Category Archives: Life in life’s terms

The Same Movies, Different Dubs

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Lately I have been watching certain movies in Spanish that were originally released in English; notably a couple of them are two well known animated Disney movies, one being Beauty and the Beast and the other is the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Since Spanish is my second language, I decided to watch them in that particular language. I was first able to find a video of the former movie in Castillian Spanish (from Spain). After watching that one through, I then found and watched the alternative Spanish dub from Mexico. After watching and comparing them,  the Latino American version was much more accurate than the Castillian version….in which they rewrote too much that too much meaning as far as some of the songs went.

With the Hunchback of Notre Dame, it was more of a mixed bag; in some cases one was more accurate than the other one. So that particular case neither was much better than the other. The song “The Bells of Notre Dame” is an example of which the Castillian version got more accurate. But the song “Hellfire” was an example that the Latin American version got more right on the money.

There are several examples of these examples for different movies and television shows.

Genocide in the Americas in the Present Day

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Ever since the so-called “discovery” of America in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, the Indigenous peoples of the western hemosphere have had to find a way to survive the European intrusion into their homelands. Though at first, the peoples that Columbus mistakenly called “Indians” welcomed the newcomers, it was not too long until the European colonists started to abuse the welcome that they received. Starting in the Caribbean with the Tainos, and then with the Tipple Aliance (i.e., the Aztec Empire), then with the Wampanoag Indians, the colonists ended up abusing their welcomes and then committed acts of genocide against them.

These examples, of course, are from some centuries in the past, true, so I guess it would be natural for many to assume that what is in the past will remain in the past. Genocide in the Americas has just not happened in the twentieth and twenty first centuries, has it? We would like to think not, though anyone who would most likely does not know about the so-called “Termination era” which lasted from 1947 to 1967. It was a time in which policy makers attempted to “terminate” Indian nations and completely absorb them into white society. It was originally called “liquidation,” but it conjured up images of “liquidation” of Nazi Germany, so the term was changed to “termination.” Native American historians, however, retain calling it the “Liquidation era.”

Lately in Canada, the present day genocide of the Indian peoples has come to light when Kevin Annett blew the wistle on how the First Church of Canada and also the local Roman Catholic Church have been involved in the murder, torture, and genocide of Canadian Indians as late as the late twentieth century, and even now in the early twenty first century many of the Indigenous peoples of that area have been subjet to such treatment. The YouTube video is the first part of a documentery that documents this:

Why Study Spanish

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The second most spoken language in the United States is Spanish. This partucular language has seen an increase in speakers mostly because of the immigration waves that we have seen in the last couple of decades leading to a sizeable increase in hispanics. It is true that not all Latin Americans speak spanish; there are some that still speak their ancient indigenous languages. But the majority of immigrants certainly do speak it. It is also true that in the American Southwest, there is a rather large concentration of Spanish speakers, and especially in California which has an actual Spanish speaking majority. This is not to say that these people do not mostly speak and understand English, but many of them are bilingual.

A really good reason to learn Spanish as a second language is so that you can widen your horizon of who you can converse with. That said, more people speak Spanish than English. Spanish grammar is also much more absolute than English. In English we have plenty of exceptions to the grammar, however in Spanish these exceptions are at a small minimum. It may be a bit hard to grasp as first, but once you reach an understanding of the basics of the grammar and verbs, you will be able to speak the language really well.

The Study of Science

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One subject that has contributed a lot to the modern conveniences and lifestyle that we all have come to take for granted is the study of science. From astronomy to biology, from geology, technology and medicine we have all come to benefit from the discoveries made by those who had researched these subjects.

From the subject of astronomy, we learn about the contents of the universe and even it’s history from the “big bang” and onward. From Geology, we learn the history of life on earth through the fossil record and the geologic collumn. Also, we learn about the evolution of the continents from the time of their formation onwards through plate tectonics.

In the subject of Biology, we learn about living things both past and present. This subject goes into several subtopics such as taxonomy which places animals into various phyma, classes, etc. This subject, obviously enough, is also linked to medical science and research with which several advancements have been made such as vaccinations and the ability to perform a bypass, etc.

Why Study History

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History is something that is important to study and learn from; this is true for several reasons. one reason is that one should know his own origins if he is to know himself. When Americans learn United States history, they are learning the roots to their identity and culture; the founding fathers of this country are part of that identity. The same is true with Mexico; the Aztecs and the Mexican revolutions are part of the identity of that particular country as well.

A second reason to learn study history is to protect one’s self from misinformation. It so happens that there is a lot of false history that I have run across, and I have also seen several people fall for it. An example of faked history is that Christopher Columbus was the first to say that that world is round; it never happened. There is also the Movie Zeitgeist which is full of demonstrably false historical claims as any research will show. There are other more serious examples which I will detail since there are too many.

A final reason to study history is to learn from the mistakes of the past. Not learning leaves us ignorant and vulnerable to repeating the the past. Some could say that today we have not learned the lessons of the Vietnam War, for example, and that would be why we arguably have made the same mistakes more recently.

Why Study Native American History

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In our schools, students will most certainly study United States history. They will usually hear the names of Christopher Columbus, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, etc. However, while we study American history, there is an important aspect of that very history that is not so well studied; the history of the first Americans, the Indians. There are not many students would would probably know the names of John Ross (Cherokee), Wahunsenacawh (Powhatan), Tecumseh (Shawnee), or Manuelito (Navajo). Students would probably recognize the name of Pontiac, but I do not have much faith that wouldn’t be because it’s a car.

Many that I have spoken to about the subject of American Indians usually give stereotyoical descriptions about groups of peoples who were only nomadic hunter gatherers; this is not universally true. There were Pre-Columbian Indians who built cities, for example, there was the city of Cahokia which was built by the mound builders, and there were the Anasazi who also were city builders. Both of these ancient American Nations inhabited land in the Present United States.

The learning of American history cannot be complete without learning about the people that had first inhabited this continent for several thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans in 1492. Such learning would aid to repair the stereotypes we have about the Indian peoples.

Though there are not many classes on the subject of Native American history, there are several useful resources to start off with. Below is an except of the documentary series called “500 Nations”:

Deposite acciones buenas en su cuenta de Banco de Amor!

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Si quiere usted tener una relacion muy productiva con su pareja , ponga atencion especial  a los pequenos gestos de amabilidad que usted puede proporcionar o dar espontaneamente a su media naranja.  Si hay algo que no le gusta que su pareja hace repetidamente, hagacelo saber con mucho tacto suponiendo que eso valga la pena.  Si es algo que es insignificante dejelo pasar, no se complique la existencia. Tenga paciencia, y piense en algo que usted pueada hacer para proporcional un ambiente propicio para que esa conducta desagradable no se repita. En otras palabras si quiere que haya mas amor en su vida, dele a su pareja mas amor. Deposite mas amor en su banco.  Cuando tiene amor en su banco y este se incremente, paga intereses abundantes, no puede ser de otra manera.

Si usted solamente esta interesado en el bien de su pareja, y ha escojido bien a su pareja el resultado de esta relacion solamente puede producir un bien para ambos una y otra vez.

Siempre busque el bien de otros para que su banco de amor tenga ganancias, no  perdidas. Su estado de cuenta sera siempre el buen producto de sus depositos.  No hay manera mejor para vivir su vida hoy  y siempre. Asi que deposite en su banco cada minuto de su vida.

Se siente exhausto hoy, se siente completamente agotado?

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Seguramente ha escuchado hablar acerca de algunos remedios caseros, remedios que le devuelven la vida. Remedios tales como la luz del sol, beber agua potable en cantidades adecuadas, ejercicio como por ejemplo caminar; remedios como buena nutricion, descanso propio, relajacion, confianza en el ser todo poderoso, el confiar en esa fuerza mayor que uno mismo. Tal vez usted pueda pensar en otros elementos por su cuenta.

Podemos frustrarnos facilmente si nuestra vida diaria requiere que trabajemos sin cesar y desempenando nuestras tareas constantemente teniendo como meta dar un 150%. Lo que puede causarnos mucho agotamiento si no tomamos tiempo para restaurar nuestras energias,salud mental y estado emocional. Todo esto puede causar en una palabra estres.

Nosotros respondemos de diferentes maneras a situaciones de la vida, de acuerdo  a nuestro tipo de personalidad. Se dice que la personalidad de tipo A es mas apta a contender, es agresiva, ambiciosa, impaciente, inquieta, tiene tendencia a no escuchar a otros.  En cambio el tipo B es una personalidad mas calmada.

Cual es su tipo de personalidad? Lo mas posible es que posea algo de ambas, pero cual le domina?

Sea su personalidad A o B usted es responsable por su vida y su salud. Formule un plan para revitalizarse y ser mas feliz. He aqui una sugerencia para revitalizar su cuerpo y mente: Sientese y coloque su mano derecha en su frente y su izquierda en la nuca,  luego respire profundo. Haga este ejercicio por tres minutos. Se sorprendera de gran manera al ver los resltados. Si es posible, pidale a un companero que lo haga por usted, la experiencia es mas placentera y relajante y adios agotamiento.

Have you experienced a Mission Trip?

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If you want to know where God resides, embark on a missionary journey to help others. You will find that doing it can enrich your spiritual life and in the process you can make new friendships that can last a lifetime. Participating on a mission trip to help people who might be in pain or might lack the basic human needs, is a humbling experience. It brings the awareness of the greatness of God in your everyday life.
As you minister to those in pain and in need you can be an angel of mercy and God shines through you.

The mission trip journey is not easy, however it is very rewarding. You can see how God moves, and your heart can find joy and peace that no other activity can provide. One thing for certain, you do not even have to say that you are a christian, because your actions show it. It is true that actions speak louder than words!.

If you do not want to go to other lands on a Mission Trip, you can have your own little mission in your own country, or even in your neighborhood. There are plenty of people in need in this recession, God is powerful and is always working, he never sleeps. Dare to be a missionary!

Are you hiding behind “principle” to be rude?

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Sometimes we can react rudely to someone, thus separating ourselves from others. In other words we separate our heart’s emotion connection, creating a lacuna between us and others. We can justify our rude behavior all we want, however if it compromises our emotional management it is not working for us, it is not giving us good results in our everyday relationships. We must exercise grace.

I am not saying that having good principles is deleterious or pernicious. Having good principles is exceedingly important,it provides us with guidelines to make good decisions. We must not hide behind “principles’ to be rude to people. Sometimes we use our principles to justify our toxic emotions.

How many families  have been hurt by this false “righteous indignation”? I know of some. Perhaps you also know of someone. I know of a woman who is constantly stirring unhappiness for herself and others due to her false righteous indignation. She does not make life enjoyable for anyone, not even for herself.

An easy example of her rudeness is noted, when she saw her neighbor’s dog leaving excrement on her front yard, she quickly proceeded to pick it up and placed it on the neighbor’s property, right outside his neighbor’s car door. Not a nice thing to do. We must hot hide behind “principle” to be rude.