Mastermind Blog

Human Rights  In 1906 Upton Sinclair published a book called The Jungle.   Upton Sinclair was called a muckraker because he went into the depths of Chicago and wrote about the unspeakable things that were being done to immigrants and the poor.  I suggest that you read this book or at least read a synopsis of it. Jacob Riis photographed slum life and wrote an essay called How the Other Half Lives.  Yep, it's an old essay.  If you think things are bad today, take a look at this piece.  It is another reason that the US strives to have regulations and services to lift people beyond this sort of poverty.   Ida Wells, a black journalist, documented lynching in America.  Nice to know that you could take a black person out and hang them if you had a good reason, or not. Ida Tarbell was incensed after reading an article that said women were not intelligent because there were only 300 patents introduced by women.  She traveled to the US paten...

  GMO's, Glyphosates, Gut Health Good morning!  Welcome to February 2021. What does an overweight cat have to do with anything?  Gut health is the answer to that.  People and animals have the same reactions to GMO's and antibiotics.  This is a deep topic where I could go on and on but instead of me doing it, I have inserted a link just below the picture of my parent's adopted cat, to one of my favorite pod casts.  Rich Roll interviews a broad range of people on health issues, about the books they've written, and much more.  This interview of Zach Bush, M.D. is extraordinary and can be easily listened to while you drive, do housework, or clean the garage.   Sincerely, Carmen Davis

  Happy New Year! I will start the new year of 2021 with a new pair RockRooster work boots! They will arrive in the first week of January.   I have tried a few expensive brand boots and many pairs of cheap boots.   The boots that work best for me are wide boots, with a zipper and laces.   Steel toes are nice but not essential.   Big 5 has had tan Quick Response boots in men’s size 9.5 for several years.   I go through a pair in a little over 6 months with daily wear outdoors in all weather. I need high tops for ankle support, zippers to get them on and off quickly so that I can run to the bathroom without tracking mud through the house, and laces so that I can create the custom fit to support my ankles and not squeeze the bone spur protruding up from my left foot.   I need the width for my bunions and room to install my bunion support insoles.   Even though it is possible that my bunions are a genetic issue, they don’t seem to be handed to me by...

  Manipulation Manipulation is a tricky word.   It can be used to describe a way to shift gears in your vehicle, the way a toddler will grin up at Daddy to get him to smile back, a chiropractor manipulating a joint back into place, the way a politician or a preacher presents their take on something, the way a dog coerces you to go for a walk, or the way slot machines are programmed to ultimately get more money than they lose. Some of the elements I list in this article are going to trigger your anger and past guilt.   I want to make it clear that the reason I am choosing this topic is because of the way we use these elements on ourselves.   We can’t change our own self talk until we see how it’s done.   Instead of blaming ourselves for something that has been modeled for us by our parents and society, we need to acknowledge that it is a manipulation and that we can learn to honor ourselves by adding new tools to our toolboxes. Bullies target your weaknesse...

  Entre chien et loup  (Ontra shy loo) means “between dog and wolf”.  This represents twilight where it could be difficult to discern the difference between the dog and wolf.  I immediately pictured a dark shadowy night, fog rolling through twisted trees, and a warm fire where men toast themselves.  Looking up toward a knoll where reflective light of a neighboring campfire spot lights a slinking dog.  It morphs into a wolf as it melts into the night.   I am caught by that metaphor in regard to my life right now.  Politics, corporate medicine, insurance companies, the media.  There is a fine dance, a delicate rendering by a graceful elephant that we admire as it performs for us while behind the scenes the bill for the services rendered is calculated by the weight of the elephant.  This is not a tirade about anything.  It is simply a reflection of flame from the fireplace in the mirror.  A level of seeing.  Not comprehe...

  People will not modify their behavior until their desire to change becomes greater than their desire to remain the same .   -Kain Ramsey, course instructor of Modern Applied Psychology. Why have I made the changes I have made in my life?   Because my desire to change was greater than my desire to remain the same.   I have committed to not defining myself by my circumstance and I embrace my commitment to myself with joy, wonder, and curiosity. Before I had a world view, I knew that I wanted my life to change.   The circumstances of my childhood included more than one reason to change.   I wanted my mom to be part of our family.   This was something that I couldn’t change.   None of us could change this.   I wanted my stepmother to be nicer and fairer.   I couldn’t change that either.   I can list a lot of things that I could not change and very few things that I could change.   The sense of helplessness that causes is a br...

  Fear is a Learned Response In 1920 a scientific experiment was performed on a baby called Little Albert.    John Watson wanted to know if fear was a learned response.   He proved a point, but at what expense to Little Albert? It is very easy for us to be appalled by what I’m about to share with you.   Do your best to set that response aside just long enough to reflect on how this style of teaching may have been practiced on you and the possibility that it has led you to have perpetrated actions on people in your life that used this style of teaching.   Boiled down, I am suggesting that we as humans, teach what we have been taught, in the manner in which we have been taught.     The good news is that we can modify our behavior once we become aware of it. Little Albert was placed in a room with all manner of things around him.   One of those things was a live rabbit.   As it hopped around the room, Little Albert crawled around afte...