Quando falamos em fotopublicidade a maioria das pessoas já imagina um universo glamuroso e cheio de sofisticação. Mas há muita coisa por trás dos bastidores desse mundo, entre eles, a tão falada remuneração…

O PND divulgou recentemente o que resultado do que muita gente ainda não entende: por que eu deixei a foto publicitária para fazer fotografias de casamento…

Segundo a pesquisa realizada pela PayScale, o fotógrafo publicitário está na lista dos 15 jobs mais estressantes e que pagam mal. Para chegar a essa conclusão, a pesquisa constatou que o salário médio dos fotógrafos publicitários é $43.600, e que 100% dos fotógrafos descreveram seu trabalho como “estressante”.

Ainda há a discussão sobre qual seria a exata definição para o ‘fotógrafo publicitário’, mas a própria PND já tinha divulgado em Junho de 2006 um levantamento apontando que os fotógrafos independentes de publicidade, corporativo e editorial tinham salários médios de $100.000, $97.500 e $42.500, respectivamente.

A grande questão deveria girar em torno do valor que realmente está sendo creditado ao trabalho dos profissionais. Há muitos fotógrafos sem qualificação circulando pelo mercado, e com isso, os especialistas acabam pagando o pato…

Het heeft een naam gekregen van de huisdokter. Een (gelukkig nog lichte) post-natale depressie. Ik dacht dat ik ziek was, pijn aan maag, darmen, spierpijnen, moe, doodmoe, altijd maar moe. Maar er is fysiek niets mis met mij. De andere symptomen heb ik de voorbije maanden rationeel genegeerd want ik vind het aanstellerij. Maar toen de dokter het luidop zei was het toch even slikken. 10% van de moeders krijgt het. Als ik alle blogs tel die ik volg, dan moest er wel eentje een PND hebben, ik had alleen mezelf niet meegeteld.

Nochtans heb ik veel meegemaakt wat het in de hand werkt. Wanneer heb je kans om PND te ontwikkelen:
1. een andere ingrijpende gebeurtenis valt samen met komst baby: job verliezen is een zeer ingrijpende gebeurtenis en is op zich al goed om in een depressie te belanden
2. hoge verwachtingen van het moederschap: ja die had ik, heel hoge verwachtingen. Ik zag mezelf als de übermoeder die een hele zomer lang met haar baby’tje in parken en op dijken ging gaan wandelen in het zonnetje. Viel dat even dik dik tegen. Niet alleen wou Daan niet in de wandelwagen, het was een verschrikkelijk warme zomer, te warm om buiten te komen. De borstvoeding ging van geen kanten, etc.
3. zelf iemand zijn met hoge eisen voor zichzelf: tja je persoonlijkheid is je persoonlijkheid he…

Via deze link kan je er nog meer over te weten komen.

Voorlopig krijg ik lichte anti-depressiva, niets zwaar, eerder een soort “upper” om niet verder weg te zinken. Ik sta niet meer op continu in huilen uitbarsten. Verder heb ik toffe gesprekken met een gespecialiseerd iemand, helpt osteopathie voor meer energie te krijgen en heb ik een paar uitstapjes gepland voor volgende week.

Het kan alleen maar beter worden.

En ja, ik heb heel hard getwijfeld of ik dit zou schrijven maar het leven is nu eenmaal niet enkel zonneschijn, er is soms ook regen. En daar moet je dan even door…

As a relatively new mum, I have become involved both professionally and socially with many more mums than I used to know, and I have been amazed by just how many of these clever, interesting women have been struck by post-natal depression (commonly known as PND) since giving birth.

For many, they reach a point where they realise they need help, and go straight to the doctor who generally either tells them their symptoms are not strong enough for him to take any action, or prescribes medication.  This medication typically numbs the senses, meaning the woman is relieved from the drastic lows she had been experiencing, but also robbing her of the highs; the good times she used to enjoy.

There is another option.  Post-natal depression can be treated naturally through diet, exercise and supplementation.

While there is undoubtedly a psychological aspect to post-natal depression as the new mum comes to terms with the huge demands and responsibility of having a baby, it is usually triggered by hormonal changes.  The good news is that these can be overcome naturally without resorting to medication.

While pregnant, your body transfers large amounts of zinc to your unborn baby.  Unless you have a generous supply of zinc (and most people don’t), this will leave you zinc deficient.  Common side-effects of zinc deficiency?  Depression, poor appetite, white marks on fingernails, stretch marks and poor immune system.

So, the first thing you need to do if you are presenting these symptoms after having a baby is to restore your zinc levels.  However, supplementing individual vitamins and minerals can be dangerous – so you will need to supplement a high-quality, natural multivitamin and mineral.  (Ask me for a recommendation.)

Next, you need to supplement Omega-3 fatty acids.  This is also a very common deficiency present with post-natal depression.  Increasing Omega-3 levels is a balancing act through diet and supplementation.  Oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel) should be eaten in limited amounts, due to the pollution fish is exposed to, and pumpkin and sunflower seeds should be added to your diet each day.  A pure Omega-3 fatty acid supplement should also be used.

These steps, together with a healthy diet and regular exercise, can combat post-natal depression without the need for medication.

For further information, or personalised advice, contact me at katiektk@hotmail.co.uk

A long while ago, just about at the point at which most everyone was proclaiming the ascendancy of the PND, I challenged conventional wisdom and predicted its imminent decline and demise. iSuppli caught up recently.

Now, as David Pogue notes in the NY Times, Android 2.0 may have helped nail the lid on the coffin:

In addition to great speed, great audio and great cell signal, the Droid offers Android 2.0’s new navigation software. It’s as close to a suction-cup GPS unit as you can get on a cellphone, with spoken street names, color coding to indicate traffic, map icons (for parking, gas and so on), satellite view and even street photos of any address. Buy the $30 windshield bracket, which fires up the GPS automatically when you insert the Droid, and nobody will know you’re not running some $500 GPS unit.

The real mind blower/game changer? This software is free. All of it. I’m guessing there wasn’t much cheer at Garmin’s Halloween party this year.

Overall, the Droid, notwithstanding its lack of WiFi, seems to be a worthy contender:

the Droid wins on phone network, customizability, GPS navigation, speaker, physical keyboard, removable battery and openness (free operating system, mostly uncensored app store)

the iPhone wins on simplicity, refinement, thinness, design, Web browsing, music/video synching with your computer, accessory ecosystem and quality/quantity of the app store

Seems like Walt likes the Droid as well, albeit with some reservations:

I’ve been testing the Droid, and while it has some significant drawbacks, I regard it as a success overall. It’s the best super-smart phone Verizon offers, the best Motorola (MOT) phone I’ve tested and the best hardware so far to run Android.

The Droid is potentially a big win for Verizon, Motorola and Google

[Although] Android still isn’t as slick or fluid as the iPhone’s OS

[The Droid] is only a tad longer and thicker than the Apple product. But it’s 25% heavier, which makes it less comfortable to carry around in a pocket.

Unfortunately for lovers of physical keyboards, I found the one on the Droid to be pretty awful.

And it does have a cool new ad:

Post Natal Depression, like other forms of irrational depression is difficult for others to understand (before you lynch me, I was diagnosed with PND after midget and rapid cycling since forever so I’m going on personal experience here not medical fact…. but I’m also playing devil’s advocate). Rational forms of depression like post traumatic stress are obvious, there’s a reason therefore short term medication and talking therapy have a real place. However, PND and rapid cycling (or BPD, but let’s not say that out loud eh?) have no obvious reason for the lows. Or do they? Sticking with post natal depression here, while everything should be all happy, fluffy and joyful, in many cases it’s not and the feelings of horribleness are very real indeed. It’s also linked with so many other forms of self depricating mental dissorders because it’s intrinsically linked with feelings of self worth. The inability to do everything by the book and have meet all the targets you’re meant to meet with a baby. After midget, I constantly checked her fearing that I would find her not breathing right up to the age of one (ironic really when I was happy to leave mini midget who actually required an apnia alarm because she went grey on a daily basis). I doubted my ability as a mother entirely and in my lower moments still do. Except now in my lower moments i am able to remind myself that actually it’s ok that I’m not perfect, as long as I’m doing my best that’s ok (so much so that it’s tattooed on my forearm, albeit in arabic: جيدة بما فيه الكفاية).

So how did I get rid of the PND? ok, with me it maybe wasn’t the most effective of solutions and certainly not one I would recommend to anyone, ever. Because I retracted into my weird little protective bubble, and at that point had no blog style release, Mr T had no idea what was going on in my head – he thought we’d drifted apart (when in fact I was just losing my mind) and instead of talking to me, had a ‘wanker month’ as it’s now known in which he cheated, we split up, he messed me about for a few weeks and was in the end dealt not so much an ultimatum, but a swift kick to the mental nuts. I told him where to stick it. Prior to all this I had convinced myself of my uselessness and neediness, but in light of him causing midget upset (she was 9 months at the time) I found some balls and refused to accept his crap. He was informed that he was free to do what he liked and to do it well away from me. It was a real shock to both of us. After a month of pining and wimpering, I lost my temper good and proper and hit him with both barrels. After that I walked away, not upset, but really angry that he thought it was ok to treat me like that. So I left midget with my parents, gothed it up and got very very drunk indeed.  My happy ending was actually that this was enough of a shock to end Mr T’s month of wankerdom and he did come back tail between his legs and spend the next few years making it up to me in every way possible. It was my choice to take him back (good choice) and we now keep the whole thing in the open because it was an event in our relationship. We both learnt a lot from it – and a bit like the war, by accepting it’s existance we know to never let it happen again.

My point here is that by this massive catastrophic event happening I had no choice but to stand back and see the bigger picture. I had to fight or flight - apathy isn’t an option. And fight I did (no apologies for any of my woman scorned actions following this either). It made me see that I could be strong if I needed to be and faced with hell on earth I will stick on my stiff upper lip and god dammit I will stand tall.

Ok, it wasn’t that simple, but that was the start. The wanker month left me with some further trust and body issues and there was a lot of work to do. But it did help me realise some of the things that I can take forward with the midgets: When you feel rubbish about yourself as a parent, everyone else appears to have the perfect baby – actually it’s just that you don’t see the crappy bits because so few people would dare to admit that they’re probably doing it all wrong. They say babies don’t come with a manual – although Waterstone’s would beg to differ from the heaving shelves of ‘how to look after your baby’ books. The reality is that there isn’t a manual for any age and actually we all just muddle along as best we can hoping to god that we don’t fuck up too badly. We tried allsorts – weaning was erratic, breastfeeding was difficult, and sleeping… what is that? Mini midget still doesn’t sleep through all the time and some of those nights feel like forever and quite often end up with me sobbing on the floor, not because I’m a crap parent, but because I’m tired. Sleep deprivation gets to you – it’s a proven form of torture:

“[Sleep Deprivation] is intensely stressful, with unpredictable long and short term effects. People lose the ability to act and think coherantly. [it] is used because it leaves no physical mark on the victim”

“Menachem Begin, the Israeli prime minister from 1977-83, was tortured by the KGB as a young man. In his book, White Nights: The Story of a Prisoner in Russia, he wrote of losing the will to resist when deprived of sleep.

“In the head of the interrogated prisoner, a haze begins to form. His spirit is wearied to death, his legs are unsteady, and he has one sole desire: to sleep… Anyone who has experienced this desire knows that not even hunger and thirst are comparable with it. I came across prisoners who signed what they were ordered to sign, only to get what the interrogator promised them. He did not promise them their liberty; he did not promise them food to sate themselves. He promised them – if they signed – uninterrupted sleep.”

After that quote it’s a bloody miracle I didn’t drown them like kittens – ha, don’t think I didn’t iamgine that at some of our 3am sessions, point is I didn’t, nor did I chuck them out a window, or sell them on ebay, or freecycle, or any of the other quite feasible options every mother comes up with after 4 months of no sleep. But, knowing that the way I felt and my state of mind was down to a very real physical reason (even if it is now three years down the line) makes it more bearable.

There have been so many pieces of advice to make your child sleep – may I add none of which have worked for mini midget entirely. They go from the victorian idea of putting them in a room to cry it out to the hippy idea of holding them all the time until they can walk. As a bit of a hippy I did lean a bit more towards the latter. And let’s face it, I’d carried her inside me for months, why not a bit longer? Midget needed to be held, rocked and sung to sleep and when she woke up during the night it was her sole mission to do anything in her power to wiggle her way into our bed. With her we resisted – with hindsight, we made a rod for our own back and should have just accepted that co-sleeping for us was a less stressful option. Instead with midget we tried controlled crying – let her cry for 5 minutes, go in quick cuddle then put back and walk out, then let her go for 10 minutes, repeat, then 15, then 20 – we never got past 25, but that hour of crying included more tears from me than her, although there were points where I felt nothing, just utter despair about being awake a-bloody-gain. Mini midget however, I insisted co-slept at least while I was breastfeeding and even after she still ended most nights with us. For me? Less stressful and she was a much less screamy baby – as a toddler she was certainly more sure of herself and her terrible twos (and current threes) have been a bit scary, but we have a real bond. Although when it did come to asserting a bit more authority, it was far harder with mini midget. Everything has it’s good and bad points and no two parents opt for the same method all the time, hell even Mr T and I have different approaches and have to do some huddled whispering to stay as the ‘united front’ we try to head towards. So for those of you who are in need of some words of the suffering of fellow parents (here, I include every parent on the planet), here’s a list of my current favorites:

• The Hippie Vs the Yuppie (funny guy this): http://hippievsyuppie.blogspot.com/
• Attachment Parenting (by a dad!) http://www.apparenting.com/
• SleepEnvy (I feel for this poor woman) http://sleepenvy.wordpress.com/
• Mommy On The Floor (perfectly normal parents, who often feel the opposite – totally worth reading): http://momandmama.wordpress.com/

מחשבי כף יד נקראים במספר שמות:

1. פאלם (Palm)

זהו מכשיר כף יד קטן ומיוחד, ללא ווינדוז של מייקרוסופט הפאלם תפס תאוצה בכל העולם בשנות ה90. המכשיר מבוסס מערכת הפעלה של חברת Palm. אנו סבורים שמכשיר האייפון החדשני של ימינו, הוא לא יותר מיורשו של הפאלם, שכן הידידותיות שלו למשתמש וארכיטקטורת מערכת ההפעלה של האייפון מזכירה מאוד את הפאלמים הישנים, את הסוני clie האגדי, וכו’.

2. PDA

שם כללי למחשב כף יד מבוסס מערכת הפעלה Pocket PC של חברת מייקרוסופט. מכשירים בעלי מסך מגע אלו מאוד נפוצים בעולם, כמעט כל מותג מחשבים גדול הרשה לעצמו לפתח ולשווק מחשב כף יד עם המוצג שלו עליו, כאשר מערכת ההפעלה של Windows Pocket PC רצה בתוכו. עם הזמן, מערכת הפעלה זו קיבלה שם חדש: “Windows Mobile”.

3. PND או PNA

כמו הPDA, עם מסך LCD בעל פאנל מגע, אבל מכשירים זולים הרבה יותר, ללא פיצ’רים מיוחדים שנמצא רק במחשבי כף יד, כגון חיבור לאינטרנט באמצעות הwi-fi. מכשירי הPND הינם מחשבי כף יד מבוססה מערכת ההפעלה של Windows CE בעלי מעט מאוד אופציות להתקנת תוכנות ושינויים משמעותיים בפעולת המכשיר, יותר מאשר תוכנן על ידי היצרן. מכשירי PND הינם לרב מכשירי ניווט GPS ייעודיים (Personal Navigation Device) והם תוכננו כך שהשימוש בהם יהיה פשוט כל כך, שלא צריך להבין ממש שום דבר במחשבים בכלל, ובמחשבי כף יד בפרט, על מנת לתפעל אותם.

4. מחשב כף יד משולב סלולר (תקשורתן)

“תקשורתן” הוא אכן הכינוי העברי הרשמי למחשב כף יד משולב טלפון על פי האקדמיה ללשון העברית. מחשבי כף יד משולבי סלולר, הינם טלפונים סלולרים לכל דבר וענייו, אך עם תוספות של מחשב כף יד, כגון יומן פגישות ולוח שנה הניתו לסנכרון עם מחשב הPC, משימות מתוזמנות, אינטרנט אלחוטי, בלוטות’, ניווט GPS באמצעות תוכנות המיועדות למכשירי Windows Mobile, ועוד.

5. סמארטפון

כשמו כן הוא, מכשיר הSmartphone הינו טלפון חכם בעל מערכת הפעלה Windows PE Smartphone. למכשירי סמארטפון אין מסך מגע, אך הם תמיד בעלי מקלדת נומרית או QWERTY מעולה. ייעוד המכשיר הינו ככל הנראה לאנשים שחייבים להשאר מחוברים למחשב גם כאשר הם אינם בבית או במשרד. אך מבלי לעשות שימוש במחשב כף יד בעל מסך מגע. היחודיות של מכשיר הסמארטפון היא ביכולת לתפעל את המכשיר עם יד אחת בלבד, שלא כמו במחשבי כף יד בעלי מסך מגע, שחייבים זוג ידיים כדי להפעילם.

6. iPhone

המכשיר ששינה את פני השוק. בלי לזלזל בכלל, מכשיר האייפון הינו לא יותר מנגן iPod עם שילוב של יכולות סלולריות ועוד הרבה טכנולוגיות חדשניות שלא נראו כמותן במכשירים קודמים. כאן המקום להזכיר את טכנולוגיית הMulti-Touch של חברת Apple. טכנולוגיה זו משנה את כל מה שידענו והורגלנו אליו במחשבי כף יד בעלי מסך מגע. איכות המסכים במחשבי כף יד אינה מתקרבת לקרסוליים של מסך האייפון, מסך האייפון הוא היהלום שבכתר, הוא מדהים באיכותו, מדוייק וחד, ומסך המגע פשוט בטכנולוגיה החדשה פשוט עושים השימוש באייפון לחוויה שאין זהה לה.. אולם, מכשיר האייפון אינו בעל יכולות multi-tasking כמו משחב כף יד מבוסס ווינדוז. וזאת יכולה להוות בעיה לאנשים שאוהבים לעבוד על יותר מאפליקציה אחת בו זמנית.

7. Android

מחשבי כף יד מבוסס מערכת הפעלה של אנדרואיד הינם בימים אלו ממש בתחילת דרכם. אנדרואיד הינה מערכת הפעלה מבוסס קוד פתוח של לינוקס, שנבנתה ברובה על ידי ענקית התוכנה Google, למעוניינים לקבל עוד פרטים על הקוד הפתוח, לחצו כאן אם ברצונכם להוריד את הSDK כדי להתחיל לפתח אפליקציות למכשירי ניידים מבוססי אנדרואיד.

8. סימביאן

מערכת ההפעלה Symbian נרכשה על ידי ענקית הסלולר נוקיה (Nokia) במאות מיליוני דולרים. זוהי מערכת הפעלה מאוד נחמדה וגרפית המיועדת לעשות את השימוש במכשיר הסלולר לקל, פשוט וידידותי. אם אתם רוצים לקרוא עוד על עולם הסימביאן, כנסו לבלוג המוביל של סימביאן בישראל.

רוצים לקרוא עוד על מחשבי כף יד, מכשירי ניווט GPS (או כמו שקראנו להם קודם, מכשירי PND), מכשירי אייפון, וכמובן, נגני המוזיקה המוצלחים בעולם, נגני iPod של חברת אפל? כנסו לאתר המעבדה, לדפי הסקירות ותמצאו שם עוד המון מידע על עולם המכשירים הניידים.

de esas cosas que no se ven diario xD

I made my first call to a client as part of my training as a telephone support worker at PANDA. I was pretty nervous and I’m not sure if it went too well but the client seemed to be doing very well, which is great. The other, more experienced, telephone support workers are wonderful to listen to; they all have their different styles and they’re all up to different levels in their experience. I’ve heard a couple of pretty serious calls and they have such empathy, respect and compassion for the callers. Am looking forward to tackling more callers when I’m in next.

Last week, as part of a contingent at PANDA, I visited a mother/baby unit at a public hospital. The unit manager, who was amazing,  showed us through the unit and explained the process from wo to go. The average stay at a unit is 3 to 4 weeks and thankfully the waiting list isn’t long. I’m learning more and more that there are many support services out there for women struggling with the transition to motherhood, whether it be the first, second, third or whatever, child they’ve had. Don’t try and go it alone, ask for help – even if it’s calling PANDA for further information. There are so many reasons for PND and making that call is the first step to recovery.

This week on BellaOnline I reviewed The Tibetan Art of Parenting, and while I focused on the Buddhist-oriented knowledge in the review, what really interested me was the info on mother’s and children’s subtle energies and energy systems. As some of you know I have an interest/obsession in the sacral or 2nd chakra, and have written before on its relationship to childbearing and raising (among other things.) Along those lines, here is some of the information I found the most intriguing, and thought some of you might also (and none of this is meant to be a recommendation of any type, although I do have great respect for certain aspects of Tibetan culture):

- Keeping a mother warm just prior to, during, and after childbirth is considered essential, because it is believed that giving birth takes up so much of a mother’s lifeforce that she doesn’t have enough left to keep herself warm. Although the book itself doesn’t specifically mention chakras (some Tibetan lineages utilize chakra techniques and others do not), this little tidbit was interesting to me because the kundalini, or energy that rises through the chakras when they are open, is often called ‘heat’, and many people experience an energetic heat when doing chakra techniques. So a deep or chronic coldness is never just physical, but also energetic, and can indicate blocks or lack of energy in the chakra system and associated subtle energy channels.

Tibetan mothers are kept warm with blankets and warm broth during childbirth. Of course, in most Western hospital settings, the temperature is frigid and birthing mothers are not allowed any food, even broth. This shocked one Tibetan mother who gave birth in the U.S. As she put it, “I told the nurses I was cold and thirsty and they gave me ice chips!”

- Tibetan medicine does recognize post-natal/post-partum depression, and views it as a “deficiency of life-sustaining winds”. First off, it is interesting to find PND/PPD recognized at all, because there are those in homeopathic/holistic medicine communities here in the West that view PND/PPD as a uniquely modern Western condition, exacerbated by the ‘alienated’ way we birth and raise children, as compared to the past or other cultures. But Tibetans generally have strong family support systems, birth naturally, often at home with family attending, nurse, sleep in a family bed, etc. all methods that some believe lower the incidence of PND/PPD. And they absolutely may help, but clearly the fact that this ancient medical system recognizes it shows that it has been with us for some time, and there is a lot more going on.

The ‘life-sustaining winds’ are essentially kundalini/life force (lots of different terms for referring to this in different traditions), and upon doing some further research on Tibetan views of PND/PPD (beyond this book), I found that it’s believed that in cases of PND/PPD either the mother’s energy was depleted prior to birth more than normally for some reason, was blocked because of energetic issues prior to becoming pregnant, or was not sufficiently recovered after giving birth. In other words, for whatever reason, so  much ‘heat’ is lost during birth that it is the last straw, and the mother can’t recover her own energy enough to meet her own physical and psychological needs. The Tibetans use herbal treatments, energy practices/rituals, massage, acupressure, steaming and other methods as treatment.

I do know some yoga teachers that specifically advocate kundalini/chakra work for PND, particularly teacher Gurmukh (whose pre and post natal yoga DVDs I used in both my pregnancies and loved) but hadn’t really come across it within an alternative medicine system before. For me, it really supports my belief that the 2nd chakra is of special importance in women, the seat of their entire personal power really, and requires special care. (And for the record, I personally utilize both mainstream Western and alternative medical methods for myself and children, so this is NOT meant to discredit or judge the use of hormonal treatments for PND, as I know women who have benefited greatly by this.)

- In Tibetan medicine, when a nursing infant/child is ill, the mother is often treated with herbs, energy cleansing techniques and rituals, even if she is healthy. It is believed that both herbs/medicine and energy streams are transmitted through the mother’s milk to the child. This includes a mother’s moods and any external energy influences. In other words, the mother’s entire state is transmitted to some extent to the nursing child, especially young infants.

- Children are believed to retain past life memories to some extent up until the age of 8 years old. They are also considered extremely intuitive and sensitive energetically until this time. Children under 8 are believed to have a purity and openness of mind (regardless of their past-life karma) that connects them to energetic sensations and spirits that most of us lose after this. Young children’s intuitions and sensations are taken extremely seriously – both positive and negative experiences. On the negative side, there are 24 ’spirit disorders’ that children are believed to be especially susceptible to, from night terrors to various levels of possession. Tibetans therefore use a variety of ‘protective’ methods for their children, especially before this age, and Lamas are consulted if disturbances are recurrent.

- Formal schooling usually starts around 6, and schooling outside the home has long been a part of Tibetan culture. In Tibet, this was a major function of the monasteries, and part of the reason they flourished there. I was interested to find that in the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala, most of the schools are now Montessori schools. I stumbled upon Montessori quite by accident with my own children, and have loved it, partly because many of its tenets meld so well with my own beliefs on consciousness that have been shaped by my own spiritual journey. Upon researching Montessori more, I discovered that founder Maria Montessori was very involved with the Theosophists, and was asked to come to India and found several Montessori schools there, and as a result, Montessori is very popular throughout India. (And as I noted in an old post on Indigo/Crystal children, Montessori is also one of the recommended education methods for them. BTW – my own views of the Indigo/Crystal theories has been undergoing a shift and perhaps I’ll post on it again soon…)

- In family units and in relations amongst children, harmony is emphasized above individual feelings. Although I hate to stereotype, I do think this is a distinction that holds for most Eastern cultures vs. Western ones. Here in the West, a lot of parenting philosophy orients around respecting individual children’s feelings, and acknowledging and respecting all party’s feelings when resolving disputes. But in Tibetan culture, there is usually some kind of judgment made by whatever adult is around regarding which child is the one causing the disruption, i.e. who is responsible for the lack of harmony, and the problem addressed that way. So if a child takes a toy from another, or won’t share, he/she is made to give the toy back or share, no discussion. This is a very basic example, but interesting to contemplate when you expand it out to other scenarios. As the authors of this book put it, “In Tibet, demanding your own rights is not valued, because it doesn’t fit into the concept of being a part of the family.”

- Tibetans spank, and the Dalai Lama was hit with a switch by his parents. I have to admit, I was thrown by this one. I am pretty anti-spanking, especially in our hyper-violent culture, and this didn’t seem to fit with a culture where children are taught to delicately carry spiders and other insects outside when they get in the house. But Tibetans consider discipline essential, and spanking to be a suitable punishment for them. Interestingly, it is often carried out after dinner, much after the event instead of at the time, which at least means it is not just done out of anger in the moment. Overall, I think it reminded me that in parenting perhaps technique and philosophy is less the issue than intent and relationship, which is something that has come up over and over in the last 2 weeks (my karma perhaps for my judgmental mini-rant of parents who drug their children for ADD/ADHD??) And along those lines, if you have not yet read Mon from Holistic Mama’s post ‘When I See a Mother, I Will Assume‘, check it out.

As always, I welcome all thoughts and questions regarding any of these topics….

The Insight program on postnatal depression on 22 September provoked a massage surge in calls to PANDA. Even though there was probably only a 30 second snippet of the CEO of PANDA it was enough to create a huge response. This is great news and it at least raised awareness of PANDA and its services.

Today I learnt more about the database and the stats database and generally just listening in on calls – making a mental note of each telephone support worker’s style. They were all so great and I hope to be just as great when I hop on the phones. Their reflective listening, paraphrasing, etc, seemed to come very naturally to them.

Meanwhile there’s not much studying happening due to school holidays and a general weariness and non brain function in the evenings! Hopefully that will change next week when kids are back at school and kinder.

Last night the SBS program Insight featured a show on post natal depression. Boy it was sad – particularly the story of the woman who took her own life in a mother/baby unit here in Victoria. She left behind two little boys and a deeply grieving husband. The thing which struck me were her photos – she looked so full of life yet she was extremely depressed, being unable to function even with help from others around her.

Thankfully I believe this is an extreme case. You can recover from PND, as the other stories in the show highlighted. One woman even went on to have five kids!

There were some slightly funny moments: the fix-it mentality of the men bought a few smiles and nods from both the men and women in the audience (and my partner). The point is that women want to be heard and listened to – not have their husband/partner immediately fly into fix-it mode. I also thought it was very brave of one of the women who admitted to wanting to put her child’s head under the water in the bath. Fortunately she was rational enough to immediately remove her child from the bath and call her mother for help.

You can view the episode here… http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/122#watchonline

No PANDA this week as it’s school holidays – will be back there next week.

Este artigo é o dossier do Eleições 2009 para o leitor. Através deste dossier, poderá ficar a conhecer todos os partidos políticos que irão a votos, os seus dirigentes, o seu programa, a sua orientação politica, entre outros. Carregue em ler mais para ver todos os partidos.

Partido Socialista – Actualmente no Governo

Secretário Geral: José Socrates

Principais pontos do programa:

• Relançar a economia, apoiando as PME;
• Apostar na internacionalização;
• Aumentar o uso de energias renováveis
• Assegurar a escolaridade obrigatória até ao 12ºAno
• Reforçar os efectivos das forças de segurança
• Tornar a justiça mais rápida
• Investir na cultura

Orientação Politica: Esquerda

Site:ps.pt

Partido Social Democrata

Secretária Geral: Manuela Ferreira Leite

Principais pontos do programa:

• Recuperar a competitividade
• Recuperar a confiança na justiça
• Recuperar o prestigio e autoridade dos professores
• Premiar o mérito e não o facilitismo
• Reforçar a autoridade
• Melhorar os meios de combate à criminalidade

Orientação Politica: Direita

Site: psd.pt

Bloco de Esquerda

Secretário Geral: Francisco Louçã

Principais pontos do programa:

• (Devido ao Bloco não apresentar nenhum folheto ou qualquer indicação dos principais pontos do programa, disponibilizamos o link para o programa completo) Programa do BE

Orientação Politica: Extrema-Esquerda

Site: bloco.org

Coligação Democrática Unitária – PCP/PEV

Secretário Geral: Jerónimo de Sousa

Principais pontos do programa:

• Alargamento do acesso ao subsidio de desemprego
• Aumento do salário mínimo nacional para 600 euros até 2013
• Revogação do Estatudo da Carreira Docente e alteração no modelo de avaliação docente
• Reforço dos efectivos de segurança
• Redução na factura da energia

Orientação Politica: Esquerda

Site: cdu.pt

Centro Democrático Social – Partido Popular

Secretário Geral: Paulo Portas

Principais pontos do programa:

• (Devido ao CDS não apresentar nenhum folheto ou qualquer indicação dos principais pontos do programa, disponibilizamos o link para o programa completo) Programa do CDS

Orientação Politica: Direita

Site: cds.pt

Partido Popular Monárquico

Secretário Geral: Nuno da Câmara Pereira

Principais pontos do programa:

• Arborização intensiva do país
• Combate exaustivo à corrupção

Orientação Politica: Direita

Site: ppm.pt (Actualmente desactivado)

Movimento Mérito e Sociedade

Secretário Geral: Eduardo Correia

Principais pontos do programa:

• Basear nomeações para administração pública no mérito
• Tribunais em todos os concelhos do país
• Adopções de crianças como processo urgente

Orientação Politica: Direita

Site: mudarportugal.pt

Movimento Esperança Portugal

Secretário Geral: Rui Marques

Principais pontos do programa:

• (Devido ao MEP não apresentar nenhum folheto ou qualquer indicação dos principais pontos do programa, disponibilizamos o link para o programa completo) Programa do MEP

Orientação Politica: Centro

Site: mep.pt

Partido Trabalhista Português

Secretário Geral: Amândio Madaleno

Principais pontos do programa:

• Subsidio de desemprego na hora
• Contra o TGV
• A favor do Aeroporto no Montijo

Orientação Politica: Esquerda

Site: ptp.com.pt

Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses – PCTP/MRPP

Secretário Geral: António Garcia Pereira

Principais pontos do programa:

• Construção do TGV
• Construção do novo aeroporo
• Construção de dois grandes portos (Lisboa e Sines)

Orientação Politica: Esquerda

Site: pctpmrpp.org

Partido Nova Democracia

Secretária Geral: Maria Montes Gomes

Principais pontos do programa:

• Criação de um subsidio a atribuir a um dos pais que decidir ficar em casa com os filhos até à idade escolar

Orientação Politica: Direita

Site: pnd.pt

Partido Operário de Unidade Socialista

Secretária Geral: Carmelinda Pereira

Principais pontos do programa:

• Proibição dos despedimentos
• Rompimento com a União Europeia

Orientação Politica: Esquerda

Site: pous4.no.sapo.pt

Frente Ecologia e Humanismo

Secretário Geral: Pedro Quartin Graça

Principais pontos do programa:

• Aumentar o salário mínimo
• Reduzir os custos judiciais
• Eliminar as taxas de internamento hospitalar

Orientação Politica: Esquerda

Site: ecologiahumanismo.net

Portugal Pró Vida

Secretário Geral: Luis Botelho Ribeiro

Principais pontos do programa:

• Abolição do aborto
• Abolição da eutanásia
• Mudança do formato da Educação Sexual
• Abolição do casamento homosexual

Orientação Politica: Direita

Site: portuglaprovida.blogspot.com

Partido Nacional Renovador

Secretário Geral: José Pinto Coelho

Principais pontos do programa:

• Repatriar imigrantes
• Restaurar as fronteiras

Orientação Politica: Direita

Site: pnr.pt

Yesterday was our last group training session. Awww. Today we focused on breastfeeding and we told our breastfeeding (or not) stories. What an amazing array of stories. Ten different tales. Mine was ho hum – able to breastfeed both boys for a year and no particular problems but others didn’t have the same luck. What struck me, though didn’t really surprise me, was the guilt factor when some couldn’t breastfeed or kept persisting because of the guilt. Guilt is such a wasted emotion yet we mothers suffer greatly from it – needlessly most of the time. Such pressure we put on ourselves.

We also briefly touched on our use of medication whilst pregnant and breastfeeding and received some wonderful handouts provided by Rodney White who is the Pharmacist at the Drug Information Line at Monash Medical Centre here in Melbourne. If you’d like more information on the use of medication whilst pregnant or breastfeeding, please call Rodney on 03 9594 2361.

Unfortunately the 3 hours flew and it was time to celebrate the end of our group training with some food and chat. I’m really going to miss these Tuesday sessions but we need to move on to the second stage of our training which is one on one training with the senior telephone support workers for 10 weeks.

Meanwhile, we’ve exchanged email addresses and hope to catch up as a group in the next month or so.

Other than that, I’m continuing on with my Diploma of Professional Counselling. I think it will be a slow process due to work, family, etc but the reading so far has been really interesting. Slowly but surely!

iSuppli has just caught up:

The days of supremacy for the Portable Navigation Device in the global navigation market are coming to an end…

“Previously, smart phones were not seen as a threat to the dominance of PNDs…” (our emphasis)

I beg to differ:

Even as PDA’s fade from the technology horizon, another currently hot “P” device — the PND, or “personal navigation device” — may soon follow, says an MIT Sloan School of Management expert on business strategy, technology, and innovation.

PND products, such as Tom Tom and Garmin, may remain popular for a few years, “but life is getting tough very quickly” for PND makers, according to MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer Michael A. M. Davies. PND’s face a growing challenge not only from cell phones, which are increasingly equipped with high-end navigation programs, but from a less obvious competitor: automobile makers.

Davies wonders whether PND makers “will be able to spot a market turning point before it arrives. Right now, things look great for them, but that trend will reverse dramatically,” he explains. “The three-way battle between them, cell phone makers and car vendors is already underway…

]]> http://friggingiphone.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/adventures-in-the-land-of-navigon/ Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:06:33 +0000 friggingmess http://friggingiphone.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/adventures-in-the-land-of-navigon/

I drive about 30,000 miles a year.  That mileage is consumed in chunks of between 5 to 50 miles each, so I have a whole lot of destinations to hit in a week.  Most of the time it’s locations I am familiar with and have no need of assistance getting there.  For this reason I have not seen the need for a dedicated GPS navigation gadget.  Once in a while though I have to leave my home turf and head to parts unknown over 100 miles away or have a destination I am unfamiliar with.

I didn’t want to became one of the millions of drones with a GPS stuck in my windshield to show me what I already know is out there.  Nor did I want to become one for the growing number of victims that forgets to remove their navigation aid from public display only to find their driver side window broken and the device stolen because some idiot wanted to steal it.  The dark side of the force tells me I have a recent map book in my car and have no need for any gizmo.  Still the gadget freak in me causes a strong pull on my bank account.

Along came turn by turn apps for the iPhone and the price for membership in the personal navigation device owners club dropped enough that I can convince the dark side its a reasonable expenditure.  A lot of the price for these apps is the cost to license the map data by the app developer.  So there is a bottom floor in pricing that is required if you are going to use quality maps.  The lowest price apps use open source map data, provide partial US maps or the quality of the app is poor.  I gotta be able to use the iPod function while driving and some don’t permit this.  I guess Tom Tom’s app started the ball rolling for me, but only because of all the press.  I feel $100 is too much to pay for an app that I will rarely use and is pretty close to the price of a dedicated GPS device.  AT&Ts app requires internet access for its maps and the cumulative price is too darn high.  I looked at G-Map, but its pricing structure is setup to license only parts of the US and the quality is not quite there yet.

Navigon looks to be the only real competition for  Tom Tom on the iPhone and the price was right at $69.99 till the end of August.  Like the other apps that contain all of north America, the size footprint is huge (1.29GB), but that is the price of entry if you want the data on the phone, not over the internet.  The dark side still was not happy with it, but I purchased Navigon due to the overwhelming pull of gadgetdom.

Startup time is about 5 seconds.  The user interface is simple and easy to use.  You can pick one of the following options from the main menu: enter an address, search for POI, take me home and show map.  In addition there is a menu bar at the bottom of the screen that lets you select destinations via your iPhones contacts list, the apps recent destinations and favorite destinations you have added.

“Enter an address” drills down to your destination.  It assumes the state you are currently in, though you can choose another via a button on the screen.  This option functions much the same as any other GPS device, enter city, street then street number. At any point after you pick a city you can display a map of that location and start navigation.  It works easily and quickly.

“Search for POI” lets you search for POI’s in a city, statewide or nearby.  It’s good for general reference, but is incomplete and not up to date.

“Take me home” starts navigation from your current location to a single location you previously selected as your home base.  Works as described.

“Show map” displays a moving map of your current location with all the same speed, POI and street name information as the normal navigation display, just no destination info.

Voice navigation does not speak street names, but does a good job guiding you around.  The voice is a pleasant female one and cannot be altered.  It is pretty accurate and does not annoy you with unnecessary chatter.  You can force it to repeat the last spoken message by touching the turn guidance area of the navigation display.

The navigation display defaults to 3D, but can be changed to 2D by touching the screen to toggle it on or off. You can make it default to 2D on the options screen.  There is also an option to turn on night view on the option screen amongst many other settings.  It changes the color scheme to darker hues for better nighttime use.  Icons for nearby POI’s are presented along with streets and their names as they enter the displayed map area.  The names are difficult to make out from the drivers position with the phone near the dashboard.  I had no problem reading them if I leaned a little closer.

The map display can be rotated as you turn the iPhone, but the app needs to start up in the vertical position then turned otherwise it might not rotate properly.  It displayed the map upside down once and on a couple of other occasions refused to rotate from vertical to horizontal when the app was started with the iPhone in the horizontal position.

The map display indicates your current speed as well as the posted speed limit.  While usually very accurate I noted a number of times where the posted speed limit did not update to the correct speed in areas that have had the same limits for a number of years.  These instances usually occurred where the speed stepped down twice within a mile of each other.  It usually updated properly at the second drop in speed. If you selected to receive speed warnings the app will warn you when you’ve exceeded the posted limit by an increment you specify under on the options screen (5,10,15 or 20 mph) by saying “Caution” as well as displaying a yellow warning triangle over the posted limit indication.

The routing profile can be set from the options screen to adjust for a number of parameters such as walking, driving, use of highways, toll roads,  ferries etc.  My experience was that the default settings usually picked the best route.  The times that it didn’t where minor variations that would not have significantly impacted trip time.  Navigation automatically adjusts and corrects your route if you miss a turn within a 10-20 seconds of  the missed turn and issues voice assistance to get you back on track when you reach the next point that you can reroute.  It worked every time.

If GPS signal is lost the top status bar turns red to indicate it.  I had a few occasions where the display lagged behind my current position and audio cues did not occur at the right time. This was always with heavy tree cover intermittently blocking the GPS signal.  The GPS signal had not been lost long enough to turn the status bar red.

If you want to play music while using Navigon you need to start it before starting Navigon.  Once music is playing it will continue to play.  If you want to pause music or skip to another track while navigating you can do it with a double press of the home button on the iPhone to bring up the iPod control panel.  Navigon will fade the music when it needs to speak to you  then restore the music when it finishes talking.

If you are navigating and receive a call the app will automatically restart when you finish your call. It will not return you to where you left off.  You will need to wait the 5 seconds it requires to restart, then select you last destination from the “Recents”  list at the bottom of the apps main menu screen.  If the iPod was playing you will need to restart it and then restart Navigon.

You are going to need  a couple of accessories to effectively use the iPhone with any navigation app.  The first is a mount of some kind and the other is a power adapter to plug into your car.  These apps suck down the battery in the iPhone very quickly since the screen never goes to sleep with the app running and the continuous processing along with location services turned on really puts a dent in power usage.

It’s a stable app and has not crashed nor locked up. What would I like to see improved?  I’d like it to resume playing the iPod after a call and some basic control that lets you start/stop the iPod without leaving the Navigon app.  Spoken street names would be a plus.  They need to fix the startup rotation issue.  The POI database needs an update along with the option to add your own, aside from using favorites.  I would like some additional functionality added via long touches on the navigation screen to bring up POI info as well as routing by  a long touch on the “Show map” screen.

I have no regrets and consider the $69.99 well spent.  My gadget need has been satisfied and even the dark side can see the benefit of the app.

In  our sixth week at PANDA we covered Counselling Skills and brainstormed what makes for good counselling skills. Here are a few points we came up with: active listening; reflecting content and feelings; paraphrasing; summarising; clarifying (do you mean…?); reframing (husband’s or baby’s point of view); empathy (putting yourself in their shoes); curiosity; sympathy; questioning (closed: getting facts, yes or no questions or open: getting more info); minimal responses (mmm, yes, I see)…

After this brainstorm we did some more role plays. While I know this will get easier, the skills mentioned above sometimes don’t come easily – to paraphrase, reflect, etc, can sometimes sound false but to know that you’re making the caller feel at ease and demonstrating that you are really listening to them is the outcome that you want to achieve. After all, they’ve taken the huge step of calling in the first place.

Another thing which I am finding difficult is how much information can we ask of the caller. Again, while this will come naturally (and the facilitators do it REALLY well!) my feeling at the moment – even though we’re only role playing – is that I don’t want to push too hard or delve too deep. What is going to be very beneficial is the second part of the training where we sit one on one with the most experienced telephone support workers and listen to their side of the conversation.

One final note for this week – I’ve signed up to do the Diploma of Professional Counselling through the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. I received my first package yesterday and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it.

Week 5 at PANDA had the potential to be quite confronting for us as part of the focus was on the attachment to your baby and how it impacts on the baby’s brain development. John Bowlby’s attachment theory is that infants are primed to seek protection from one or a few close figures so that they can survive. The Circle of Security Theory (Cooper, Hoffman, Marvin & Powell, 2000) is based around the infant needing his/her parent to “support my exploration; to watch over me; delight in me; help me and enjoy with me”. The infant also needs his/her parent to “welcome my coming to you and protect me, comfort me, delight in me and organise my feelings” (safe haven). This is beautiful, however when a mother is suffering from PND or anxiety this attachment can be tentative and of course the outcome for the development of the child can be less than desirable. All the more reason to provide support for women with PND or maternal anxiety.

On a lighter note, we did our first role play. Agghhh. The first part of the role play was easier: I was the caller, however when it came to being the support worker, I’m happy to admit I froze a bit!! We were told that in a few weeks it’ll become second nature – I hope so. In fact, I know so!

Our homework for this week is to be curious. Ask questions of our family and friends and be genuinely curious about their lives. Should be fun!

By popular demand, I am reposting this story about Mayor Sarah Palin eliminating building permits before her personal home AND the Wasilla Sports Complex were constructed in Wasilla, Alaska.  The post originally appeared on the Sarah Palin Truth Squad back in October 14, 2008.

The original title was The Book of Sarah (Palin): Contractors Awarded Wasilla Sports Complex Contract Built New Palin Family Home.”

Although this is old news, it’s good to remember the personal ethics of Sarah Palin as she moves forward into her latest career.

__________________________________________________________

Sarah Palin winking to the cameras.

Wayne Barrett, investigative journalist and senior editor for the Village Voice, published a brilliantly illuminating exposé on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and the building of her new Wasilla family home by the same contractors awarded the contract to build the new, multi-million dollar Wasilla sports complex. Also, throughout Sarah Palin’s political career, she has worked closely with lobbyists, promoting the interests of big business and oil corporations. Barrett was interviewed by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Countdown as to the possible conflicts of interest these connections might have posed for Gov. Palin.

Along with the winks and folksy “doggone” moments early in her debate with Joe Biden last week, Sarah Palin repeated her familiar claim to the title of “maverick,” declaring that “as a governor and as a mayor,” she’s had a “track record of reform” and has now “joined a team of mavericks.”

Despite the free fall that her polling numbers went into after her disastrous interviews with Katie Couric, that branding as a “reformer” has been resilient. Introduced skillfully before tens of millions during an intense surge of interest six weeks ago, it’s been hammered home with repeated soundbites.

But the label doesn’t hold up under close scrutiny. From the controversy that catapulted her to the governorship, to her ties to the indicted patriarch of Alaska’s GOP, to the multilayered nexus of lobbyists and Big Oil interests around her, and, finally, to the Wasilla sports complex that capped her mayoral career, the myth of Sarah Palin, reformer, withers under inspection.

Wasilla, Alaska Sports Complex

PALIN’S CLAIM to fame as an Alaska reformer-that she risked her career to expose the chairman of the state GOP-is revisionist. In fact, Palin supported the methane-drilling project that helped sink GOP boss Randy Ruedrich before she later decided she was against it-a mirror of her flip-flop on the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. And her reversal had more to do with seizing a political opportunity than following her conscience.

In 2003, Ruedrich, an oil executive known for his ability to raise industry contributions for the party, was appointed to the powerful Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) by Governor Frank Murkowski at the same time as Palin, who had finished her second term as Wasilla mayor the year before. Murkowski had given Palin the plum position to compensate for overlooking her when he appointed his own daughter Lisa to the U.S. Senate seat he vacated when he was elected governor in 2002.

Palin’s near-win in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor earlier that year-losing to the first Alaskan of native ancestry ever elected to state office-had made her a statewide star. She had filmed commercials and stumped for Frank Murkowski that fall, so he owed her. But she rejected other top posts that he offered until she got the one she wanted-a position that allowed her to live at home and commute to Anchorage, rather than relocate to Juneau. She certainly also saw the commission appointment as a stepping-stone, and as late as October 2003, she told reporters that she was considering a race against Lisa Murkowski in the upcoming 2004 special senate election.

When Murkowski made Palin the $122,400 chairwoman of the OGCC, one of her jobs was to oversee commission ethics, meaning she was charged with reporting any possible ethics violations by staff or commission members to the governor’s office. By her own account, she first did that in September 2003, reaching out to a top Murkowski staffer about Ruedrich. But what she complained about then, according to a source familiar with these conversations, was Ruedrich’s party business on state time. She said nothing about his blatant championing of a methane-drilling project by a company called Evergreen Resources-even though she’d witnessed it herself at a standing-room-only community meeting in August. Palin and Ruedrich went to the meeting because the commission had oversight powers over the drilling, and homeowners in the Wasilla area where she was once mayor were up in arms over the effects they feared it would have on their property and drinking water.

Chris Whittington-Evans, chair of the citizens’ group that helped organize the meeting, says that Ruedrich presented a slideshow very similar to one the company itself had presented at any earlier session. Palin remained quiet through most of the meeting, though Evans recalls that she was questioned about a possible conflict of interest she might have. Palin was then chairing the campaign committee of a pro-Evergreen candidate for Borough Mayor of Mat-Su, the county that includes Wasilla. The candidate, Charlie Fannon, her former police chief, had taken $2,500 in donations from three Evergreen executives and a consultant, though community outrage eventually forced him to return some of the money. Ruedrich had given Fannon $500.

The same three executives had also just given $1,747 to Palin’s 2002 campaign for lieutenant governor. In fact, with the low campaign-finance limits in Alaska, Evergreen was the second-largest giver to both Palin and Fannon. While still mayor, Palin had backed an Evergreen-designed bill that allowed the state to override local objections to the drilling and permitted an ordinance-introduced by her closest ally on the city council authorizing methane extraction-to become law. But the focus of the question at the community meeting was Fannon. Palin had asked Fannon to run and had filmed an ad for him. He was the only candidate she’d ever contributed to-and her father contributed as well. Evans says he found it odd when she insisted that there was no conflict between backing “a big promoter of methane-drilling” and sitting in judgment on the project.

That’s what Tim Anderson, the Borough Mayor who beat Fannon and opposed the drilling, says now as well: “You could say that it was a conflict of interest” for Palin to be on the commission and supporting Fannon. Anderson was also at the August meeting and says that Palin sat up front with Ruedrich and Evergreen. “They were trying to convince the people that drilling underneath their homes wasn’t a big problem.” Fannon’s narrow loss to Anderson, wrote the local newspaper The Frontiersman, confirmed the political potency of the methane issue. In early November, Evans sent Palin an e-mail detailing the case against Ruedrich and demanding that he be fired from the commission. Palin finally acted, forwarding the Evans e-mail to the state’s attorney general. Two days later, Ruedrich resigned.

A few days after Ruedrich’s resignation, Palin searched his commission e-mail and found damaging evidence of his ties to Evergreen and his party abuse of the commission. For reasons she has never explained, she took a month to send those e-mails to the attorney general. In that intervening time, she talked twice to the attorney general’s office, and her own subsequent notes indicated that she expressed “concerns” about whether a continuing investigation was needed, since Ruedrich had already stepped down.

By the time she finally forwarded the e-mails, which were very damaging to Evergreen as well, the company had dumped its top Wasilla-based executive and had begun to withdraw from its Alaska adventure. A couple of weeks later, she surprised everyone and resigned herself, attributing it later to the dilatory response she was getting from state officials. In fact, when she quit, she had given the officials less time to act after getting the e-mails than she’d taken to send them.

Michelle Church, who was the director of the same citizens’ group that Evans chaired, believes that Palin was “definitely supportive of the drilling” and “opportunistic” when she switched and went after Evergreen and Ruedrich. “It really strengthened her support in the community,” recalls Church, who was elected to the Mat-Su assembly as a result of the methane controversy. “She turned on them because it was to her political advantage to do so.” The target was the governorship.

When she resigned from the commission in January 2004, Palin was simply trying to decide which Murkowski she would challenge-Lisa for U.S. Senate, or Frank for the governorship. Lisa Murkowski had a couple million in the bank, while the governor’s campaign kitty was strangely barren. Frank Murkowski’s nepotism, proposed sales tax, and elimination of a longevity bonus for seniors-all of which happened before Palin took Ruedrich on-had depressed his approval ratings so badly that many thought he wouldn’t seek re-election.

Palin wrote an op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News in April 2004, reliving her days as basketball point guard “Sarah Barracuda” and lauding the good competition of public life. But a week later, she announced that she would not run against Lisa Murkowski, attributing it to her son Track, who she said opposed it. Then she set her sights on the governorship. When Murkowski, the oldest governor in America at 73, finally did decide in May 2006 to run again, Palin had already been an announced candidate for seven months, perfectly positioned as his reform nemesis. He spent a third of what he did in 2002 and lost badly.

SARAH PALIN’S MAVERICK image flies in the face of her longtime ties to the Republican patriarch of Alaska politics, Senator Ted Stevens, who is on trial in Washington for taking $250,000 in gifts from VECO, an oil-services company that was once Palin’s biggest donor. Palin remained nominally neutral in the recent GOP primary, shunning two Republicans who tried to give the already-indicted Stevens a serious challenge.

Her chief of staff, Mike Tibbles, left his state post to become Stevens’s campaign manager, and she did a press conference with Stevens shortly before the vote. (Tibbles’s wife is still a top appointee in Palin’s administration.) A Stevens campaign consultant, Art Hackney, says: “She has campaigned with him, and they are enjoying a good relationship.” Asked on a visit to New York recently if she was supporting Stevens’s re-election, Palin replied that his trial had just started. “We’ll see where that goes,” said Palin, who forced the resignation of Ruedrich and another top Murkowski aide on ethics charges that never came close to reaching the level of an indictable offense.

Vic Vickers, a wealthy banker who ran against Stevens in the GOP primary and spent $700,000 of his own money, tells the Voice that Palin and Stevens “are very close” and that the two organizations “merged to defeat my candidacy.” While Palin has called for the resignation of Stevens’s son Ben as national committeeman, Vickers said that “vicious attacks” against him were “coming out of her office” during the primary. “They just torched me in the end,” the anti-Bush and anti-war Republican said.

Dave Cuddy, a more conventional Republican and former legislator who also challenged Stevens in the primary, said he reached out to Palin: “We did call, and we played telephone tag. I think she was uncomfortable. She didn’t support me because she thought that I was not going to win.”Palin’s ties to Stevens go back nearly a decade, when she retained Stevens’s former chief of staff, Steve Silver, as the Washington lobbyist for Wasilla. He opened doors for her on lobbying trips to Washington for earmarks.

Silver’s firm was so tied to Stevens that it also included the senator’s former counsel and, according to registration forms, his son. It also lobbied for Ketchikan Gateway Borough, the beneficiary of Stevens’s pork-barrel favorite, the since-killed Bridge to Nowhere, as well as for the Alaska Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, sponsor of the second Nowhere Bridge that’s still alive and runs near Palin’s house. Ironically, the firm was also so tight with Frank Murkowski that it was Murkowski’s since-convicted top aide, Jim Clark, who once headed its lobbying unit and brought Silver aboard.

But one Stevens law firm wasn’t enough for Palin. She hired the firm that included Stevens’s brother-in-law, Bill Bittner, as counsel to the city, ultimately steering hundreds of thousands in payments to it, much of it associated with a costly lawsuit sparked by a Palin development decision. Bittner, who has engineered real-estate investments for Stevens, also rented an apartment to the state for Murkowski’s use whenever he visited Anchorage. A year after Palin stepped down as mayor, she was one of three incorporators of a nonprofit called the Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service Committee that he helped establish to support Republican women.

It’s unclear why Bill Allen, the VECO president who has pled guilty to bribery charges and is expected to testify against Stevens, became such a large Palin donor in 2002. His contributions and bribes were usually connected to his business interests, and he had none in Wasilla. News accounts in Alaska indicate that in 2001, Palin drove from Wasilla to Allen’s home in faraway Cook Inlet. Allen, other VECO executives, and their wives then gave Palin’s campaign committee $5,000, contributing $500 apiece over a two-day period in late December.No one else in Palin’s underfinanced bid for lieutenant governor came close to VECO.

Virtually the same group of executives repeated the pattern in 2003-giving $1,600 to Charlie Fannon’s campaign committee, chaired by Palin. No one seemed to mind that the Alaska Public Offices Commission had collected the largest fine in its history ($28,000) from VECO who were paying employees to make illegal campaign contributions. In the current VECO scandals, which have already led to the convictions of several state legislators, it’s clear that VECO continued the practice of reimbursing the campaign donations of its executives. Palin’s lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, who recently did a Fox News Sunday appearance on her behalf, collected $16,000 in VECO contributions as a state legislator.

JOHN McCAIN AND Palin share at least one common bond beyond their self-proclaimed independence: They’re both very comfortable with lobbyists. Sean Parnell-who is running Alaska’s government while Palin travels and is so trusted that he was one of only three Alaskans named to the national campaign’s truth squad for Palin-was a lobbyist in the Anchorage office of the legendary Washington firm, Patton Boggs, before he was elected with Palin.

Ironically, one of the charges in the eventual ethics complaint against Ruedrich was that he’d sent numerous e-mails to Evergreen’s lobbyist, Kyle Parker, a Patton Boggs partner. Ruedrich admitted that he had even leaked a confidential commission memo on the methane controversy to Parker. Ruedrich was reporting at the time to Kevin Jardell, an assistant commissioner of administration who oversaw the commission. Jardell had lived for months in Ruedrich’s home while he worked with Parker representing the state GOP in a reapportionment case, hired by Patton Boggs, which was the party’s outside counsel.

This intertwining of interests was exposed when all the details of the Ruedrich scandal hit the headlines in 2004. Parnell was then Murkowski’s deputy director of Oil & Gas. Undeterred by Patton’s reputation, Parnell left his state job in 2005 to join the firm, where he soon had his own oil clients. Before joining the Murkowski administration, he had been the in-house lobbyist for ConocoPhillips.

Parnell’s bio makes him an odd choice to lead a truth squad-having moved from the state senate to an oil company, then back to a state oil job, and finally, becoming an outside lobbyist for oil interests while running for lieutenant governor. Even closer to Palin than Parnell is the Alaskan lobbyist whose firm topped the charts in earnings: Wendy Chamberlain.

Palin lists Chamberlain on her personal-disclosure forms because Chamberlain took Palin’s daughter Willow and her own daughter on a 2007 summer trip to a basketball camp in Mexico. Palin insisted on the form that she had reimbursed Chamberlain-the legislature had passed a bill that barred executives from taking gifts from lobbyists. A Washington Post story last week revealed that Chamberlain’s clients have deluged Palin with gifts, including three, worth $2,650, from the chief executive of a mining company (Parnell used to represent the same firm, Calista).

Todd Palin took two trips from other Chamberlain clients, though the lobbyist claims she had no idea her clients were so generous with her friend.In fact, Chamberlain tried to minimize her relationship with Palin in a Voice interview (“I know her about the same as any other lobbyist”), though news clips describe Palin and Chamberlain together working the sidewalks for Frank Murkowski in the 2002 campaign. Chamberlain was then married to Eldon Mulder, a state legislator who now runs his own lobbying firm. “We first met Governor Palin many years ago,” Mulder says, “when our daughters were in basketball camp together. About six to eight years ago.”

Chamberlain acknowledged that back then, one of her firm’s clients was VECO. Mulder collected $9,000 in VECO contributions from 1999 to 2001, and, according to press reports, he used his position as chair of the House Finance committee to push for a tax-break bill introduced at VECO’s request by another legislator eventually convicted of taking payoffs from VECO.

Mulder was accused by a third House member-also a Republican-of threatening to cut off state funds if he got in the way of the VECO bill. Chamberlain became a lobbyist two years after her husband was first elected to the House in 1992 and ran into problems three times with the ethics committee-mostly for using state offices and funds for her lobbying business. Once, she was sanctioned for “poor judgment” when her husband weakened a cruise-ship-pollution bill in the interests of a Chamberlain client. Mulder and Chamberlain’s lobbying partner, former House Speaker Joe Hayes, contributed $1,500 to Palin in 2006.

One Chamberlain client, the Pebble Partnership, has fared so well with Palin that the governor spoke out against a state initiative that would have erected environmental obstacles to its proposed mining project. A state watchdog group whose members she appoints is now looking at whether Palin’s highly unusual public opposition to a ballot issue-with her saying, “Let me take my governor’s hat off” for a moment of “personal privilege”-violated state laws. Chamberlain pushed so hard against the initiative that other clients, like the Alaska Association of Realtors, decided to oppose it at an executive meeting she attended. Chamberlain’s husband also lobbied for Pebble, and three other lobbyists recently tied to the partnership, one of whom is dating Palin’s legislative director, donated $4,150 to her.

In her 2006 race, Palin received $24,000 in contributions from lobbyists, most of them tied to the oil industry.

EVEN PALIN’S most plausible claim-that she’s taken on Big Oil-is at best a half-truth. She did hike their taxes and push through a natural-gas pipeline deal that, at least for now, has cut them out. But delegates weren’t chanting “Drill, baby, drill” during her convention speech without reason. Shortly after she became governor, she was elected chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), a pro-industry coalition of 30 producer states. She soon tapped Michael Smith, who was assistant secretary of fossil energy at Bush’s Energy Department, as its new executive director. Smith left the Abraham Group, the lobbying and consulting firm of former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, to join IOGCC. Harper’s Magazine said of Smith: “While in government, he pushed to promote oil drilling wherever a drop might be found”-and that was before Bush and McCain began pushing offshore drilling.

Smith isn’t the only Palin connection to the most pro-oil administration in American history. One of her 2002 campaign treasurers, Hans Neidig, was named special assistant for Alaska in the Bush interior department. Neidig was selected by Drue Pearce, a former Alaska state senator now in charge of overseeing the federal role in the giant pipeline project. Pearce, a gushing Palin champion in recent news stories, joined in Palin’s 2006 victory party.

Palin also selected Larry Hartig as state environmental-conservation commissioner, though Hartig’s law firm, Hartig Rhodes, lists a dozen Alaska oil and drilling companies as clients, as well as a few mining companies. One well-known Hartig client, Halliburton Energy Services, has surprisingly extensive investments in the state-and even services the company that acquired Evergreen’s Alaska interests. Another, Anadarko Petroleum, is owned by the 30th-largest corporate polluter in the country. Even Randy Ruedrich’s onetime employer is a Hartig client, and the man Murkowski selected to replace Palin when she quit the Oil & Gas Commission in ostensible protest was a Hartig partner.

As commissioner, Hartig rushed to the aid last year of Shell when it ran into trouble getting offshore drilling permits from Bush’s EPA. The onetime Evergreen lobbyist Kyle Parker actually e-mailed Hartig a draft letter for him to forward to an EPA appeals board, and Hartig obliged-altering the language but requesting an “expedited review” so “drilling can proceed this season.” Palin has put Hartig in charge of the climate-change subcabinet she bragged about during the debate as well, suggesting that Carl Pope of the Sierra Club might not be far off when he declared: “No one is closer to the oil industry than Governor Palin.”

Marathon Oil, a Wendy Chamberlain client and sponsor of Palin’s inaugural, has already benefited from one unnoticed Palin decision-her support of an extension of a license that allows it and ConocoPhillips to continue exporting natural gas to Japan and other Asian countries. Palin championed this license though several gas users in Alaska objected that it would worsen the problem of declining gas reserves, and one, a major fertilizer-maker, shut its plant when the extension was granted, forcing 130 workers out of jobs. As frequently as Palin’s lack of foreign-policy experience has been noted in the media, she has never cited her meeting with Japan’s consul over gas issues, perhaps because it might appear inconsistent with her claim that Alaska is a bulwark of production for the U.S. itself.

Even Palin’s ballyhooed pipeline is more a pipedream than it is the blow to Big Oil that Palin pretends it is. (Murkowski was about to award the deal to the oil giants when she beat him.) Two days after Palin’s deal with TransCanada was approved, the company’s chief executive, Hal Kvisle, repeated what he’d been saying all along: “Nothing goes ahead until Exxon is happy with it.” While he was forced to pull back a bit from that moment of candor, his statement that “the five key players”-including TransCanada, the state, and three main producers-have to still “get together” and “craft something” is indisputably true.

All Palin has done is outsource the negotiations with the producers to TransCanada, who can conduct them very privately. She also offered the company a half-billion-dollar state bonus if it can get a deal going, though Palin’s natural-resources commissioner, Tom Irwin, quit the Murkowski administration in part because it gave the producers financial incentives that he said were unnecessary. The only way Palin’s pipeline becomes real (she claimed, absurdly, during the debate that the state was already “building” it) is if the producers, who have announced their own project now, are brought back into it-something, like Troopergate and her possible Pebble Mine violation, that won’t be resolved until post-election.

THE $12.5 MILLION sports complex and hockey rink that is the lasting monument to Palin’s two terms as Wasilla mayor is also a monument to the kind of insider politics that dismays Americans of both parties. Six months before Palin stepped down as mayor in October 2002, the city awarded nearly a half-million-dollar contract to design the biggest project in Wasilla history to Kumin Associates.

Blase Burkhart was the Kumin architect on the job-the son of Roy Burkhart, who is frequently described as a “mentor” of Palin and was head of the local Republican Party (his wife, June, who also advised Palin, is the national committeewoman). Asked if the contract was a favor, Roy Burkhart, who contributed to her campaign in the same time frame that his son got the contract, said: “I really don’t know.”

Palin then named Blase Burkhart to a seven-member builder-selection committee that picked Howdie Inc., a mostly residential contractor owned at the time by Howard Nugent. Formally awarded the contract a couple of weeks after Palin left office, Nugent has donated $4,000 to Palin campaigns. Two competitors protested the process that led to Nugent’s contract. Burkhart and Nugent had done at least one project together before the complex-and have done several since.

A list of subcontractors on the job, obtained by the Voice, includes many with Palin ties. One was Spenard Builders Supply, the state’s leading supplier of wood, floor, roof, and other “pre-engineered components.” In addition to being a sponsor of Todd Palin’s snow-machine team that has earned tens of thousands for the Palin family, Spenard hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004.

When the Palins began building a new family home off Lake Lucille in 2002-at the same time that Palin was running for lieutenant governor and in her final months as mayor-Spenard supplied the materials, according to Antoine Bricks, who works in its Wasilla office. Spenard actually filed a notice “of its right to assert a lien” on the deed for the Palin property after contracting for labor and materials for the site. Spenard’s name has popped up in the trial of Senator Stevens-it worked on the house that is at the center of the VECO scandal as well.

Todd Palin told Fox News that he built the two-story, 3,450-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house himself, with the help of contractors he described as “buddies.” As mayor, Sarah Palin blocked an effort to require the filing of building permits in the wide-open city, and there is no public record of who the “buddies” were. The house was built very near the complex, on a site whose city purchase led to years of unsuccessful litigation and, now, $1.3 million in additional costs, with a law firm that’s also donated to Palin collecting costly fees from the city.

Dorwin and Joanne Smith, the principals of complex subcontractor DJ Excavation & Development, have donated $7,100 to Palin and her allied candidate Charlie Fannon (Joanne is a Palin appointee on the state Board of Nursing). Sheldon Ewing, who owns another complex subcontractor, Weld Air, has donated $1,300, and PN&D, an engineering firm on the complex, has contributed $699.

Ewing was one of the few sports-complex contractors, aside from Spenard, willing to address the question of whether he worked on the house as well, but he had little to say: “I doubt that it occurred, but if it did indirectly, how would I know anyhow?” The odd timing of Palin’s house construction-it was completed two months before she left City Hall and while she and Todd Palin were campaigning statewide for the first time-raises questions, especially considering its synergy with the complex.

Salon’s David Talbot recently visited the complex, which, he said, resembled “a huge airplane hangar” so far away from the city’s center that kids can’t bike or walk there. It’s adorned by a plaque commemorating Palin. Even as a governor, she is still such a champion of the complex-which loses money every year-that she just steered state funding for a new kitchen to it.

The Book of Sarah (Palin)

GOP presidential & vice presidential candidates: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin & Arizona Senator John McCain