Columns

Life as Experience — In Defense of Who We Are, What We Know and What We Are Capable of Doing

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Representing introspection — there is always hidden beauty within each of us, not necessarily requiring the transcendent. Courtesy photo
 
Editor’s note: This piece is a response to Sherry Hardage’s “Solo Traveler: Religion” column (here).
 
By KEVIN HENDERSON
Los Alamos
 
A lifetime does not invent itself. It is made by the aggregate of small, everyday choices — choices that each of us wills into existence. Each morning, you awake and you are, for a moment, your only friend, your best friend. You spend your whole life with yourself and you engage
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Why Drinking Beer Has Nothing to do With the Beer Co-op

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By DAVID IZRAELEVITZ

I saw some friends through the crowded “Get the Brewery Open Campaign Party” this past Saturday, and walked over to sit with them for a while. “What do you think of the Imperial Java Stout,” he asked, glancing at my Santa Fe Brewery beer can. I liked it, I said. He was less approving. “It’s so-so. I like beer, and I like coffee, but the two together…” I looked down at my beer and realized for the first time that it was brewed with coffee beans, that it had a hint of coffee taste, that it had Java in the title. I had picked the beer randomly because I have no clue about such matters. Read More

The Stumbling Critic Reviews ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2′

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The Stumbing Critic: ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’
By STEVEN WALTER

Genre(s): Fantasy, Animated, Dragons, Action, Comedy

Animated films seem to be coming back with a vengeance and success this year. I’ve only been reviewing movies for about a year, but my eyes have always been on the ratings. I’ve stated before that Rotten Tomatoes is my comparison point for my own ratings, a digital wall of other opinions. Never have I seen a non-documentary film reach almost one hundred percent until How to Train Your Dragon hit theaters in 2010.

That movie was alright, but its sequel is far superior. Read More

Pain Free Athlete: Train Your Core, Strengthen Your Diaphragm

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Pain Free Athlete
Train Your Core, Strengthen Your Diaphragm
By JESSICA KISIEL

The diaphragm has a dual role in the body, respiration and posture. When these actions occur simultaneously, core stability is improved. This is particularly evident in the lumbar spine.

My last column, Breathe Well To Reduce Back Pain, described the diaphragm’s role in breath. This column will look at the how the diaphragm is central to a strong core.

How does the diaphragm produce core stability? Through pressure. When you inhale, the diaphragm descends into the abdominal cavity, reducing the pressure in the Read More

How the Hen House Turns: Conversations With Dogs, Pt. 2

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How the Hen House Turns
Conversations With Dogs, Pt. 2
Column by Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.

Like the body language Poncho used to ask about going on a pack trip, Scooter these days uses the same language to make her wishes known. After two weeks, she gave up looking for her littermate and lifetime companion DeeDee.

Spoiling her with added attention seemed to help. Oddly, having only one dog again slipped a minor cog in my brain, and I often called her Poncho.

Scooter is 14 now, and on many cold, windy days she would prefer not to patrol the yard while the birds take their morning swim in the stock tank. Read More

This Week at the Reel Deal

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Column By JIM O’DONNELL    
Reel Deal Theater

This week we are opening Transformers: Age of Extinction. We will hold Chef, The Fault in our Stars, and How to Train your Dragon 2. Edge of Tomorrow will end Thursday.

I went to see Chef the other night and liked it so much I decided to hold it another week. It is funny, thoughtful, and refreshing and I don’t think it deserves an R rating. A PG-13 would have been fine. There might have been some language but I don’t even recall that. One of the main themes of this film is the relationship between 11 year old, Emjay Anthony, (Chef’s son) Read More

Solo Traveler: Religion

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A group of Buddhist women in a temple society on their way to the dedication of a new cultural center that was created from an abandoned women’s prison in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Photo by Sherry Hardage
 
Solo Traveler: Religion
By SHERRY HARDAGE

Religion has always been of interest to me, except for a period of time when I thought it was just used to control people and I rejected it all.

Aspects of religion are still used to control people and get them to donate large sums of time and money, but traveling the world has changed my ideas. There are good reasons to have religions. All over the world Read More

Food on the Hill: Caramel Nut Cake

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This Week’s Recipe: Caramel Nut Cake
 
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com
 
 
Ingredients:
 
1 yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 oz) package of instant butterscotch pudding
3 tablespoons flour
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup water
1/4 cup walnut pieces
½ cup sweetened coconut flakes
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup sliced almonds
 
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9” x 13” pan with non-stick spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper cut to the same size, and spray the paper also.
 
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Yang: Managing Weirdness … Is As Weird As ‘Programming Creativity’

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Managing Weirdness…

…is as weird as “programming creativity.”

 

By ELENA YANG
Los Alamos

Throughout the book “Weird Ideas That Work,” there are a lot of “on the one hand” and “on the other hand” pieces of advice. While Mr. Sutton provides many examples and bullet points, there are no 12-step programs for managing weird ideas for creativity and innovation.

There are general principles, frameworks, cautions regarding measures to avoid, and so forth. By the time a manager finishes the book, she is not necessarily better off than when she started reading.  Ultimately, it’s what Sutton Read More