LETTERS FROM THE FRONT, Part 5: 1918, Italy and Paris

Continuing from DRINKING COMPANIONS I HAVE KNOWN:

I shall never forget one weekend that Larry and I spent at Monza drinking Asti-Spumenti (sic) beneath the trees. Larry’s companion at the moment was a beautiful dark haired Italian Countess by the name of Marie. She had obligingly provided a companion for me in the form of a buxom English lass from Lancastershire who preferred ale to Asti-Spumenti and would rather eat than drink.

Larry and George Harris and I spent many a pleasant afternoon and evening when on leave in Milan drinking at the Cova or under the glassed archway in the famous Galleria. Sometimes Hemingway and other convivial residents of Milan would join us. We have since recognized some of those people as characters in Hemingway’s books.

It was also in Milan that Larry and I discovered the English-American Club. A German boat had been captured loaded with Münchner Beer. Somehow a portion of this precious cargo had found its way into the cellar of this club. Many a pleasant hour we spent drinking Münchner. It was delightfully rich and heavy and full of head. When we could no longer drink it we just sat and whiffed the aroma.

That autumn Russ and I secured a leave of absence and went sight-seeing in Southern Italy. Russ always carried a large fiasco of wine with him in his knapsack so as not to be caught short. On the slow train from Rome to Naples our wine gave out. At the next stop I stepped off the train to secure more wine and sandwiches. The sandwiches were provided but before I could negotiate the purchase of more wine the train pulled out. We had no more to drink until we reached Naples and Russ never forgave me. It was beyond him to understand how one could procure food instead of wine when both were obtainable and only time for one.

At Pompeii we visited the ruins and drank wine in the old Roman theatre. Russ took a keen delight in translating the Latin inscriptions around the market place. One in particular caught his eye. “Vote for Crassus for Prefect. He favors open gambling and wine shops.” Men’s tastes change little in two thousand years. We spent an hour or so in the famous or infamous Palace of Love viewing the beautiful life-like frescoes. Women tourists are not allowed in here. While we were inside an elderly American spinster insisted on entering. She took one look at the frescoes and vanished with her head in the air.

After the armistice our unit split up and I went back to Paris. America had gone dry in the meantime and some of us were reluctant to come home. I soon met a new drinking companion, a Texan from San Antonio named McCampbell. Mac had also driven an ambulance and was a graduate of Fontainebleau. We slept occasionally at 21 Rue Raynouard and made our headquarters at Maxims.

Paris was a gay town after the armistice, full of officers from the Allied armies and diplomats and interesting people of all kinds. King Albert came to town and King George and President Wilson. Mac and I knew all the ropes by then and did our drinking for the most part in choice and secluded spots where the wine was of the best and the prices within reason. Only once did we get mixed up in a brawl.

It was at Maxims one night that a young British Captain with a cockney accent told a Belgian Cadet that he hated Belgium. He said he had fought in Belgium since the beginning and the Belgians were no good. The cadet was willing to mix but appeared to be no match for the burly Captain so Mac proceeded to knock the Britisher flat with a well-timed right to the jaw.
Nearly two generations later, around the kitchen table, Emmett would also debut occasional new material from the war. One time in Italy, he and his ambulance partner incurred a  tire ‘puncture’. They were up a rise at the end of a valley one or two kilometers long. The road was completely exposed. In the middle of figuring out how to change the tire, an enemy shell exploded one hundred meters behind them. Frantically, they raced to complete the job. Minutes later, a second shell hit fifty meters closer, sending a cloud of dust into the air. They were just about finished, hurriedly returning tools to the car, when a third shell exploded close enough to cover them with dirt and dust just as they hopped into the front seats and pulled away to safety. “Yessir, that was a close one,” Emmett said, tipping a splash of lager into his glass. 
To be continued...

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LETTERS FROM THE FRONT, Part 4: 1918 Italy

A letter from Emmett to his mother explains his decision to transfer to the Italian Front:

From: E.H. Shaw

Am. Red Cross

5 rue Francois Premier, Paris

Italian Service

Section 4

January 15, 1918

My dear Mother,

I received a letter from you today which was written Dec. 18. I am awfully sorry that you are so put out because I haven’t come home.

You are not a pacifist, are you? Don’t you realize that there is a terrible lot of work to be done over here before Germany can be brought to terms and that there are very few men to do it. Perhaps you can understand the situation better when I tell you that France is talking of calling out her men up to 50 yrs., and England up to 46. Germany seems stronger than ever and America seems terribly slow and unorganized.

When things get so bad that 50 yr. old men have to step into the ring, I hardly have the nerve to calmly turn my back on the whole affair, I, who am barely 23 and healthy. I swear I would feel like an awful quitter if I came home now.

The U.S army may not need me – they have more men than they can handle already and I admit I did waste some weeks trying to land a commission (illegible) which might have been spent to better advantage elsewhere in view of the scarcity of man-power; -- but then, I figure a shoulder-strap is always worth a little effort.

The U.S. army having seen fit to reject me, however, I now feel that I am free to go where men are needed most (Believe me, the other armies aren’t rejecting men.) and I think that place is right here in France or Italy, not in America, three thousand miles from the fight.

If I were self-supporting, I would join the Foreign legion. They are reorganizing just at present and lots of boys are joining—boys like myself, who have been turned down by U.S.A because of physical reasons or otherwise. But the Foreign Legion pays its soldiers nothing, in fact it doesn’t even equip them properly --- so I figure the next best bet is Italy with the Red cross. They need men and it seems like wonderful work.

Surely you agree with me about this coming home proposition. The fight is here in Europe and I’d rather be where the fight is than 3,000 miles away—in the 1^st place it’s much more interesting—and above all, being here—I don’t want to turn and beat it away just as the crisis seems to be approaching.

I hope you agree with me.

Your loving son,

Emmett

p.s. I thought I was writing you often.
                                        ***
An excerpt from DRINKING COMPANIONS I HAVE KNOWN:

The Italians had recently suffered a terrible defeat losing many divisions and much material, and retreating 150 kilometers from Caparetto to the Piave river. The Allies were doing everything they could to bolster their shaken morale. We secured brand new Fiat Ambulances from the factory at Turin and drove across Northern Italy by way of Milan and Verona to Schio.

Scott Russell and Larry Fisher were my drinking companions on this trip. They had both driven ambulances at the French front and in the Balkans. Russ was a great red wine drinker while Larry preferred cognac or champagne. At Milan we were joined by a group of new recruits fresh from the States. Among these recruits was an old gray-haired cattleman from Yakima, Washington, by the name of George Harris, also a young reporter from Chicago called Ernest Hemingway. We who had served in France were at first very loathe to accept these recruits as equals. Old George, however, soon proved himself to be an excellent drinking companion. Hemingway was badly wounded in the leg during the Austrian attack on the Piave and spent many months in the hospital at Milan. No one realized that he would one day be famous. A Farewell To Arms must have been brewing that summer while Russ and Larry and George Harris and I were peacefully drinking.

I shall never forget one weekend that Larry and I spent at Monza drinking Asti-Spumenti (sic) beneath the trees.    TO BE CONTINUED...

  

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT, Part 3: 1917 France

In Memoriam:

Emmett Hamblen Shaw, 1896-1979

It was not until long after Emmett’s death, when we were clearing out my father’s library that we found Emmett’s letters and essays and appreciated better his talent for storytelling. Excerpts from my favorite of his essays, Drinking Companions I Have Known, tell of his WWI experience.

In 1917 I went to France to drive an ambulance. After several months of pretty fair drinking in Paris and at Bur-le-Duc and most of the little villages around the Verdun sector, I met Harry Nelson. He was a husky mechanic from West Virginia. He had never been to college but he knew more about the fine art of good drinking than most college men I know.

Champagne was fairly cheap and plentiful in the little hamlets of Northern France in 1917. That was before the hordes of American soldiers arrived. Every little estaminet and farm house had a well-stocked cellar. Moët and Chandon sold for 4 ½ Francs a quart, less than a dollar. Harry and I drank champagne in abris and on bridges and in grave yards and on manure piles all the way from Ancemont to Cabaret Rouge.

Except for an occasional attack on a limited front, Verdun was a fairly quiet sector that summer. At least so it was between Bellevue and Les Éparges where we had our posts. By tacit agreement both the Germans and French seemed to be using the sector as a place in which to rest their tired divisions. There was plenty of activity in the air, however, where the Boche had almost complete control.

They used to bomb our cantonment and machine gun the roads on moonlight nights. One hot night a group of us were sitting in the front room of a little stone farm house drinking champagne and enjoying a quiet game of poker. We had blankets over the door and windows to hide the lights from enemy bombers. Another group of boys were sitting outside on the door step. Suddenly a huge bomb from a great height dropped and exploded right in our front yard. Everyone at the poker table jumped up and made for the door to get out of the house. At the same time all the boys who had been sitting outside on the door step tried to get in. The two groups met in the doorway fighting frantically for a moment or two before we discovered that no one was hurt. When the excitement was over and we resumed our game, no one had any chips or champagne except Harry Nelson. He had shoved all his chips in his pocket and grabbed two bottles of champagne just after the bomb hit!

That fall most of our gang went to Paris. Our six months enlistment with the French Army was up and we decided to look around. Some of the boys went into aviation and some joined the tank corps. Several others enrolled in the French artillery school at Fontainebleau. Harry and I were in no particular hurry as the battle of Paris was very fascinating about that time. We made our headquarters at Henri’s Bar and the Hotel Edward Sept. For several weeks we lived on raw eggs and cognac and saw the sights.

It was over a bottle of champagne at Henri’s one afternoon that Harry confessed that the main reason why he had come to France was because he had read in some newspaper that there were two million more women than men in France. Are armies recruited and wars waged on such trivialities?

Almost every night we had a glorious adventure of some kind. Harry had a particular technique with Parisiennes. He always invited them to tea at the Edward Sept first. After a cup or two of hot tea he would order hot rum. It never failed. After tea and rum, the party was on and the sky was the limit.

Later on, the M.P.’s began to invade Paris and proceeded to make life miserable for us bon vivants. One day Harry suddenly announced that he had enlisted in the Balloon Corps. A day or so later I signed up with the American Red Cross Ambulance Corps and departed for Italy.

                                                       To be continued…

Letters from the Front, Part 2: 1917 France

2nd installment in this WWI series

In Memoriam: Emmett Hamblen Shaw (1896-1979)

10 P.M. Sat. April 21^st, [1917] On Board SS. Rochambeau

Left pier 57 North River at 3:30 P.M. Weather Foggy. Could not get good view of New York sky-line on trip down harbor- statue of liberty barely visible. Dropped pilot at Sandy Hook at 5. Fog settled down thicker and all signs of land disappeared. As soon as darkness came all portholes barricaded and doors shut. Not a sign of any light on deck—one light high up in cross-trees, however, --(which seems rather strange as everything else is dark). Two sea-men continually on watch on forward deck- where small brass cannon is mounted.

Sent a telegram to Uncle Lawrence just before getting on board but pulled a bone in forgetting that tomorrow is Sunday. He will not get it till Monday as it was a night letter addressed to the Paulsen Bldg.

Boat began to rise and fall slightly about 6 o’clock with more and more motion as time went on. Dinner at 7:30—our 1^st meal. There are on board about 60 young boys mostly from Harvard Dartmouth and Cornell; a sprinkling of Frenchmen mostly middle aged— (one or two having their wives and families); a few French girls and one or two red-cross nurses, --also some medical men, and one French soldier in the regulation Police uniform with a brilliant ‘croix de guerre” on his breast. (It seems he is a petty officer on 6 months furlough and now headed for the trenches again.) The crew is entirely French—and can understand very little English. As our boys are by far the biggest part of the passenger list—and only about 5 can talk much French we ought to have some fun.
Curiously enough I ran across 2 Spokane boys before we were out of New York Harbor-- Emmett Durkin whom I used to know in Spokane and Lester Whitten whom I never before knew. Seems rather queer for a small town like Spokane to have 3 representatives in a motley crowd like this.

The 1^st meal was fair—only fair—served in that peculiar French way—one course at a time. The bread is ‘war bread’ all one kind—hard and brown there is hardly any butter. There are two kinds of wine (vin rouge and vin blanc—and both are, according to my notion absolutely putrid). Out in the smoking room, however, they serve some light beer that is better than any I ever tasted—very mild and sweet. Roast lamb, lima beans, apricot pie, cheese + coffee made up the rest of the meal—all one at a time with about 10 minutes between each course it makes it a long drawn out and rather punk.
10:30 P.M. The old ship is rolling for fair now--some have already turned in. I can hear a big noise up in the smoking room I guess I'll see what's up. I can see where we have a slow time for the next 9 days--it takes 9 days from New York to Bordeaux on this boat.

...to be continued

Letters from the Front, Part 1: 1917 France

This is a new series commemorating the centennial of the end of the First World War.

In Memoriam: Emmett Hamblen Shaw (1896-1979)

When asked one time, my grandfather said his idea of heaven was “sitting at a bar in Paris, drinking champagne with my buddies”. He was referring to his WWI buddies. In the 1960s, he would sit at our kitchen table, pouring splashes of Michelob into a glass, each splash creating an inch of head—"the head ‘peps’ me up”, he would say—and we’d listen to bits and pieces of his life. His best stories were about driving ambulances for France on the Western Front and later at the Italian Front where he met and got to know Ernest Hemingway.

Only weeks after war broke out, Emmett left his home town of Spokane, Washington to attend Harvard College. Three years later in 1917, beginning his senior year, France was recruiting volunteers because America still had not joined the war. Harvard was offering degrees to all willing upperclassmen, so Emmett signed with the American Ambulance Field Service. One of his letters to his mother explains his preparation.

Cambridge, April 13 [1917]

I have just sent for my passport. As soon as it comes I shall sail—from New York on the French line to Bordeaux. I am going to try to get in a short visit to Philadelphia if I can arrange it.

I am all through with school—with the exception of handing in a thesis in one of my courses.

Will write again soon. E.H.S.

Since writing the above I have done about 40 things and written and received about 40 letters During the last week I have been inoculated for typhoid—vaccinated for small-pox—chased up six letters of identification, sworn oaths at Justices of Peace—Federal deputies—medical men etc etc—these are mere incidentals too—for I’m still serving time at the club and working at odd moments on a thesis.

This afternoon came letters from you, Uncle L, Helen, Aunt Mabel, Aunt Frances and Jack. I wonder when I shall have time to answer them all. I am sending a book to Uncle L.* that gives a very interesting account of the ambulance work. You can get some idea from it of what I shall be doing.

I sail ­April 21^st this is definite. My address will be 21 rue Raynouard, Paris, France c/o American Ambulance Field Service.

I can’t write any more just now but will be soon—and promise to follow your advice in all other matters. Lovingly, Emmett.

*Uncle L is Lawrence Hamblen, father of Herb Hamblen (of Herb Hamblen Park in Spokane, Washington).

...to be continued

Fake News over the years

You Want Fake News? Donald Trump didn’t invent the concept. Americans have been deceived for over two hundred years and humans have been deceived for millennia. Here is a small sampling of some big items, not in chronological order:

           Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Promoted by inside neocons under Dubbya to swindle half of the American People and a majority of Congress to support the invasion.

            The benefit of “The Surge” in Iraq: Marketed heavily by Dubbya to get Congressional approval. In hindsight, the benefit was not so much. All deaths and injuries were in vain; Iraq remains a mess. The United States lost that war.

            The necessity of the Viet Nam War to prevent domino-effect Communism. Anti-communism in the west has always been more of a religion than a justified fear. False news of American victories flooded television throughout the war. Reporting of U.S. losses was suppressed. Lies from Nixon and LBJ were rampant. 58K Americans dead. Well over a million Vietnamese killed. The United States lost that war, big time.

            The War of 1812. Guess what? It wasn’t Britain that provoked that war as history textbooks would like us to believe. It was the U.S. attempting a land grab of Eastern Canada. But Canada, with the help of the English (and First Nations), fought them off and no boundaries were changed. A total waste of effort and life. In essence, another war lost by the U.S.

           

            Slavery. The self-righteous North weren’t as opposed to slavery as we have been led to think. Unprecedented U.S. wealth from cotton export profits could never have occurred without the strong support of Wall Street bankers and investors. The Civil War came late to that party after much of the wealth had been made.

            Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone shooter. The Warren Commission was fake from the start: created by LBJ to avoid a bona fide investigation that would have uncovered dirt he needed to leave six feet underground. Much of the Warren Report has been refuted, but much remains classified to continue to suppress the truth.

            Suppression of real news is, in a sense, fake news. Bernie Sander’s momentum in the 2016 primaries was largely suppressed by the ostensibly liberal Network News media. The networks were all in the thrall of Hilary.

            Suppression by Trump of scientific evidence concerning the cause of climate change. Is this the evil of greed (Koch bros come to mind) or merely Trump and his follower’s astonishingly low intellect?

            The virgin birth of Jesus. This could be the mother of all fake news (along with Creationism) and points to the fact that humans had a need to believe stuff that is made-up. Does anyone still believe this nonsense? The idea of a virgin birth wasn’t even thought of until one hundred years after Jesus’s crucifixion.

            The resurrection of Jesus. Like immaculate conception, the resurrection was totally fake news to coerce commoners to follow Jesus’s requirements for admission into a trumped-up afterlife. Woohoo! Afterlife with Jesus! Send in your money!

            Miracles. All miracles are products of abstract human thinking. No miracle has ever been proven. But miracles still seem to enthrall the American people. Western Europe not so much these days: They seem to have grown up somewhat.

            Heaven and Hell. Both entirely fake. Fanciful inventions designed to instill fear and to control human behavior.

            The promise of sex with virgins in heaven as a reward for murdering infidels. That promise probably takes the cake when it comes to fake. By the way, what do women who blow themselves up get other than freedom from their oppressive husbands?

            The Bible, the Koran, the Torah. All fiction, all fake, though certainly invented and edited by human beings who were considered clever and were respected in their time.

            The concept of hating Jews because ‘Jews killed Jesus’. Ladies and gentlemen of Christian faith: if Jesus hadn’t been crucified, you wouldn’t have your religion! You should rejoice his being ‘killed by Jews’. Come up with another reason to hate Jews. You can do it. I know you can. The rest of the world has hated Jews for more than two thousand years and continues to do so. Since the Holocaust, however, they have learned a thing or two about survival.

            In summary, fake news wasn’t born yesterday. It’s what humanity has been all about from the beginning.

To learn more, go to these references:

1. Oliver Stone’s series: The Untold History of the United States. It will open your eyes. (Netflix)

2. The Half Has Never Been Told. Edward E. Baptist. The real history of slavery in the United States.

3. The Swerve: How The World Became Modern.  Stephen Greenblatt. How Christianity nearly squelched human pursuit of happiness.

4. Sapiens. Yuval Noah Harari. A brief history of Humankind.

5. The End of Faith. Sam Harris. The first book from the most articulate of modern atheist thinkers.

Homeless sapiens

Came across this old drawing from 25 years ago, drawn on an old Macintosh. I know, slap my hand!

https://www.jameschanningshaw.com

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (books by)

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Books for sale by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (English translations)

1. August 1914, 1^st American printing, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1972 Near pristine book and DJ.

2. The Gulag Archipelago. 1^st ed. Harper & Row, 1973, 1974, trans. Thomas Whitney, very good, DJ like new

3. The Gulag Archipelago Two. 1^st ed. in paper. Harper Row, 1975. Very good condition

4. Cancer Ward, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969. Very good, with good DJ.

5. The First Circle, Harper & Row, 1968. Very good, good DJ with fading on the spine, foxing top of spine.

6. Stories and Prose Poems. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1971 (3^rd American printing), like new except very slight fading along spine.

Exclusive offer, set of six books only.  $995 U.S. 

 Please respond in comments  with questions or contact information.

Heart Attack vs. Heart Failure: Which do YOU have??

For all of James's blogs, books, and more, visit his website: https://www.jameschanningshaw.com 
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The vast majority of people do not really understand the difference between a HEART ATTACK and the entity known as HEART FAILURE. The confusion is entirely understandable. It’s a bit complicated. So, what exactly is the difference?

A heart attack happens when the blood supply to the heart muscle itself is compromised. That blood supply comes from the ‘coronary’ arteries and if one or more gets blocked sufficiently, the heart muscle doesn’t get oxygen and portions of the muscle can die off if blood supply is not restored in time (like within a few minutes). Thus, the term ‘having a coronary’ is the same as having a heart attack.

Coronary disease (credit: Mayo Foundation)

When a muscle doesn’t get enough blood, there is pain. Everyone knows about the pain of a heart attack: severe chest pain, sometimes with radiation into the arms (left arm more than right) or neck.  ANGINA is the name for the same heart muscle pain that happens before the muscle dies. This can go on for months before an actual heart attack. When the muscle dies from lack of blood, it is called an INFARCTION, or more specifically, a MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION. When that happens, all you can do is try to heal and rehabilitate.

The causes of coronary heart disease are well known: smoking, diabetes, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, other genetic factors and many less common causes.

HEART FAILURE is more about the strength of the heart, not the blood supply. Heart failure happens when the heart muscle becomes weak and cannot pump blood with enough force to keep everything humming along. Instead of pain, heart failure causes symptoms of weakness and fatigue, swelling of the legs, and swelling in the lungs which leads to difficulty breathing with exertion or when lying down flat. The symptoms can worsen over months to years until other vital organs are not getting enough blood. This leads ultimately to organ failure and death.

 

Heart Failure (Credit: American Heart Association)

What causes HEART FAILURE? The most common cause is when enough of the heart muscle has died from one or more infarctions during heart attacks that there isn’t enough strong heart muscle to pump adequately. About 70% of heart failure in developed countries comes from prior myocardial infarctions.

Other causes include high blood pressure, toxins such as alcohol or cocaine, viral infections that affect the heart muscle itself, and certain hormonal diseases. This is different from bacterial infections that affect heart valves in a condition called endocarditis.

An important difference between heart attacks and heart failure is that heart attacks can be reversed if treated soon enough. If you are having symptoms of a heart attack, i.e. crushing chest pain with radiation down one or both arms, the sooner you arrive at an Emergency Department and receive anti-clotting drugs, the better your chances of not killing off any heart muscle that could lead to heart failure.

Heart failure, on the other hand, once it is established, seems to be relentless, worsening gradually to the point where the only treatment is a heart transplant.

https://www.jameschanningshaw.com

JFK assassination coverup continues: 53 years and counting

America continues to be lied to about JFK's assassination. The evidence is solid for triangulated gunfire in Dealy Plaza, November 22nd, 1963, with the definitive round coming from the grassy knoll, a head shot fired by James Files. Listen to Wim Dankbaar's 2003 interview with James Files (through jfkmurdersolved.com and Youtube) After much academic hand wringing over how the multiple shots actually occurred, this interview is as credible as they come. It sews up how the hit was carried out. But that is merely the technical part. The story of who organized the assassination and the successful cover up is more complicated and clearly implicates government insiders who wanted Kennedy neutralized. The concept of Oswald as a lone whacko gunman has been completely disproved but remains party line in all major network media sources.

If you are interested in learning more, the nine part series on youtube, THE MEN WHO KILLED KENNEDY is a good starting point. 

https://www.jameschanningshaw.com

jfkmurdersolved.com

CLINTON'S LOSS, TRUMP'S WIN

The United States elected a populist last night. Democrats squandered their chance to nominate a populist to go head-to-head against Trump. The battle between the free market-winner-take-all approach of Trump and the democratic socialist approach of Bernie Sanders would have been the more just fight at this time in America.  At least then, the true sentiment of the American people, for better or for worse, could have been more honestly gauged. Instead, a milque-toast establishment insider with a bad reputation was rammed into position by DNC leadership. Rigged, indeed. It showed an arrogant sense of entitlement, one to deliver the first woman president. And it backfired. Big time. The one good outcome of this colossal failure of the DNC could be to question the value of backroom politics that caused the mismatch. It appears that Americans are no longer willing to accept nominees chosen by political insiders and the media.

That said, whether Trump’s leadership will see successes for the entire country, not just Wall Street and the wealthy, remains to be seen.

November 9, 2016

https://www.jameschanningshaw.com

Spaghetti squash recipe

Let's face it: squash is one of earth's less exciting flavors. You have to do something with it to bring out the flavors. I have found that caramelizing enhances best. Works with all squash varieties, but try this:

Spaghetti squash is a lovely variety that, when cooked, falls apart into strings about the size of spaghetti. The secret is slicing into pieces that will maximize contact surface with the baking pan This allows the surfaces to brown and caramelize into a beautiful, tasty dish that needs nothing but salt and pepper.

1. split squash and clean center
2. cut into slices about one or two inches thick
3. brush both sides with olive oil
4. salt lightly and (optional) sprinkle with celery seed
5. bake at 400F for about one hour, turning once so both sides get browned slightly
6. let cool enough to cut rind away. It usually falls off easily. Discard rinds.
7. stir in bowl as needed to create the spaghetti effect.
8. reheat as needed, season to taste and serve! 

great accompaniment to braised beef or lamb 

Also: see terrific link to a comprehensive review of this wonderful squash:
https://www.quickeasycook.com/spaghetti-squash/ 

MSNBC?--not so much any more

 

I used to crave MSNBC, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow. Smart people, those two. And more or less politically compatible with my liberal thinking, except when it came to them actually promoting the results of the Warren Commission which LBJ commissioned to avoid a real investigation that might have suggested triangulated gunfire including a shot from the front right that took off the back of JFK’s head. How anyone can still buy into Lee Harvey Oswald as JFK's killer amazes me. But that’s getting off point.

Just recently, I decided I can no longer watch Chris or Rachel or anyone else on MSNBC. And it’s not just the incessant Cialis ads and other obnoxious direct-to-consumer advertising by Big Pharma. Chris and Rachel and the gang are so biased in their reporting, so pro-Clinton, and so utterly dismissive of Bernie Sanders and his ideas that it is clear that they or their bosses must be trying to manipulate the election. Did they do this in the Obama/Hillary primaries of ’08? Don’t remember. Must not have had the channel back then.

Sander’s proposals are not  out-of-line with liberal Democratic views. It must be that Sanders-the-man is out-of-line with those who are beholden to Hillary Clinton in some way, or perhaps it is the owners and broadcasters at MSNBC. This generally applies to all the major networks, it’s just more painful at MSNBC. Even PBS, usually so thorough in their coverage of both and all sides of an argument, has been dismissive of Bernie’s message, assuming that Hillary is definitely the nominee, discouraging the all-important battles of ideas.

Come to think of it, maybe it IS Big Pharma. If MSNBC is dependent upon those drug company ads for their profit margin, it would make sense to be against Bernie Sanders because of his strong opposition to the deplorable ways of Big Pharma.

 Whether it is biased individual anchors, the influence of Big Pharma, or indebted management, I’m almost finished with MSNBC. I’ve also given up on the rest of corporate network TV, and I suspect I’m not alone in this thinking. Unbiased, respectful reporting will have to be found elsewhere.

https://www.jameschanningshaw.com

How do you visualize time?

Do you have a personal approach to the visualization of time? I have yet to come across someone's personal mental images of time. I'm talking about small-scale time, not Stephen Hawking cosmological time.

For more than 60 years, my fixed image has been a flat linear strip that displays the upcoming week. It goes backward and forward to infinity as needed but the upcoming week is always present, with next Monday looming first:

2-D visualization of time, one week at a time

 My perspective is always as depicted: from the left, looking down on the route. I navigate much of my life from this generic mental map.


Have YOU possessed a personal visualization of time in your head throughout your life? If so, please share a description and/or graphic in 'comments'.

Best regards, 

James

https://www.jameschanningshaw.com

Breakfast most Important?

Someone said breakfast was the most important meal and it stuck to humanity like scripture. Is it true, or just another myth, like eight glasses of water and cutting toenails straight?

What is so important about breakfast? Well...for any reason other than pleasure or starvation prevention, not much, it turns out. Re-hydration after a twelve hour fast makes sense, and some hunger when you wake up is to be expected.

Many careers have been made from studying breakfast. PubMed lists 1264 papers with ‘Breakfast’ in the title; Cochrane Library lists 2838 published trials with ‘Breakfast’ in title, abstract, or key words. These are mostly in lower-impact journals and none showed definitive results. 
Hard to fathom the time and effort when the findings were so marginal. Most researchers tested every possible measurement; one used ‘dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry-derived fat mass indexes’ to ultimately show no breakfast benefit! Most are too small to have any relevance whatsoever. Sad, really, though the curiosity is admirable.

Most studies investigated breakfast and obesity. Others looked at diabetes. A few addressed cognition and mood. Most tested types of food eaten and a few looked at whether skipping breakfast had deleterious effects. In sum: nada.

Some valuable nuggets can be gleaned, however:

1. Eggs and pork sausages turned out to ‘possibly’ reduce hunger and subsequent calorie intake. Both claimed the benefit came from the protein when eggs are 50% fat and sausages are 30% fat, neither of which was factored in.

2. One tidbit of data from two studies: eating 400 mg of cholesterol (2-3 eggs) daily for up to six weeks does not increase your blood lipids or weight. This is good news.

3. A 2013 review by Public Health England looked at Breakfast and Cognition. From 37 publications, some positive effects on cognitive performance were mentioned but all were variable, small, dependent on type of assessment, and in the conclusion, ‘not possible to comment on the implications.’ Not helpful, really. If they had only looked at adding a cup of coffee…!

4. A study of oatmeal was funded and written by PepsiCo which owns Quaker Oats. Would it surprise you to learn that the researchers found some benefits from oatmeal? Insignificant, however.

So, the real question remains: Does breakfast matter?

What is clear is that breakfast is not a magic bullet for overall health, weight control, general well-being or anything else. It’s fine to skip breakfast if you are not hungry. It’s fine to eat eggs and/or sausages (in moderation), oatmeal, cereal or croissants. The precise nutrient mix is not crucial. Eat what you like.

If you feel better after having breakfast, there is your answer. If you are obese, moderation is key. Enjoy your day.

 Links:
http://james-channing-shaw.blogspot.ca/2009/10/ways-to-combat-obesity.html

http://james-channing-shaw.blogspot.ca/2009/05/myth-of-cutting-toenails-straight.html
 
https://www.jameschanningshaw.com 

The myth of 8 glasses a day

April 02, 2007|James Channing Shaw | Special to The LATimes