Disqus - Latest Comments for stearmer

Re: Maternal Mortality Rates In The United States

stearmer — Thu, 12 May 2011 08:27:15 -0000

Thank you for pointing this out. We have corrected the post. The numbers are
reported as the annual number of maternal death per 100,000 live births.

Re: Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone

stearmer — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:09:54 -0000

Thank you for your comment. I will need to change the wording. The mmr is
essentially an odds ratio. With a life time risk of 1 in 7 women dying I
incorrectly attributed that rate to one in seven births when it is 1 in
seven women. Thank you for identifying the error.

Re: Groundbreaking Maternal Mortality Case In India – some good news to report

stearmer — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:14:37 -0000

That you for the comment. When it comes maternal mortality very few
countries have done enough to be proud of. While India has a long way to go
the legal framework to protect mothers must be established and I for one am
proud of India for taking this courageous step. In the United States for
instance we are seeing some back sliding - maternal mortality is actually
getting worse in some areas. Most mothers in the US happen to get the care
that they need but legally there is nothing to guarantee this protection.

India has set a good example in the world community by committing the State
to the protection of mothers. It may take a while, but I think that you can
be proud of your country for setting this example. It is especially
important that this change has come from a non European or "western"
country. Your example is more powerful to other countries in the developing
world.

Re: Weekend goals

stearmer — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:59:20 -0000

Hi Ashley,

Thanks for the encouragement. This is one of the reasons I keep going. It is
good for me to have to talk about it. It is good to know that other are
looking to me for encouragement, and I hope that my story and tips here will
help as well. It sounds like you are already doing a great job staying in
shape - keep it up and thanks again for the encouragement.

Matt S

Re: Weekend goals

stearmer — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:57:14 -0000

Thanks for the great comment - definitely give the scampi a try it is very worth it.

Matt Stearmer

Re: Overcome: Lack of familial support

stearmer — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:50:31 -0000

I readily admit that it has been a good thing. And like I said in my
qualifier - I did not mean non supportive in a negative way. It is just that
there are a few different lifestyles that we have to accommodate in our
household and that can present some challenges to staying on track.

But I have a wonderfully supportive family of my efforts!

Matt Stearmer

Re: Controversial topic #2: Supreme Court Justice Picks

stearmer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:00:39 -0000

Yes, mostly, but I have other topic that I post on now and again as well. But mostly it is a weight loss blog.

Mostly I'm just interested in discussion. If you have thoughts on any of these topics I'd be interested to hear them.

Thanks for the comment.

Be Healthy - Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

Re: Easily one of my top 10 soups - Mushroom and Pumpkin Curry Soup

stearmer — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:20:14 -0000

This is one that you just have to try to believe. It doesn't look like like
mashed pumpkin so there is not an "ick" factor at work here. I think that it
is mostly the name the is the issue. Taste wise it is just delicious:) It is
worth the risk - so give it a try!

Matthew Stearmer

Re: Tortellini and Spinach Chowder - My resistance factor is a big fat 0!

stearmer — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:17:18 -0000

The memories are so good. This will definitely have to be on the menu again,
and again, and again....

Matthew Stearmer

Re: weight loss in the winter - do a little service

stearmer — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:40:23 -0000

Hi There!

This might be helpful
Ken Hellevang from the University of North Dakota says, "The weight of snow
varies greatly. Light fluffy snow may only weigh about seven pounds per
cubic foot. More average snow may weigh 15 pounds per cubic foot and drifted
compacted snow may weigh 20 pounds or more..."
Source: http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.ed...

Be Healthy - Enjoy Life!

Matt Stearmer

Re: Fennel Celery Salad - simple, elegent and surprisingly worth it.

stearmer — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:38:17 -0000

It is also called Anise sometimes.
This is what it looks like
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

I've tried it with the pomegranates and honestly do not like it as much. It
looks better, but unless you really like pomegranates I would not add that
in. Olives were fine for me.

Thanks again for the comments. I hope you like it!

Matt Stearmer

Re: Make your own food - lose weight - guarenteed.

stearmer — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:34:38 -0000

That will be my new business right - cooking special meals for everyone. Of
course that kind of defeats the purpose outlined in the post:)

Thanks for the comments!

Matt S

Re: weight loss in the winter - do a little service

stearmer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:38:54 -0000

Not like you had that far too go, but I'm sure it will make a difference
over time - so give it two days maybe:)

Me I'm still waiting for it to stop snowing so I can get out there and get
my morning snow shoveling constitutional going.

Be Healthy - Enjoy Life!

Matt Stearmer

Re: weight loss in the winter - do a little service

stearmer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:02:16 -0000

Have fun in the snow! I know that it is working on a foot down here.

Be Healthy - Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

Re: Make your own food - lose weight - guarenteed.

stearmer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:09:13 -0000

It is almost grotesque to see the changes in American eating culture. Much
of it has been pushed on us from incorrect sources of information, but we
also have to take personal responsibility for not moving as much as we
should.

But the good news is we can make a change now and get back on track.

Thanks for the post.

Be Healthy - Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

Re: weight loss in the winter - do a little service

stearmer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:53:31 -0000

Sweeping will not give you the lifting resistance of snow which is one of
things that makes it such a great exercise, but it will certainly be
helpful, and you get blessing for service - so good all around:)

Matthew Stearmer

Re: weight loss in the winter - do a little service

stearmer — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:57:23 -0000

You must not do it very often:) Just kidding.

Seriously it is the best thing out there. I try to go as fast as I can
so I can really get the heart rate up. It works great!

Matt Stearmer

Re: Make your own food - lose weight - guarenteed.

stearmer — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:28:21 -0000

In a lot of ways it comes to choice I suppose. I do love to cook, but
@ like losing weight even more. I feel so good right now that I would
imagine cooking much more often - even if it was not one of my
favorite things to do.

Thanks for the post and support.

Be health - Enjoy life!

Matthew Stearmer

Re: test image

stearmer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:07:35 -0000

Personally I think that it is great. We had just enough to enjoy - but not
so much that we feel obligated to eat it before it all goes bad - or just
get sick of the same food over and over again.

And I totally agree with the need to experiment with soup.

Just my opinion:)

Matthew Stearmer

Re: test image

stearmer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:47:42 -0000

Most of it was just really fun too. We walked around the zoo, temple square
and then I ran on the elliptical while watching shows.

So nothing out of the ordinary. Just enjoying life.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Be Healthy - Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

Re: ALL THINGS IN COMMON

stearmer — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:42:22 -0000

I love it. Thanks for the long post and discussion. Now, if we can get a few
more to engage we will have something going here. So, thank you!

I understand the concern very well, but I do not think that it is a
hijacking of the term equal - so much as the means to reach it. I think that
both capitalism and communism will both be done away with. Here is why.

The concept of ownership also leads us down a bad path a well. It makes us
think that this is mine, mine, mine. Anything that we are blessed with in
this life do not truly belong to us. The government might establish rules
that codify ownership, but it is not truly ours.

If we recognize this from the outset, then property/ownership begins to
matter very little. What we have in this life is a gift from God. It is not
ours. We are granted a stewardship, that is true, but we do not own it.

Communism has its own problems as you have already pointed out. So both
paths are not going to get us to Zion.

Any system of government that tries to enforce one or the other is not going
to get us there either. Currently the political system offers us a false
dichotomy - both of which do not get us to Zion - and the only real
difference that I see is that one group prefers one side of the argument to
the the other because of where they happen to stand at the time, or where
they hope to stand.

This is what I mean by we need a radically different system. I don't want to
try an fix either of them per se (not that I advocate doing nothing), but
even if we got either system working it still would not take us where we
want to be.

Now, we can argue over what is worse - communism or capitalism - but that is
not really my point. The argument again boils down to where you stand.
Capitalism has exploited nations and destroyed lives - you cannot say
murdered, but there are millions dead because resources were taken from one
place for the good of another and leaving poverty and despair in it wake.
Communism has been the banner under which millions have been murdered - not
exactly a stellar resume. My feeling is that Satan is going to use whatever
path he can take to do evil in the world. He has used capitalism, fascism,
communism, religions, etc. to do his work. All of these things are like a
Sword of Laban. In the right hand much good can be accomplished. The sword
was originally owned by Laban who used it to pursue and try tied to kill
Nephi and his brothers. When it was in the hands of Nephi it was used as a
defense of righteousness and a way of life.

So much in life is like that sword.

So my goal is to identify what Zion should look like - and then, instead of
trying to fix the current system - I want to help create a pattern that will
transform us as individuals into a group of people that will become
zion-like. There is no need to wait. We can make changes now to move forward
to Zion. But I do think that it is going to quite a bit different that the
systesm we currently have in place.

Sure, in the mean time let's get the systems in place now as good as we can,
but we should not fool ourselves into thinking that make a better boat will
change its course of direction. Do you agree or disagree with that
assessment?

I think that I am going to need to start a forum here, so we can get more
comments and let others start threds. I like your idea for future topcis and
I will include them for sure. Thanks!

Matt S

Re: My kids are dumbells - in the most literal sense in this case.

stearmer — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:40:43 -0000

I totally agree. obsession over workouts I think generates an unhealthy relationship with it that will make it less likely for our children to want to be healthy on their own in the future. Thanks for the post.

Be Healthy - Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

Re: There could not be a happier people…

stearmer — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:04:01 -0000

I'm actually surprised that you find that to be quite a jump.

http://dictionary.reference...
12 dictionary results for: *common*
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v
1.1)<http: dictionary.reference.com="" help="" luna.html="">- Cite
This Source <http: dictionary.reference.com="" cite.html?qh="common&ia=luna">
- Share
This <http: dictionary.reference.com="" browse="" common#sharethis="">
comâmonâ <http: dictionary.reference.com="" audio.html="" lunawav="" c06="" c0686800="">
/ËkÉmÉn/ Show Spelled Pronunciation
<http: dictionary.reference.com="" help="" luna="" ipa_pron_key.html="">
[kom-uhn] Show IPA Pronunciation
<http: dictionary.reference.com="" help="" luna="" ipa_pron_key.html="">
adjective, -er, -est, noun âadjective
1. belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in
question: common property; common interests. 2. pertaining or belonging
equally to an entire community, nation, or culture; public: a common
language or history; a common water-supply system. 3. joint; united: a
common defense. 4. widespread; general; ordinary: common knowledge. 5. of
frequent occurrence; usual; familiar: a common event; a common
mistake. 6. hackneyed;
trite. 7. of mediocre or inferior quality; mean; low: a rough-textured
suit of the most common fabric. 8. coarse; vulgar: common manners.
9. lacking
rank, station, distinction, etc.; unexceptional; ordinary: a common soldier;
common people; the common man; a common thief.
You can take the any of the first 4 definitions of "common" and I see equal
all over the definition of common, especially in the first two primary
definitions. It does not seem like much of a jump - they sound more like
synonyms.

Looking in 3rd and 4th Nephi we gain a greater understanding of what was
meant. So you do not have to take the dictionaries word for it. Here are the
vs. that stick out to me as Mormon describes what happened as the
all-things-in-common phenomenon disappeared.

3Ne 6:12-14 - The Nephites began to be distinguished by rank, riches,
chances for learning, pride, persecution - "And thus there became a great
inequality in the land"

4Ne 1:24-26 - pride, wearing costly apparel and fine things of the world -
lead to divisions into classes and "their substances no more in common among
them"

Regardless of which scripture you look at you can see that on the
good/peaceful side equality and commonality are synonymous with peace. Class
divisions lead to dissention and eventually destruction.

I have more to talk about here. So I will put that in a new post because I
think that it is a very important topic. I'll post it in just a second.

Thanks for the question and discussion.

Matt S

Re: There could not be a happier people…

stearmer — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:18:03 -0000

I think that I have to agree when talking about the plan of salvation. I
think that could only possibly bring joy when we contemplated the perfect
charity of Christ in providing for us what we could not do on our own, and
providing the means whereby we may progress in this world and in eternity.

But when contemplating the state of the world it is hard to see how they
could be joyful.

Now, all of that is speculation. We have no idea what we knew, or to what
extent we could understand in the first place. Even if the whole plan had
been shown to use it would have been like telling someone what it would feel
like to be wet for the first time. How do you describe that to someone who
has never felt anything on their skin.

So it is just speculation of the past based on what we see before us know.
But regardless, the sorrows we all face in this life can be swallowed up in
the joy of Christ.

Matthew Stearmer

Re: The Rubik’s Cube Theory

stearmer — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:06:06 -0000

We'll call dibs on that idea then and start to market it. We'll make
millions, millions I say!

Thanks for the post.

Matthew Stearmer