakers have the power to outlaw anything they want to: they can just add another hundred pages onto their bill.   And they have the power to make the rules of the game.   The new rules didn't outlaw new derivatives ... so ... what's a creative, adaptable financial player to do?

Play the game.

Almost never is the bureaucratic game accused of being logical or moral or fair, and this was no exception.

So the new financial institutions made loans to people who couldn't afford them. Those people defaulted on the loans. The house of cards tumbled down and a lot of people at the middle and bottom got hurt.

Here's one thing I have a problem with. A whole bunch of people got loans who otherwise would not have.   You'd think they'd have gotten what they wanted: a chance to make it work.   Risky, yes, but they wanted that chance.   That's what Clinton and the Democrats in Congress said they wanted for the disadvantaged ~ a chance they wouldn't otherwise have.   So are Clinton, the Democrats, and the disadvantaged satisfied?   No.   They wanted a FREE lunch.   Not a risky lunch, not a toxic lunch, not a lunch with a price.   Only a FREE lunch would satisfy their appetites.

Here's my second problem.   The protestors, the 99%, are all up in their self-righteousness and moral superiority, but I'll bet you could dump a truckload of money in front of them and tell them, "No law against you taking that money," and they wouldn't walk away without stuffing their pockets full.   Why ask where it came from? Hell's bells, it's money, and it's legal to take it.   Only a fool wouldn't, right?   People do it all the time.   They take money that has been taken from someone else, and don't think twice, because it's legal.   In fact, it's encouraged.   In fact, sometimes nearly impossible to avoid having money put in your pocket that's been taken from someone else.   Money redistribution is so deeply engrained in our culture, people hardly notice it.

Self-righteous, morally condescending people annoy me.

I wonder what their story is, what they're hiding. In this case, when it comes to a free lunch, the 99% are as greedy as the 1%.   Common ground.

There's a third thing that bothers me.   This mess is being blamed on deregulation of financial services.   It wasn't a deregulation.   It was a REregulation.   Multi-hundreds of pages are not needed to deregulate.   A single page can take an old law off the books ~ that's deregulation.   Multi-hundreds of pages are needed when you have a whole new set of regulations that need to be spelled out in detail.   The banking fiasco had absolutely nothing to do with a free market, because the market was very tightly bound in a straitjacket of multiples of thousands of pages of regulations.   We need a new name for these horribly UNfree markets. Bound markets?   Markets de Sade?

Back on November 8, 1999, as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was being considered as a reregulation of the Glass-Steagall Act, Ron Paul reminded Congress of his one-page bill to repeal Glass-Steagall.   He explains his opposition to Gramm-Leach-Bliley in about ... one page.

Which brings me to the Republicans.   No, not Ron Paul.   I mean the Republicans who wanted to deregulate (cough) financial services by writing a ton of new regulations instead of just repealing the original regulation (Glass-Steagall).   From the same Times article,

For more than 20 years, Congress has tried unsuccessfully to rewrite the nation's financial services laws and repeal Glass-Steagall, particularly as many other industrial nations had no similar restrictions on their banks. But until recently, the three main industries affected by the legislation -- banks, securities companies and insurers -- had competing interests and were able to lobby any legislation to a standstill.

That all changed in recent years as the lines between the industries began to blur and it became more broadly acknowledged that a deregulation of financial services could be beneficial to insurers, bankers and securities firms alike. Once the three industries rallied around the legislation, they became a formidable political force, raising millions of dollars for lawmakers and pressing both Republican leaders in Congress and the White House for new legislation.

"Bidding opens for Section 104A, Paragraph 2, Clause iii, at $100,000 for our initial bid. I see $200,000 from the lobbyist for Citibank, $220,000 from Goldman Sachs, any more bids for Clause iii? Going once, . . . "

Having met Jim Leach ~ grandfatherly, intent on integrity ~ I have some doubts that he intended to set up a crash. He probably thought he had tied the straitjacket tight enough to stop movement but loose enough to allow breath. That's what everybody wants in our regulations, right? Other lawmakers I'm not at all sure about. The legislation they passed did not reflect informed and judicious care about common sense or decency, and definitely not the Constitution or liberty. Well, maybe Congressmembers were confused, misguided, and deceived, and have been for many long years, along with the 100%. Common ground for more and more . . .

* * *

I admit my fascination for the amazing adaptability of financial wizards who maneuver around the tons of regulation in their field.   It's the kind of fascination I have for cunning, dangerous, and unpredictable animals.   I have no patience, however, for their conscienceless decisions.   With all their tremendous intelligence, they could do better than rapaciousness.   They could remember that just because a free lunch is offered doesn't mean they have to eat it.   In fact, since the markets suffer too much bondage and discipline, they could find a different game to play.   They could invent a new game ~ a really fun one ~ instead of just playing along with someone else's tired old twister.   The smarties who came up with toxic derivatives do NOT get a pass for their behavior.   A stare, maybe, but not a pass.

The smarties could start a new game, but I guess I don't really expect them to look much further ahead in their lives than their next quarter, maybe their next fiscal year.   Not unlike the disadvantaged borrower, who looks as far ahead as the next paycheck, maybe two.   Gee, another common ground between the 99% and the 1%.

That leaves it up to you, dear readers.   You need to come up with a new game, one that works for you, and stop playing the other guy's game, because that guy wrote the rules to help himself, not you.

OGM: Love to hear your voice

2011-10-04T10:36:00.001-05:00

[ italics are whispered ]

I ~ love ~ to hear your voice tickle my ear, so leave a message.

Phone tag #1 done, #2 begun

2011-08-13T04:35:00.001-05:00

Continuing the game of phone tag from yesterday, I called David Brown again.   This time he called back after the first message I left on his cell phone, and we finished our one-minute-43-second conversation.   He was with his wife at the emergency room, and referred me to the Attorney General's office, since David's bureau (Dairy Products Control) deals only with dairy sales and nothing else.

It's kind of ironic that the Attorney General's office transferred me to the Department of Ag only a few weeks ago, but this is a bureaucracy, after all.

I feel better now that business is concluded with Mr Brown instead of hanging unfinished.

Then I called the Attorney General's office and left voicemail for Dave Sheridan, Director of the Environmental Law Division, at 12:41 pm.   No calls in return yet.   I'll probably try again on Monday.

Bad luck on a beautiful day?

2011-08-12T00:28:00.001-05:00

When I am unlucky enough to miss someone's call, I like them to have a little entertainment before they leave me a message ~ that's why I craft outgoing messages with some thought for my listeners.   And they usually like them.

Poor David Brown thought my last one, the "send me to sizzle" was, in his words, "really weird."   That was the message he left when he returned my call.   So maybe we got off on the wrong foot.

David Brown is the bureau chief for Dairy Products Control, one of the many bureaus in the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.   The Dairy Products Control Bureau is charged with ruling on details about dairy products in Iowa.   And I had a question about dairy products, specifically, raw milk.   As the publicist for Milkers Get It, I want to make sure that the information I send out is as accurate as possible, so I do a lot of fact-checking, and I don't just make stuff up.   I go to the source.

As I was explaining to David about milking lessons and introducing people to raw milk, our connection dropped out.   Thinking that maybe a cell tower went haywire, I called right back.   And the call dropped again.   Hmmm.   Such bad luck on a beautiful day in Iowa.   This is how the calls went ~~~

afternoon of Wednesday, August 10, 2011 ~ I left a message at David Brown's office in Des Moines

Thursday, August 11 :

11:35 am ~ I left a message at David's office in Des Moines

between 11:52 am and 12:36 pm ~  David left a message on my voicemail (commenting it was "really weird")

12:46 pm ~ I got his voicemail and assured him that he got the right number

12:49 pm ~ He called and we talked live for 00:01:15.   That's 75 seconds.

12:50 pm ~ I called right back thinking a cell tower had dropped him.   He answered and we spoke for 3 seconds before another disconnect.

between 12:50 and 12:52 pm, I texted him about the connection problems

12:52 pm ~ I called; the phone rang; went to voicemail; I left a message

2:06 pm ~ I called; phone rang; voicemail; I left message

It could all be just very bad luck on a beautiful Iowa day.

OGM: Beautiful day

2011-08-11T23:37:00.000-05:00

Hi. This is Christy. I hope you're having a beautiful day, 'cuz I am.

(NEWS) More understanding, less mystery: milkers get it

2011-07-22T02:59:00.003-05:00

Today I sent out a news article announcing "Milkers Get It", a concept for improving the public image of Real Milk in Iowa. Here it is ....
______________

* * * * * NEWS RELEASE FROM Milkers Get It * * * * *

More understanding, less mystery: milkers get it

21 July 2011
Fairfield, Iowa

Iowa may soon have as many milking coaches as lactation consultants. After a lapse of about four decades, human breastfeeding has secured its place once again in our culture as the premiere way to nourish an infant. In a parallel narrative, fresh wholesome milk from cows, sheep, and goats is regaining its reputation as a premiere health food. To boost that growing reputation, milking coaches are pulling up another milking stool to help people learn more about the realities of milk fresh from the udder.

"We've only used manmade milk (formula and pasteurized milk) for around 60 to 70 years but we've used breast milk and raw milk for 6000 years. If it wasn't for breast milk and raw milk, we wouldn't be here!" says Brad Hopp, a milking coach near Lawton in northwestern Iowa. "Learning more about milking helps people understand it better, and I'm all for that."

Although mothers' milk retains some of its mystery in the face of scientific inquiry, mothers these days know how precious it is to their babies' health and growth. A little mystery in the food supply passes when it's balanced by strong instincts and a solid record of success. But mystery can feel uncomfortable when it strays too far from knowledge and experience.

"The idea of raw milk feels exotic and mysterious to many people in Iowa," says Christy Ann Welty, homeschooling mother of two who helps milking coaches and new milkers find each other. "More understanding and less fear will help everyone as they make decisions about the best ways to feed their families."

More understanding and less mystery: that's the meaning of "Milkers get it."

A second meaning of the phrase relates to Iowa state law.

Drinking wholesome, fresh milk -- fresh from a healthy, grass-fed cow, sheep, or goat without processing through a pasteurization vat -- has been illegal since 1968 for most people living in Iowa. The privilege of choosing whether to drink milk fresh or pasteurized is reserved to the few who control livestock, land, and have mastered the skill of milking; everyone else is restricted to only Grade A pasteurized milk, except for those who are willing to operate in the gray areas of the law. "Giving away milk is not covered by our rules," says Dustin VandeHoef, communications director for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS), "but all sales are illegal."

Passages from Chapter 192 of the Iowa Code (state law) say, "Only grade 'A' pasteurized milk and milk products shall be sold to the final consumer, or to restaurants, soda fountains, grocery stores, or similar establishments;" and later, "No person shall within the state produce, provide, sell, offer, or expose for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, any milk or milk product which is adulterated or misbranded;"

VandeHoef says, "We interpret the words 'adulterated' and 'misbranded' to include raw milk, and this is also the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] interpretation which is adopted into the Code."

The IDALS interprets "sales" to mean "exchanges of value." During a phone call to his office, VanderHoef was reluctant to specify which circumstances would be considered prosecutable and which would be outside IDALS's rules.

A broad interpretation of the meaning of "sales" puts giving away raw milk, and even drinking raw milk from one's own animal, into the gray area between legal and illegal: renting a stall in a farmer's barn to shelter your cow if you do not have a barn; bringing a sandwich to the person milking your goat for you; bringing a bottle of wine to a dinner party where the hostess serves raw milk. Membership in a private kitchen club could be interpreted as a "sale" if one of the members gives away samples of raw milk.

To steer clear of potential gray market entanglement, all milking lessons from "milkers get it" coaches are free, and no donations are accepted. "We're not trying to get around the law," says Welty. "Our purpose is to pass along a valuable skill to people who want to be self-sufficient or live a sustainable lifestyle or simply exercise choice about the food they eat."

In order to exercise the simple choice of "Fresh or Pasteurized" without engaging black markets or gray markets, a person has to learn how to milk and has to control livestock plus enough land to support it. One mission of "Milkers get it" is to help people overcome barriers that state law and bureaucracy have erected. Another mission is to assist efforts to change the state law.

Challenging the statute with a court case is lengthy and expensive. One current lawsuit disputes one circumstance in the gray area of the law: Freitag v Secretary of Agriculture was filed in January 2010 and litigation continues in Linn County's district court. Representing two milkers who boarded their cow with a Linn County farmer, the Farmer-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund "is acting in the capacity of a public interest law firm to protect the fundamental rights of the public at large ...."

Changing the statute directly with new legislation is another option. Small-scale dairy farmers, health food customers, legislators, and many others worked together during Iowa's 2011 legislative session to lift restrictions against consumers buying raw milk directly from farmers. "We made progress," says Francis Thicke, organic dairy operator and former candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, "but not enough to pass it this year. We'll try again next year."

Meanwhile, you can pull up a three-legged stool and try a free milking lesson for yourself, and encourage your state legislators to get some hands-on experience, too. Accurate information and authentic experience are often the best tools for changing engrained habits of mind and for updating rules and procedures. Milking coaches are ready to introduce all comers to the wholesome experience of squirting fresh milk from the udder of a healthy animal into a warm, foamy pail of milk. When you feel the rush from a satisfying squeeze, you'll understand. Milkers get it.

# # #

Contact:
Christy Ann Welty
Fairfield, Iowa
(641) 472-4426
ispiritkin@yahoo.com

OGM: Send me to sizzle

2011-07-11T20:16:00.001-05:00

Oh, it's so hot, I'm steamy! But when I hear your voice, it's gonna send me to sizzle . . . tsssss!

Up, down, or splat ~ how will they go?

2011-06-30T07:48:00.000-05:00

Somebody invented a pretty good wheel for helping people assert justice in spite of abuse by police. It's called CopBlocking (cute name!). An interview with the founders of CopBlock.org is here: http://rtr.org/videos/22105/23674 Nice website at CopBlock.org with advice and examples of what works and what doesn't across the nation. Wonder how people in Fairfield would do with that approach?

And I invented my own wheel to put Real Milk right in front of people so they can see how wholesome and not scary it is. Minutes ago I submitted it to Iowa's yahoo group for food choice to get their feedback. Wonder what they'll say? I've never seen any other plan like it.

Just juggling those balls to see what goes up, what comes down, and what goes splat.

Stewing in my juices

2011-06-29T03:04:00.002-05:00

It's been almost four years since I burnt out on political activism.   My soup of projects had boiled down to a ragout and then dried up into a lumpy casserole of limp noodles under a tough, overbaked shell of confounded former juiciness.   In other words, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

So I turned my attention to friends and music and having fun.   That was awesome ~~ delightful and refreshing as a cuke'n'lime cooler!

Now I notice the heat is building again.   I have less tolerance for intolerance, less enjoyment of frivolity, and a bigger urge to urge others to action.   Feels like Mars* is at the kitchen stove again cooking up a big pot of hot and hearty stew.   Temperature is on the rise and at this rate, my blood will boil soon!

Poking around in the stew pot, I see . . .

Raw milk . . . Every mother has made milk ~ it's visceral and close to the heart.

Official bullies . . . Many of us feel anxious around armed, uniformed officers.

Tenants' rights . . . Scorned & trampled ~ a bellwether for everyone else's rights

How 'bout a big bowl full of bully right milk stew?   Mm, mm, make my day!
__________________________

*   Found it: Mars is coming into opposition with Rahu, and the Rahu opposition to natal Rahu will be exact this December.   Major life pivot ahead!

Bootleg ... sauerkraut?

2011-06-26T08:32:00.000-05:00

I blame misty-eyed romanticism for my gross naivety about farmers markets in Iowa.   See, I thought these gatherings were informal get-togethers, unhindered by rules and regulations that strangle brick-and-mortar stores.   The vendors seemed kind of like gypsies ~ setting up their wares for a few hours and then vanishing ~ poof.   It should have aroused suspicions when I saw the same people selling the same things week after week after month after year.   Where was the dynamism and enterprise of a free market?   Where was the experimentation with novel ideas?   And where was the home style food?

Outlawed ~ that's where.

Outlawed and over-regulated.   Turns out that it's illegal to sell home style canned goods at Iowa's farmers markets.   And for other foods, getting all the permits, licenses, and paraphernalia can be very costly before you can legally sell a single cream pie.   Raw sauerkraut or raw fermented beet pickles?   Forget it.   They are totally prohibited for sale at markets or "licensed food establishments", and they are prohibited for use in preparing other foods to be sold in Iowa at such places.

And here I thought selling raw milk would make some kind of a statement for freedom.   Nope.   That gesture would just get lost in the noise of all the other food violations that the food goons ('scuse me ~ "food safety inspectors", as the vendors carefully say) regularly nab people for.

Here is the two-page list of what can and can't legally be sold at farmers markets and the twenty-two page "Temporary Food Service Establishments and Farmer’s Markets Operator’s Guidelines".   I weep.

My heart goes out to any vendor who is trying to make a bit of money at a Saturday morning market in Iowa.   Kudos to you folks ~ it's a costly, messy headache to deal with all that bureaucracy.

And I would like all of us buyers to note the real target of the regulations.   The real target is the essence of the market itself, the human need to make one's way with self-worth and dignity, to give and receive value in a voluntary exchange.   These needs and values are marked by money, and regulators intrude where the money flows ~~ to govern it, to throttle it, to strangle that pulse of life that signifies the way we use our precious energies.

The real concern isn't and has never been the safety of canned food, or raw milk, or any other excuse the regulators spew to distract you from their real agenda, which is control, especially control of money.   If regulators could convince people that the safety of raw sauerkraut or raw milk were really the issue, then it would be easy to outlaw giving it away (like alcohol to minors).   Or making it (like whiskey).   Or feeding it to calves (like arsenic).

It would be easy because people have gotten used to losing their choices, one after another, to the steady drumbeat of "protection from the risk" of those choices.

But giving away raw milk is not illegal. Yet.

So me and the genie . . . we're gonna throw a big ol' party and give away lots of wholesome Real Milk.   And the regulators?   Well, I'm not inviting them, and I hope nobody else does either.

Raw milk

2011-06-26T00:51:00.000-05:00

The raw milk topic lit up my research screen recently.   I had studied its health benefits in Weston Price's book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" and decided most definitely that raw milk is a valuable food for overall radiant health.   I wished that I'd known about Price's research much earlier ~  maybe my children could have been born with better basic health and fewer troubles.   Nevertheless, we're doing the best we can as we learn more and more about better nutrition and better living.

Then a month ago, fellow activist Doug Murguia (whom I'd met 3 weeks before) said that after talking to several people, he thought the raw milk issue would galvanize people to push back against strangling regulations.

"Great idea," I said, "I'm on it!"   There's something about milk ~ flowing white nourishment ~ that pushes emotional buttons like no other food, like no other plant, animal, or mineral on the planet.

Doug and I learned more about each other in the next weeks.   Doug likes to practice civil disobedience to make things happen fast.   I like to practice incrementalism to fasten changes into place.   We're both very dedicated and neither of us says a compromise is a win.   Yet, our activism is from opposite ends of a spectrum of, shall we say, intensity.

So I study raw milk and the masses of laws around it.   Then I sit for a while and conjure ideas.   I talk to people who know more about cows and goats than I do ... then I sit for a while and conjure some more.   I'm putting a lot of attention on rubbing that little glass milk bottle.

Pretty soon the raw milk genie has to splash out, spluttering and splattering little white drops everywhere, saying, "Holy Cow!   What a gusher of a let-down!"   She wipes her face, looks around, and says, "Come on, girl, we gonna party 'til the cows come home!"

And I say, "Right ON!"

Herbs for hair

2011-05-26T20:21:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I got all motivated to try a totally herbal hair treatment.   It had been a week since my last wash.   The hair was slightly oily near the scalp and was showing signs of mineral build-up at the ends ~ the water filter had lost its effectiveness over the last few weeks, but by yesterday the filter was replaced, so no chlorine, less gunk.

Shampoo: Shikakai and Fenugreek
Chelator: Wheat bran
Rinse: Chamomile and lime

In a stainless steel pot on the stove, I heated water with shikakai powder, then ground some fenugreek in the spice grinder and added that.   It was not the consistency of yogurt (advised for deep-oil treatments).   This was a few tablespoons of shikakai in less than a quart of water, plus maybe a tablespoon of fenugreek for its mucilage.   Came to a low boil, kept warm on a low simmer while I got other things ready.

In a stainless steel bowl, I heated 20 ounces of chamomile tea: bulk chamomile flowers in a fill-your-own tea bag.   When the tea became golden and seemed well-steeped, I poured it into a glass bowl to chill in the fridge.

Next, using the same steel bowl, I simmered wheat bran ~ about a quarter cup in a quart.

Then came action over the tub.   I brushed my hair upside-down so it was hanging down in front of me.   Bending over, I dunked the back of my head into the shikakai/fenugreek mix, which I had poured into a big steel bowl.   I like to use steel in the bathroom so if it slips it won't shatter.   Then I applied it by the handful to the scalp and got it very soaked.   Remember that I did NOT wet my hair before soaking with the mix.   When I got the scalp hair soaked, I moved along the hair, soaking it in the remaining mix until all the mix was gone.   The very ends were still dry, but they had not been oily, so that was okay.   I wrapped it around in a coil and clipped it with hair jaws, then wrapped a plastic grocery bag around like a shower cap, draped a brown towel around my shoulders, and rinsed out the tub.   Now I could go back to the kitchen and do other work while the shikakai/fenu did its work.   It was drippy, but the towel caught the drips.   Drips were dark brown, so they would probably leave stains on a light towel.

I fried up some eggs for supper for the three of us (three batches in the pan ~ we were hungry!) and then went to rinse out the shik/fenu.   Since the shik/fenu warming pot was free, I poured the water off the top of the wheat bran into it so I wouldn't have all those wheat flakes in my hair.   Brought the warm wheat bran water into the bathroom along with the cooled chamomile tea.   I had planned to put the cooled tea into a plastic 20 ounce bottle, but forgot.   So I rinsed out the shik/fenu.   The fenu makes it somewhat slippery and easy to tell when it is rinsed out ~ plus the flakes of fenu are easy to see, too!   I rinsed and rinsed (all upside-down under the tub faucet), and since the water filter was new, I felt some confidence that it was doing good things.   The feel in my fingers did not have the slick or squeak of a conventional shampoo.   Felt kind of coated.

Then I squeezed the water out.   The hair seemed like strands of fabric.   I've been going no-cones for a while, and I think that's part of the new no-cone feel.   With most of the water squeezed out, I poured the wheat water over the back of my head to drain into the big steel bowl on the tub floor, and soaked the ends in the water that drained into the bowl.   Then squeezed out the water, put the drained water back into the small pot, and did it again, and a third time.   The last time, I didn't squeeze out the water.   I coiled the hair onto my head, clipped it, dumped the last of the wheat water over the coil, let the excess drip for a while, and wrapped it in a different plastic shopping bag.   Rinsed out the big steel bowl.

With my hair all up out of the way, I showered as usual while the chelator went to work on the mineral build-up.   At least, I hope that's what it was doing.   After showering, I took down the hair and rinsed and rinsed with warm water until it felt like the wheat water was gone.   Then a thorough cold water rinse.

The final rinse was cold chamomile tea.   I had forgotten to put lemon juice in it, so I called out for a bottle, but we were out of lemon juice.   Used lime juice instead ~ just a bit, less than a tablespoon.   Poured that through the hair using the big steel bowl to catch it, squeezed it through, poured through again, squeezed, and then one more pour and a soak in the bowl.   Squeezed the excess out and wrapped in a towel.

I put waters and oils on my skin and dressed before taking the towel off my hair. By that time the hair was not drippy.   I shook it out over the vinyl floor, and a bunch of fenu flakes fell out.   I saw almost no flakes after that.

Seems like a lot of work, but I was up for it that day.   That's not always the case ~ sometimes just thinking about all that process daunts me and I don't start it.

Then I had to wait for it to dry to see what really happened.   That's today.

My hair is fluffy and weightless, feels clean on my scalp.   Smells fresh.   It feels like there is some kind of coating on it ~ my wooden bristle brush doesn't slip through it like it does through coned hair ~ maybe fenu built up since this is the third time I tried fenu.   But the hair is soft and floaty and smells nice.   And I know that whatever the coating might be, it isn't a bunch of weird chemicals.

I think the chelator removed some of the mineral build-up.   The hair is softer and more pliable than it was ~ it may have a different build-up now, but it isn't as much mineral.

One more note: I had soaked a small spot on my scalp with castor oil and vitamin E oil.   The shikakai left that spot as clean as the rest.   No oil residues at all.

Through the Oven Door

2011-05-26T15:13:00.002-05:00

Last winter I read a book about Feng Shui explaining that the wisdom area of one's home is just to the left of the entrance.   In my place, that's where the stove and a fridge are, and since I moved here two years ago, I've become somewhat obsessive about researching nutrition.   Not just any nutrition, but the kind that happens to use the stove and fridge.   My sudden passion for nutrition could be just a coincidence, but maybe Feng Shui is right on.

After accumulating such an abundance of information, I'm afraid my urge to educate the people around me has begun to bore them. I'd rather blog about it than monologue, thus the new tags "food" and "hair".   Yes: Hair Nutrition!   Use the stove to cook up teas for shampoo, conditioner, and rinse; use the fridge to chill tea for a final rinse.   I'm a kitchen chemist at best, not a cook, and this is a weird path for me, but this path is not narrowing or growing over with bramble ....   Feels like it's drawing me deeper into the shadowy mysteries beyond.

This path of the bagua leads me from left of my entry, through the oven door, and deep into studies of biology and chemistry.   Novel and exotic, unknown to nearly all my friends, this path impels me to feed my curiosity, and then to share my adventures.

OGM: You again

2011-05-26T13:52:00.002-05:00

The OGMs have continued even though I haven't blogged them. Here's the latest.
Don't know how to post a purr, but this OGM sounds like a smiley purr.

Mmmm ... it's you again. Nice.

OGM: Sizzlin' Hot

2010-08-11T00:44:00.000-05:00

I am sizzlin' hot this week, so my fan club is running a special promotion ~ a free hug for every new fan.

OGM: Casting Thousands

2010-07-01T16:49:00.001-05:00

We're casting thousands for the off-planet production Christy's Little Red Cell Phone. You can audition for a lead role Right Now in 3 ~ 2 ~ 1 ~ [beep]

OGM: Coconut Oil

2010-07-01T16:37:00.004-05:00

(These are the first lines in a song I wrote this summer .... I sang them for the OutGoing Message. Replacing with a new one today.)

When coconut oil is thin and clear, the day is hot and summer's here.

The Seventeen-Percenters (17%ers)

2010-06-11T20:44:00.000-05:00

A 17%er is a politically active person who cares about liberty. Only about 17% of politically active people do care about liberty for everyone. The other 83% care about things like political power, clout, or money, or they care about being part of the crowd who aims to gain power, clout, or money, or they care about getting or maintaining special privileges for themselves (see power, clout, or money for routes to privilege).

"Seventeen percent" comes from taking note of statistics in three races.

First was Hughie Tweedy's race for Iowa State Representative in 2000. Hughie and his political views were well-known among the like-minded in Lee County. He ran as a Libertarian against an entrenched incumbent of the most active party in his county and a much lesser known candidate of the second-most active party of the county. In this three-way race between R, D, and Libertarian, Hughie got 17% of the vote.

Next was Clyde Cleveland's race for Governor of Iowa in 2002. Clyde ran an energetic campaign and became well-known for his political views in his hometown of Fairfield. In the race with Clyde were a one-term incumbent governor and a several-term congresscritter, both of the two most active parties in the state, and an unknown minor party candidate. In this four-way race among R, D, Libertarian, and Green, Clyde got 17% of the vote in his own Jefferson County.

And then there was my race for the At Large seat on the Fairfield City Council in 2007. I ran a $10 campaign, but my name and my views were well-known due to my four years as city councilor for Third Ward. In the race with me were three others. One was an unknown candidate whose campaign chair was a county supervisor and whose campaign treasurer was a past city council member of eight years, and both were influential in the most active party in the city. Another candidate was a local officer of the second-most active party in the city and a several-time candidate for office. The third candidate appeared to be unknown and unaffiliated with any particular party. In this nominally non-partisan yet actually heavily partisan four-way race among R, D, Libertarian, and unaffiliated, I got 17% of the vote in Fairfield.

Judging by the results of these three races, it seems that 17% has special significance for libertarians and liberty-oriented people.