James Stabile Informational Newsletter April 2004

Discussion of the Month

April all ready. Spring break is just about over. The traditional last week of spring break is the week after Easter. Over the years, spring break has changed significantly in south Florida. Back in it’s hey day spring break was primarily for college kids. Back in the 1960’s thousands if not millions of college kids from all over the United States would descend upon the beaches of Fort Lauderdale from the beginning of March until the week after Easter. These were the “all American” type kids. Good kids, with little money to spend, but with a large appetite for lots of excitement. It was beach and tiki bars in the day, wet T-shirt contest and drinking and more drinking, then the bars at night. These kids were on spring break to have fun.

Over the years the Fort Lauderdale community started to think about changing the perception of spring break. The political organization as well as the ultra conservative moral majority religious leaders of Fort Lauderdale wanted a more quieter and gentler spring break. In other words, they wanted to throw out the kids. So, in the mid-1980’s they started a campaign to change the perception of spring break in south Florida. They wanted to create a spring break for “wealthier” family oriented people. So they did it. Police started clamping down on the college crowd. The community in general pulled back the red carpet and after a few years the kids started going to other southern points of interest for their college breaks. By the way, most of the “trouble’ during spring break was not caused by the visiting college crowd. The locals caused the problems. The local kids who dropped out of school, the local bad boys and girls, for the most part caused the trouble and contributed majorly to the demise of the “where the boys are” college spring breakers.

What is spring break like now in the 21^st century? As the Sun-Sentinel reported, they are back. More and more college kids are spending their spring breaks in Fort Lauderdale. The contemporary spring breakers are still “kids”, but they are more affluent. They bring more money with them to spend. They frequent the better restaurants. They visit other attractions, not just the beach. In other words, the community welcomes them because of their monetary contributions.

Make no mistake, they are active, motivated spring breakers. There is still drinking, still wet T-shirt contests and packed beaches, but they are sort of welcomed. It’s good to see them again. Youth and vitality, what a motivating concept.

My spring break starts at 2:45 April 2 and ends at 7:15 April 13. Do you get the feeling that I want to savor every moment of it? You would be right. The students are not the only ones who fantasize about the vacations, adults do too.

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I don’t know how often you view the discussion page, but did you notice that we had our first non-family comment. Carole Cindy Stabile, her comment is the first response to “Hope to hear from you”. I haven’t responded to her, so I really don’t know if she’s family or not. There are plenty of Stabile’s around who do not share our family heritage. When I first moved to Fort Lauderdale, 1985, there was only one other Stabile listed in the phone book. Now there are several. It’s interesting to note that many people have viewed my newsletter. The Internet is enormous, but workable. After all it’s the information highway, with traffic jams and all

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Congratulations to Tommy and Jackie for their new house. Good luck and may you have many good times that turn into sweet memories in your new home.

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Sincere sympathies to Aunt Babe and her family in the untimely death of Denny. He is the first one of our biological cousins to die. As we get older more and more bad news will be in store for all of us. That’s life. Death is part of life. The loss of someone who is young, relatively speaking, is always a tragedy. May Denny be experiencing the eternal life that is offered to all of us.

Some April dates worth noting:

1. April Fools Day
4. Daylight Savings Time Begins
Palm Sunday
5. Passover begins at Sundown
8. Holy Thursday
9. Good Friday
10. Holy Saturday
11. Easter Sunday
15. Income Tax Day
21. Administrative Professionals Day, formerly known as Secretaries Day
29. Patrick Birthday

Entertainment

Movies, there are quite a few that are out now or will be out soon that I would like to see. Sometimes there seems to be few movies at the cinemas that really spark my interest. That’s not the case at this time. Some of the movies that have me a little curious; Dawn of the Dead, Taking Lives, Secret Window, Hidalgo, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Starsky & Hutch. I doubt if I see all of these movies, but spring break is upon me.

I did see The Passion of the Christ. As I discussed in the March Newsletter, it’s just a movie – a terrible violent, gruesome movie. It’s one man’s interpretation of the passion of Jesus Christ. I believe the movie was well done, but it moved too slowly for me and the violence was obscene. I believe that the story was basically accurate according to my personal faith, but I did not appreciate all the blood and suffering.

Yes, OK, it’s true a crucifixion was extremely violent. It was a terrible way to die. Sometimes the person would hang on the cross for several days before dying. Birds would gouge out the person’s eyes. Yes, gross. Do we need to see such violence on the silver screen. It occurred to me, these religious groups who are encouraging people to see The Passion of the Christ are the same people who usually condemn such violence in movies. What gives?

I still believe that as Christians we should concentrate on the Resurrection not on the death and suffering of our Savior. Yes, we need to experience a “Good Friday” before we can experience an “Easter”, but must it be so gruesome? We must understand the fact that Jesus suffered and died for our sins, but more importantly, we must rejoice in the fact that this same Jesus conquered death by rising from the dead. Why, because He is the Son of God.

Health & Fitness

Low calorie, low fat, low carb, what really causes obesity? As you do your grocery shopping you are bombarded by ads for low fat and low carb products. Many grocery brands have a section of regular products and another section of low fat and/or low carb products. What’s the bottom line?

In my humble opinion the bottom line is quite simple. Weight gain is caused by consuming more calories than one uses. The end. Actually there’s a lot more to it, but the basic premise for weight loss is eat fewer calories a day than your body burns in a day. You could extend the analysis to a week, month or year, but take care of one day at a time and the weeks, months and years will take care of themselves.

The rest of the story: there are ways of enhancing your weight loss. A major player in this process is physical activity. Physical activity and reducing caloric intake are complementary, they go together like a horse and carriage or like love and marriage. By the way, you can have one without the other, but for optimum fitness, you really should have one with the other.

A colleague of mine is on a diet. At lunch the other day he had two sandwiches of big old low carb buns, low fat lunchmeat and low fat cheese. He was eating a lot of calories. Many times the caloric content of such low carb or low fat food is the same or even more than the regular food. I finally pointed that fact out to him. Then I said, diets don’t work. You need to eat healthy foods, a well-rounded diet from all the food groups and eat in moderation.

Too many times people decide to go on a diet and spend a fortune buying the foods for their diets. They buy all the low calorie, low fat and low carb foods. They eat the same foods every day and become bored. No more diet. That happens to all of us one time or another.

Personally I believe that diets usually don’t work. If one is serious about fitness one must change his or her notion of food. Food must be viewed as fuel for the body. Food can not be used as a reward or substitute for the other things missing in one's life.

Don’t get the idea that eating food can’t be a satisfying activity. One of my favorite past times is eating. Just as we should drink alcohol responsibly so too should we eat responsibly, but still enjoy it. The great connoisseurs of food are not the “fat” people. They are the people who enjoy the taste of food and savor every moment while eating. They are the people who put food in perspective and respect the process of eating.

Also, don’t get the idea that I always practice what I preach. No way. I too fall off the wagon, but you have to get right back on that horse.

My personal philosophy for physical fitness: eat a balanced diet, try to eat healthy foods and exercise. I tell people sure I go to McDonalds and Burger King. I eat french fries, but not every day, in moderation. I eat candy, but in moderation. I believe one should eat food from each of the food groups, but in moderation. I believe a key ingredient to this fitness process is to know thy self and act accordingly.

Patti, don't let the previous talk dissuade you from sending me your usual Daffin's or Philadelphia Easter candy. I promise to respect that candy and to savor every bite. It's so good.

As far as all of those lawsuits by obese people against fast food restaurants for making them obese, forget it. This is America. We have freedom of choice. If you chose to eat fat all the time, so be it. The nutritional guides are published for the fast food chains. The chart is hanging on the wall at the McDonald’s that I frequent. Nutritional information is available on the Internet for the major restaurants. Buyer beware.

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I have a question. I understand that one or two alcoholic drinks a day may be healthy for you. One or two drinks for a male and no more than one drink for females may have beneficial affects on the cardiovascular system of some people. Just the other day I read that the same is true with regards to cholesterol. One or two drinks a day helps some people maintain low cholesterol levels. Now for the question, if one saves up those drinks until the weekend and drinks them all on Friday and Saturday night will that produce the same desired affect. I don’t think so. Really I understand. The maximum number of drinks is the two for a male and one for a female in a one day period, but I just had to ask the question.

Politics

And the beat goes on…So early in the 2004 presidential campaign season. If we are subjected to this much mud slinging at this time of the year what are we in store for in October. Our political campaigns are definitely taking a turn for the worse.

Issues should be the main item on the campaign agenda. Where do the candidates stand on the issues, that is the important part of the process. Americans should demand campaign reform to include a frank discussion on where the candidates stand on the issues. However, how would such a reform take place? What would it consist of and how would it be waged?

I think this kind of reform can not be legislated. It must originate from the character of the candidates. The candidates involved must be the ones to wage such a reform movement. Talk about character, the person or persons who would start such a movement would have my vote on the character issue. But less face it, the American political process does not illicit people of character. Being elected at any cost is the motto of most candidates – irrespective of political party affiliation.

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The congress, both the House and the Senate, have passed legislation which says that a person can be prosecuted for harming a fetus during a federal crime. In other words if a pregnant woman is assaulted not only will the perpetrator be liable for the woman’s injury, but he or she will be liable for the fetus’ injury. This sounds like a good thing. Republicans say that the proposal was a direct consequence for cases like the Laci Peterson case.

Democrats are saying that it is a first step in overturning Roe v. Wade. I think that it will affect future right to life and women choice issues presented to the Supreme Court. It seems to be a “back alley” approach aimed at the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

I believe that a woman has the right of choice in matters that affect her body. However, I am not for abortion. The woman’s right of choice is paramount in a democracy. I would hope that the process would be a responsible, intelligent choice. Don’t have unprotected sex if you, a woman or a man, do not wish to produce a child. Birth control should enter into the discussion of options before the sex act commences. If a baby is conceived, other options exist, adoption is one, but ultimately it’s the woman’s choice.

I sincerely hope that this legislative maneuver is not a political plot on the part of the Republicans. The operation of government should be nonpartisan. To this end, both parties, Republican and Democratic, are equally guilty of partisan practices in the legislative process.

Religion & Spiritualism

The most important holiday on the Christian calendar is fast approaching, Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday is the day that Jesus Christ proved that he was the Son of God. It’s the day that the teachings of Jesus Christ are substantiated. It’s the day the Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ, celebrate the promise of eternal life.

The events leading up to the resurrection of the Christ, namely the Passion Week, must never be forgotten. Before we can experience a resurrection and eternal life, we must experience a Passion Week and suffering. Passion Week starts on Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday Jesus triumphantly entered the holy city of Jerusalem, supposedly to celebrate the Jewish Holiday of Passover.

Can you imagine the turmoil that Jesus must have experienced during those last few days of his life on earth? One day he was praised, within a week’s time he was put to death. Knowing that the suffering and death was coming in the next few days, how did He keep it all together, so to speak. Some may say, he was God the Son, that did it for him. Remember now, he was also a human being, with all the emotions and pain that a man feels. In fact on Holy Thursday while He was in Gethsemane, He asked God to take away the suffering, but only of God’s will, not His own. Jesus suffered as any of us would have suffered.

Holy Thursday is the origin of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. At the Last Supper Jesus commanded His disciples to do what he did as a remembrance of Him. The apostles were commissioned to take their place as the first leaders of the new religion. This was climatic in regards to the previous three years of training that they had gone through while traveling with the Lord. Can you imagine the heartbreak Jesus must have felt when these 11 disciples completely abandoned him at His hour of need? Not to mention the betrayal of Judas.

Good Friday - the trial, humiliation, suffering and crucifixion of the Savior, it makes me cringe to think about it. Were you there when the crucified my Lord?

Just as the days of Christ’s suffering were the darkest, the day of His resurrection and the days following were the most glorious.

This is our religion. This is our faith. Suffering and despair are part of our existence. Faith and commitment to our God, who is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit will lead us to eternal life.

Tech Talk

Spam, spam and more spam. What's the informational highway coming too. Spam is becoming a big, enormous problem for anyone who has email. This is an even bigger aggravation to businesses on a network. Spam can cause a major traffic jam on heavily traveled networks. Home networks can become clogged by unwanted spam.

You have an ISP, Internet Service Provider. Whether you have a dial-up or broadband connection, your home computer is connected to the "world" each and every time you access the Internet. Your ISP has given you the ability to choose an email address. Many ISP's give you the ability to set up anywhere from a few email addresses to unlimited email addresses. Why should I configure more than one email address? The answer...to fight spam.

Every time you give out your email address to anyone on the Internet, whether a business, web page, individual, etc. you run the risk of having that email address ending up in the wrong hands. The business or individual that you give you email address may be completely reputable. That business or individual may be the telephone company, ebay, Daffin's Candy, Walmart, Sear's, CNN, The Weather Channel, Yahoo or countless other businesses or companies. Your email address becomes part of that company's account records. Some businesses sell their contact information. Just like a print magazine may sell it's subscribers' names and addresses, some, a lot of Internet businesses sell their subscribers' contact information, namely your email address. Once out in cyberspace your email address is passed from one user to the next. You get spammed.

Yes, spamming is illegal. So what, they do it anyway. How do you deal with this situation? Do not give out your email address? C'mon I need to be "connected" to some companies. I need to be contacted to Internet companies for a variety of reasons. What do I do? Alias email addresses or email addresses from online sources are two methods in fighting spam.

Set up a few email addresses offered through your ISP. If myname@aol.com is my user account email from aol, then set up another email address, jsorders@aol.com or jscontacts@aol.com or a variety of addresses and use these address when you place orders from Internet companies or correspond to a variety of Internet companies. If you start getting spammed, them drop the email address and use another. Or set up an email address at places like www.yahoo.com or www.hotmail.com and use these addresses for Internet purchases or for your email for late breaking news from www.cnn.com .

Most times when you download and install software, even software that you purchase from a store, during the install process they ask for a way in which to contact you. Use one of your alias email addresses. Don't give out your main user email address from your ISP account remains safe.

Doing the above does not preclude that you will not be spammed from your alias email addresses. Now you need to manage the mail you receive. Configure your pop email mailbox, in most cases, Microsoft Outlook Express to manage the email you will receive. Use your address, mail filters, mail block to manage your incoming email.

Here is a good resource: http://www.jbwebcraft.com/email.htm

OR: http://www.uwec.edu/HELP/OutlookXP/mngovervw.htm

OR to Manage Spam: http://docsrv.sco.com/MM_admin/mmadminC.spam.html

First start with your ISP. Every ISP has a proactive approach to monitoring Spam. Find out what your ISP has for you. Most of the time it's free to all ISP users.

Earthlink has what they call TotalAccess http://start.earthlink.net/support/DLOADCENTER/
I'm almost positive that your ISP has similar software just waiting for you.

You may not be able to stop spam, but there are some things you can do to manage and control it.

Of course the above discussion of spam has nothing to do with the luncheon type sandwich meat one buys at a grocery store and comes in a can.