I'm going to use this post to accumulate links relating to the role of technology in doing things differently in Haiti:
Twitter in Haiti (thehaitian) on NBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/35031832#35031832
Help Haiti Heal: Instructions for volunteers:
http://helphaitiheal.wordpress.com/find-hop/about/
home page: http://helphaitiheal.wordpress.com/
Haiti volunteer network: http://haitivolunteer.org/
Ushahandi:
http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2010/01/22/the-nuts-and-bolts-behind-4636-in-haiti/
volunteer: http://haiti.ushahidi.com/diaspora
article on the role of texting
http://ow.ly/ZSx3
Crisis Camp:
http://crisiscommons.org/node/39
a blog example of small scale aid:
http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/
problems with large-scale aid:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010//hallward240110.html
rebuilding differently (appropriate technology)
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/journal/docs-temp/350-anderson.pdf
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/v-fullstory/story/1441239.html
appropriate architecture:
http://www.dwell.com/articles/an-architecture-prof-on-haiti.html
what's wrong with news coverage:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175194/
I'm supporting Partners in Health because people in my church had a role in the origins of the organization and because they are putting the Haitians in the lead as much as possible, not coming in as cowboys to tell them what to do. My church is supporting in particular the rebuilding of the dam and water project in Cange that was their first project in 1984. The water supply is needed to support the hospital and expected long-term refugees. http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=663543
Also make sure to sign the petition to drop Haiti's international debt: http://www.one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Mary Daly
I just learned that Mary Daly died ten days ago. It was reading her book Beyond God the Father that started me on the path to becoming a believer and a churchgoer. It was about 1976 and I was studying feminist analysis of science with Ruth Hubbard. I read Mary Daly because I thought Christianity was a similar kind of patriarchial system to science and so her analysis might be helpful in thinking about science. It was the first time I understood that the Christian church could be more than just a social institution. When I joined a church for the first time, about five years later, it was a Congregational Church, First Church Amherst, then pastored by Donna Schaper.
Friday, January 08, 2010
hoping for a better 2010
I haven't given up on blogging entirely, but the fall was overwhelming, with supervising home renovations, moving, moving my husband's 98 year old aunt first from an apartment into assisted living then into a nursing home, and my son flunking out of college.
We had a housewarming party Jan. 2 and I think we are finally pretty well settled. The house I would say is a success, though I haven't had much chance to enjoy it. Downsizing from about 4000 to about 3000 square feet was hard. A wonderful cousin I had hardly known before is helping us sell things we didn't want.
John's aunt is doing better now that she isn't trying to manage her own apartment.
Our son started Monday at Presbyterian College, much closer to home. He is optimistic that will work out better.
Am I really going to get to catch my breath?
When I don't have time to blog I have been posting on Twitter (set up to transfer to Facebook). You can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pammack
We had a housewarming party Jan. 2 and I think we are finally pretty well settled. The house I would say is a success, though I haven't had much chance to enjoy it. Downsizing from about 4000 to about 3000 square feet was hard. A wonderful cousin I had hardly known before is helping us sell things we didn't want.
John's aunt is doing better now that she isn't trying to manage her own apartment.
Our son started Monday at Presbyterian College, much closer to home. He is optimistic that will work out better.
Am I really going to get to catch my breath?
When I don't have time to blog I have been posting on Twitter (set up to transfer to Facebook). You can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pammack
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Chocolate mousse-torte pie
12 oz semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 teasp instant coffee
1/3 cup boiling water
12 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
2 teasp vanilla
1/8 teasp salt
1/2 or 1 cup heavy cream (optional)
Prehead oven to 350. Dissolve coffee in boiling water and place with chocolate in a double boiler over hot but not boiling water, stirring occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in chocolate and vanilla. Beat egg whites and salt until stiff. Stir 1/4 of egg whites into chocolate mixture then fold in the rest. Grease a deep dish pie pan, fill with half or less of the mousse mixture, and bake for 25 minutes or until puffed. Turn off heat and leave in oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. Meanwhile chill the remaining mousse (first stir in 1/2 cup of cream whipped until firm if you prefer a slightly lighter mousse). When shell is cool cover it with the chilled mousse and chill 2 to 3 hours. The pie can be covered with 1 cup of cream, whipped, before serving.
1 1/2 teasp instant coffee
1/3 cup boiling water
12 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
2 teasp vanilla
1/8 teasp salt
1/2 or 1 cup heavy cream (optional)
Prehead oven to 350. Dissolve coffee in boiling water and place with chocolate in a double boiler over hot but not boiling water, stirring occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in chocolate and vanilla. Beat egg whites and salt until stiff. Stir 1/4 of egg whites into chocolate mixture then fold in the rest. Grease a deep dish pie pan, fill with half or less of the mousse mixture, and bake for 25 minutes or until puffed. Turn off heat and leave in oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. Meanwhile chill the remaining mousse (first stir in 1/2 cup of cream whipped until firm if you prefer a slightly lighter mousse). When shell is cool cover it with the chilled mousse and chill 2 to 3 hours. The pie can be covered with 1 cup of cream, whipped, before serving.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Race Report: Death Valley Open Water Swim Meet
It had been a difficult week. Worries about the renovations of the house we will move to, a lowball offer on our current house, and then the budget of the program I run at work was drastically cut (that is only part of my job so my job isn't threatened). I was feeling so low last night I just went to bed early.
I got to the swim meet around 10, not knowing the exact schedule. I had signed up for the 2k, which turned out to be scheduled for 11 and didn't actually start until 11:30. I had done this meet two years ago and I thought I had done the 2k then, but now that I look back at my blog I see I did the 3k that time. I was feeling fairly relaxed about it, as I swim more than 2k in practice.
It was a beautiful day with little wind and the 2k was a small group. There were people around me for a little while at the start and then I settled in to the long lonely haul. I tried to focus on keeping up my effort. The last part out to the turnaround there was more wind and a lot of wake from passing boats, so it felt easier once I had turned around.
Someone swam with me towards the end and asked me if I was ok. Do I look that incompetent? Actually I was feeling a bit discouraged, as the number of buoys ahead of me seemed to stay the same. I passed a buoy and realized people were yelling at me to turn. Only then did I realize that what looked like a row of buoys stretching ahead of me was actually buoys piled on a dock beyond the finish. So I had a very short last push to the finish. I came out feeling pretty tired, though not shakey.
I didn't ask my time; I thought I would see it on the clock which was a little ways up the beach. But just after I finished they started the 1k, so the clock had been reset by the time I got to it. The results aren't posted on the web site yet. But however I did, I am feeling less depressed.
Update: My time was 1:09:31
I got to the swim meet around 10, not knowing the exact schedule. I had signed up for the 2k, which turned out to be scheduled for 11 and didn't actually start until 11:30. I had done this meet two years ago and I thought I had done the 2k then, but now that I look back at my blog I see I did the 3k that time. I was feeling fairly relaxed about it, as I swim more than 2k in practice.
It was a beautiful day with little wind and the 2k was a small group. There were people around me for a little while at the start and then I settled in to the long lonely haul. I tried to focus on keeping up my effort. The last part out to the turnaround there was more wind and a lot of wake from passing boats, so it felt easier once I had turned around.
Someone swam with me towards the end and asked me if I was ok. Do I look that incompetent? Actually I was feeling a bit discouraged, as the number of buoys ahead of me seemed to stay the same. I passed a buoy and realized people were yelling at me to turn. Only then did I realize that what looked like a row of buoys stretching ahead of me was actually buoys piled on a dock beyond the finish. So I had a very short last push to the finish. I came out feeling pretty tired, though not shakey.
I didn't ask my time; I thought I would see it on the clock which was a little ways up the beach. But just after I finished they started the 1k, so the clock had been reset by the time I got to it. The results aren't posted on the web site yet. But however I did, I am feeling less depressed.
Update: My time was 1:09:31
Friday, May 22, 2009
Belated race report: Clemson Triathlon, May 16, 2009
Swim 750 meters 25:15
T1 03:15
Bike 11 miles 46:01
T2 02:29
Run 5k 43:37
Overall time: 02:00:36
photos
I picked up my friend Pam and we biked from my house to the race, as I wanted to leave my car for my daughter and my mother to come (though in the end they didn't). We had one fairly heavy shower before the race, then on and off light showers. The race was a week later than usual and the water quite warm--I'm not sure it was worth wearing my wetsuit, though most people did. It did help for the in the water start, as I could float upright waiting for the start without expending any energy.
The water was warm but I didn't settle in very comforably to the swim. Not for any good reason; it was even easy to see the buoys with the sun not out. My swim time was 2 minutes slower than last year.
I had left my transition things in a plastic bag instead of laying them out and I was happy to put on dry shoes. Clemson attracts a lot of people doing their first triathlon, and on the bike I passed a number of people on mountain bikes. It hadn't rained that hard and so there weren't many puddles.
I did the walk-run thing for the run and was happy that my time was slightly faster than last year. The funniest moment in the race was on the run when someone going the other way (ahead of me on an out and back course) said in a tone of great surprise: "Professor Mack!" I was passed by a 67 year old in pink tri shorts on the run and I said I want to be her when I grow up.
I didn't stay long after the race because we needed to get to North Carolina for my son's awards ceremony that evening and then graduation Sunday morning. But I had fun.
T1 03:15
Bike 11 miles 46:01
T2 02:29
Run 5k 43:37
Overall time: 02:00:36
photos
I picked up my friend Pam and we biked from my house to the race, as I wanted to leave my car for my daughter and my mother to come (though in the end they didn't). We had one fairly heavy shower before the race, then on and off light showers. The race was a week later than usual and the water quite warm--I'm not sure it was worth wearing my wetsuit, though most people did. It did help for the in the water start, as I could float upright waiting for the start without expending any energy.
The water was warm but I didn't settle in very comforably to the swim. Not for any good reason; it was even easy to see the buoys with the sun not out. My swim time was 2 minutes slower than last year.
I had left my transition things in a plastic bag instead of laying them out and I was happy to put on dry shoes. Clemson attracts a lot of people doing their first triathlon, and on the bike I passed a number of people on mountain bikes. It hadn't rained that hard and so there weren't many puddles.
I did the walk-run thing for the run and was happy that my time was slightly faster than last year. The funniest moment in the race was on the run when someone going the other way (ahead of me on an out and back course) said in a tone of great surprise: "Professor Mack!" I was passed by a 67 year old in pink tri shorts on the run and I said I want to be her when I grow up.
I didn't stay long after the race because we needed to get to North Carolina for my son's awards ceremony that evening and then graduation Sunday morning. But I had fun.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
house renovations
The house renovations have started and today they cut a large hole in the roof for a new dormer.
Pray that it doesn't rain.
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