Design Is Not Opinion

Plant Shopping and Downy Mildew

Readers: Don’t forget Michael’s quarterly Landscape Assessment Service. Cost effective, it’s a great way to stay in control of your HOA or Estate. Email me for details and examples.

Plant Shopping

Today I went on my bi-weekly shopping rounds to see what's new and to gripe about the Big Boxes selling things that just will not do well here and I’ll expand a bit below (really: Karume Azalea?). It's a trip of pleasure, starting on Saturday at the American Farms outlet on Pine Ridge Road just north of Temple oranges. (Don't look for a sign;  it’s not there).But the outlet is in there, so make a right where you see turn only, and you are there. Be mindful of the parking rules.

Fair trade

Ever wonder how Fair Trade works? Or if, in fact, it really does work?

Now you know.

Style and Structure, sitting in a tree…

I have a wonderful editor. She's been mentoring me for unknown but happy reasons. Today, an email from her contained very thought-provoking comments, so I started looking around at my smart friends for comments.Then I decided to simply post on the web site so as not to miss anyone!

I think you're much more interested in big-issue topics, but what I'd suggest you perfect first is style and structure. That means you've got to write a lot of less evocative things to get the basics down. But I want to hear another idea for a story …

Now, remember: a 'story' is a longer piece, written in third person. The story about Pine Ridge Farms is a good example. A 'colum' is a different critter: it's a first person,opinion piece. Big difference? Not so much, really, as you shall see.

 

A Story About Doctors, Pain, Patients, and FDLE

For many years, Ms. X. was the victim of serious pain, something that I know quite a bit about, since in my own case I've had severe back pain from congenital spida bifida and hip displacement.

Ms. X goes unnamed. Her name does not matter. Oddly enough, her husband is- you guessed it!– a chiropractor and massage therapist. He is a true believer, but more on that in a moment.

Her pain was intractable. She participated in treatments with her husband; sometimes it was better, sometimes worse, and she did not know where to place her confidence.

She saw several neurologists, two of whom gave her MRI exams. This was ten years ago when these machines cost thousands to run, so much that it was cheaper for her to fly to Costa Rica for the exam. And why not? Their doctors go to our Universities and have similar credentials. I'd have done the same for recent dental work but for a couple of unrelated issues.

The local neurologist offered her one thing: pain medicine. At first, it worked and worked very well. She was taking hydrocodone (5.0 MG) and Ultram/ Tramadol at the same time. As the months went by, though, her body became habituated. And she did not want to embarrass her husband, or, worse, undermine him. So, she never told him. She lied by omission with her heart in the right place. Life went on, with no pain.

Dr. knew the meds would stop working so he increased the dosage to 7.5 and finally 10. 0 mg 6 times a day. For those not knowing, that is a LOT of medicine. Even that wasn't enough.

So she had two issues.

Plant ID Students Upload 1 revision 3

For those of you having problems with this file, let me please apologize for having wasted your time.

You see, I do my slides with a Mac program called 'Keynote'. The file won't open with anything else. I knew that, having gone through the process countless times, but still, this one I screwed up.

And, since I've revised my lesson plans, the story gets more complicated!  The simplest thing will be to upload the entire course lecture series. There is at least one pitfall: I do tend to go on, and to deviate. I also add/ delete slides. However, this will be a valuable reference for identifying class.

So there you have it. An easy thing for me, a one-time deal for you.You simply click, and it downloads. If not, you right-click, and then tell the computer where to save the file. I'm not a Windows person, but this is pretty nicely handled by Microsoft.

Remember, please, this is copyrighted material, although there isn't much text. Still, please do not share the link with anyone.

Having resolved the issues discussed above, there remain issues with user ability level. This happens almost every time. So, please try this on. If you know how, please empty the cache for this page.

Links:   Download Plant ID for students

Spelling and Fact-Checking

A recent piece by Julie Weiner on Vanity Fair wants to know if it should 'police' proper spelling, wondering if that's an editor's job. As context, recently Arthur Brisbance of the New York Times wondered about fact checking: are they responsible for checking assertions made by anyone they might interview?

Personally, a spelling error is embarrassing as hell, and as to allowing an interviewee to use me as a means of spreading lies, the line in the sand is very easily drawn indeed. For my Naples Daily News Column, I'm among the fortunate who have editors busy doing pretty much exactly that-their job. They catch all of the spelling, and as to interviewee assertions, I will sometimes be quizzed with questions of the 'how do you know? How do they know?" variety.

[Added 1.22.2012: My editor says she cannot possibly fact-check everything and one big mistake and I am out of there. Makes sense, at least to me. Looks like I can't make-up any good quotes anymore!

Shopping For Plants

Also: Don't forget that AdultEd starts this week! I have completely revised my Plant ID course content; the course is 6:30 to 8:30 pm Thursday for six weeks. See you there!

Today I went on my bi-weekly shopping rounds to see what's new and to gripe about the Big Boxes selling things that just will not do well here (really: Karume Azalea?). It's a trip of pleasure, starting on Saturday at the American Farms outlet on Pine Ridge Road just noth of Temple oranges. Don't look for a sign. But the outlet is in there, so make a right where you see turn only, and you are there. Be mindful of the parking rules.

Inevitably I find something new there, but the staff helps with care conditions (why are those tags in plants so useless?). This week I ordered my annuals for around the pond, White New Guinea impatiens, which will be ready next Thursday, according to Pearla, on of thenew people since Maria retired, who I miss already. Pearla was very helful, though, I've heard there are other outlets but haven/t been there.

How Different Are Animals, Anyway?

As a young undergrad in the life sciences (initially, at least), the differences between humans and animals were sometimes discussed. And this was always a short little talk, because the notion of altruism–the behavior of an animal benefitting the group at some individual expense, often potentially lethal, was not in the lexicon for animal definition. Things have changed.

Nothing reminds me more of this than Christmas. Those college discussions always included ‘Why am I here?” or “why do I suffer?”, and other introspective angst. 

(Image courtesy of ScienceNews). Truth is strange, especially when explanations are necessarily couched in evolutionary terms by the life sciences community. “How does this behavior enhance the survivability of the species?”

Nuts in Florida? Why Not?

The notion of eating–and growing–locally is all the rage these days. In her bestseller The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters sensibly points out that many ‘fruits and vegetables have almost disappeared from commerce’. Those uncommon foods, though, still exist, and there are a few hardy souls who keep the faith by preserving older varieties, by learning from indigenous peoples, and by trying plants from different parts of the world.

Greenblatt, Epicurus, and the 'War on Christmas'

How Much They Have 

Stephen Greenblatt agreeably recounts early Christianity in “The Swerve”, a telling of the rediscovery of Lucretius’ poem On the Nature of Things. No other extant work more clearly contrasts the profound change in world thinking brought by Christianity, or the effect of contemporary writers on the formation of Christian doctrine. The ancient world stands as a towering intellectual achievement. Early Church Fathers needed a way forward that would co-opt or include these ideas.