GIVING SOMETHING BACK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hello and Welcome. This is a place to find personal help for searching the Internet. The author is Richard A. Lawhern -- called "Red" by friends, though my hair isn't anymore.  I'm a systems engineer and operations research analyst with 40 years of experience in acquisition management and systems engineering for military systems.  I've authored several cyberspace training courses and video tapes and helped various employers to train staff. In my so-called spare time, I support the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association as a network contact, providing literature and internet research to chronic pain patients. I also mentor young people who are struggling with life in our times.  I and my spouse of 29 years now live near Charlotte NC.  To send me email, select Giving Something_Back . 
"Red" Lawhern This page last updated January 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

* About This Page Finding People On Line and Off
* Personalized Search Help * Areas Where I Might Help You
(My Interests)
* Trigeminal Neuralgia
and Chronic Pain Help		 * Special Interest -- Sailing
*  Photographic Galleries
 *   Alternatives to Scriptural Religion
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 Throw the Bums Out -- No Incumbents - EVER AGAIN!
 

Featured Article:

Great Recession of 2008-2998 Isn't Over!



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ABOUT THIS PAGE
This site is an effort to give something back to the community of the Internet, a place where I've worked and taught for 17+ years. Many people have helped me to learn and grow. I hope to pass on that courtesy.

Resources: As part of returning something to a community that I care about, I offer here, a few resources that might help you find your way around the Net. Lots of Web sites offer huge resource lists, so I won't burden you with another collection. I merely refer you to some starting places I've found useful. I've had a lot of practice searching the Net for information, so maybe you can benefit from my learning curve. If you're an experienced Internet user, then I'll be equally happy to learn from you. That's ultimately what conversation is about. Feel free to offer suggestions by email.

An Invitation: After you've browsed this page, feel free to send me email if there is something I might do to assist you. I intend this invitation to be quite open-ended. I have many personal interests and hobbies. I've met a lot of interesting people in 40-odd years of adult life. I've traveled through both geography and personal awareness. I'm not afraid to speak to strangers who may become friends on a shared life journey. Come talk to me. If it seems to me that you need to talk with others who can help you better than I can, I'll offer suggestions on where to start.


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SEARCHING THE INTERNET

Part of my professional life has been spent learning how to mine information from the Internet. Everybody wants to find something, these days. Not everybody has time to learn the search process in detail. A few  years ago, when one of my daughters was going through University, I wrote her an article about how to find things in the Internet quickly. I update this mini-course from time to time at Voice of the Shuttle, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Feel free to take a look.

Quick Search the Internet

The Shuttle offers one of the largest and best organized collections in the world, for Internet resources relating to the liberal arts. The Shuttle's search engine will help you find links you need. I have found two sub-pages at the Shuttle that are also very useful to people who have other information needs.  These will give you overviews of the Net and its services, and a list of search engines and directory services.

Information About the Internet


Another resource has become a "classic" on the Internet, and should not be ignored when you want to browse a collection of high value links to learn your way around. There are hundreds of references here, so be prepared to spend time to learn your way about: 

John December's Computer Mediated Communication Information Sources


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Do You Need Person-to-Person Help?


Especially for people just getting started on the Internet, finding our way around can seem pretty intimidating. There are good books to help you learn. One of the first on my list was "The Whole Internet Catalog and Users' Guide", which is still available through Amazon On-Line and which I still recommend. There are others more recent. There are also great on-line courses (see Voice of the Shuttle, above). Newsgroups of USENET provide a place to post your concerns and questions, or to exchange points of view -- after you figure out which of the over 25,000 groups you want. It helps at times to have someone to talk with or to write person-to-person. So how do you find that person?

Quite a large number of Internet sites provide some form of person-to-person help. Network Solutions'  Ask An Expert is one place to locate a person who can answer your question. The site provides email links and web pages of volunteer consultants in various subject areas.  Another and very large resource is Sources and Experts, compiled by St. Petersburg Times News Researcher Kitty Bennett.  A third avenue of approach might be through the valuable resources and supporting experts at About.Com. 500+ qualified subject matter experts support the forums there.

At one time, I supported yet a fourth forum called the "Internet Village Elders" at the Internet Sleuth, where we took on a similar charter.  The specialized databases and interactive expert assistance services of that site are now regrettably defunct. But you can find others through any of the major search engines.  Use the target phrase "Ask an Expert".


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Finding People On Line and Off

One subject comes up in Internet discussion groups more often than almost all others besides health and getting rich quickly via multi-level marketing [note: ironic humor intended!].  Lots of people want to use the Internet to find somebody. Because this interest comes up so often, I wrote an Internet article a few years back, to address the need. My research is not the "last word" on the subject, and it is somewhat dated, but the basic logic here may give you a place to start and a way to think through your project,  if you believe you need to find someone. It might also keep you out of legal trouble, if it prompts you to think first before invading somebody's privacy. 

Low Cost and Free Resources for Finding People On-Line and Off

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Medical Resources for Trigeminal Neuralgia

In one other area of volunteer service on the Internet, I have a significant personal investment. A member of my family is being treated for a relatively rare chronic nerve disorder called "Trigeminal Neuralgia." This ailment can cause the most severe face pain known to medical practice. Even narcotic drugs are unsuccessful in relieving pain for many patients.

In an effort to support patients, family members, and medical professionals who deal with facial neuralgias , a few years ago I teamed with Ms. Cindy Fleishman, a 20-year-plus chronic pain survivor, to develop a one-stop site for face pain information focused on these disorders. After over two years of Cindy's research and additional months of our co-editing, the result was a site with 120+ subsidiary pages that we wrote ourselves or compiled and abridged with permission from other sources.  While this site is no longer available to the public due to the burden it became to keep current, we have archived our links and files.  To tap into these resources, please feel free to correspond by email.

Independently of my effort at Face Pain Resources, I have long supported  the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association.  I was a member of its Board of Directors for three years and webmaster for the TNA Home Page. The site provides medically authoritative information on the disorder as well as a gateway to a network of US and international support groups. If you know of someone suffering from a sudden, sharp onset of stabbing pain in one side of the face, please refer them to TNA or to introductory notes that I maintain here at "Giving Something Back."  

Unexplained Facial Pain - Introduction 

Bookmarks for Chronic Facial Pain

A Practice Model for Diagnosis and Treatment of Face Pain

Likewise, feel free to email me concerning on-line information resources.  I have corresponded with over 2000 face pain patients during the past 14 years.  Although I am not a doctor, I may be able to help you find a professional who is appropriately trained and experienced in addressing your pain management needs. 

As a continuing contribution to chronic face pain patients, I sometimes support patient support groups with presentations on Trigeminal Neuralgia and related disorders.  In January 2003, I gave the following overview of recent research in facial pain, for the Bethesda Maryland / Washington DC TN support group.  Feel free to download and print it out.  However any further use of this material should credit the author and venue...

Presentation: Recent Research in Trigeminal Neuralgia

Related to this presentation, the following collection of Pub Med abstracts will introduce you to recent research on TN and facial neuropathy.  I hope to update these lists periodically, between the demands of normal working life and other community service.

Review of Recent Medical Literature on Trigeminal Neuralgia

Review of Recent Medical Literature on Trigeminal Neuropathy

Resources for General Healthcare Education

In a more general sense, I may also be able to suggest resources to expand your personal  healthcare education, in fields other than chronic pain.  As a part of the community service work that I do on the Internet, I once supported three "Experts" forums at Yahoo.  In the Men's, Women's and Stress Management groups at Yahoo, several resident volunteers answered questions from all comers, dealing with physical and mental health issues, personal growth, family life, and interpersonal relationships.  Some of the questions that kids (and some adults) ask at Yahoo and other public forums  might seem a bit outrageous to a person who has a college education.  Other questions express urgent needs for help, voiced by people who are hurting, scared, or simply uncertain of what to do next.  Taken in total, these questions reveal a lot about the health and personal concerns that occupy people around the world:

Frequently Asked Questions About Healthcare 

- (And About Life) -
 




A Modest Political Proposal: Let's Throw the Bums Out!

 
In the US in 2010, there is a great deal of discontent over the state of our politics in Federal, State, and local government. Quite a number of people have become convinced that something fundamental in our governance is broken.  Enough of us thought that way that we elected an inexperienced though articulate but very junior senator to lead the nation.  Whether the man is up to the job of pulling the country out of the initial stages of another Great Depression remains to be demonstrated. So far he hasn't done very well.

Meanwhile, millions of us are totally disgusted with efforts by entrenched political elites - including those who helped to elect Obama - to ram something called "health care reform' down our throats, which reforms nothing about health care costs and will almost certainly increase our taxes while burdening the medicare system. We also see Congress maneuvering to slip through an amnesty for illegal immigrants despite the outrage of resisting citizens.  The bums continue with this idiocy despite the wide-spread evidence that voters just aren't having any of that stuff and nonsense.  The feeling is widespread that something really fundamental has to give, and soon.

There are many loose-knit groups of people in the US who believe that there ought to be an alternative to the mess we're seeing in Washington and our Statehouses. We come from all parties, and from no party at all.  However we are united in believing that voters need an effective means of informing political elites that they have lost touch with the electorate, which is us.  One proposal for doing that would be to insert a voting block on the ballot for every office in the land, for "NOTA: None of the Above."  If NOTA gets a plurality of votes, then the slate is wiped clean and we have a special election where the previous bums don't get to run. I find this idea intriguing and perhaps long overdue. For an expansion of this proposal, click on Write In None of the Above

In the meantime, entrenched power elites lie to us that the world would simply end in chaos! if we allowed such a thing as a vote of no confidence.  There's only one place so far, where you can vote for NOTA (a few counties in Nevada).  But, there are other things we can do too.  We can refuse to give money to the National political parties for as long as they continue pushing amnesty for illegals. We can also broadly vote incumbents out of office in favor of amatures and independents, any time we get the chance. Or we can vote for Libertarians (I can almost hear the rapid intake of breath on the part of the liars who would shout that such a vote is somehow "wasted"). Whatever we do, "more of the same" is not a viable solution!

During the months before the 2010 Congressional mid-term elections, both of the 10-year-old automobiles at our house will proudly display this bumper sticker:

Congress is the Problem!
Throw ALL the Bums Out

And we will vote under that policy.  If a politician has been in office before, then he or she is a part of the problem, not the solutions.  Even the guys who protest that they've been trying to reform the rest of Congress, don't deserve to go back.  If they tried at all, then they failed.





My Personal Interest Areas -- Assistance Offered

If you've found your way to my page and bothered to read this far, then you've probably concluded that I am basically a "people" person. I believe in reaching out to others whenever I can, as humanely and thoughtfully as I can.  I believe in helping, contributing, and "giving something back." My time and knowledge are far from limitless, but I try to do the best I can with what I've got.

I've had opportunities in a varied career to turn my hand to a lot of different subjects, and to dabble at hobbies, interests, and small businesses. Because this web page is about giving back, I invite inquiries on any of the following  subjects. I'll do my best to find you good information or to share my own experiences regarding any of the following.

 




A Special Interest:  Sailing

From the mid-1990s, my wife and I sailed the Chesapeake for six seasons on an S-2 Model 8.0B (26-foot) pocket cruiser.  She was a lovely little boat who taught us a lot of things and was very forgiving of our mistakes.  But with less than five feet of headroom below deck, weekend cruising was a little like camping out, without the ants.  In the winter of 1999, we stepped up to a much more comfortable 1973 Bristol 34.4 sloop. Rafiki ("friend" in Swahili, or "companion" in Arabic) taught us quite a number of other new things.  In the seven seasons we sailed her, she impressed us with her handling in both light and heavy air.  We took her through the trailing end of a tropical storm in May 2005, weathering 30 knot headwinds, 4-foot chop and heavy opposing tides, without complaint from the boat. Finding deck leaks can seem like purgatory -- no doubt about it.  However, the maintenance time on her deck teak was more than compensated for by her longer cruising range, sailing comfort, and stability in Chesapeake surface chop.  She also scooted along at over seven knots on a close reach, when she hit that 'sweet spot' that sailors all look for. 

In the Spring of 2006, Rafiki went on the hard at Annapolis Sail Yard, and was sold.  We've relocate about 30 minutes south of Charlotte NC, and will learn a new variety of life on the water, on Lake Wylie and Lake Norman -- in a smaller boat.  The picture below offers some idea of why we were so happy with our sailing friend.   I would recommend Bristols without reservation, for just about any kind of sail cruising.
 

 

This brings us to the bottom of my homepage. Feel free to write me, to share your journeys if you feel so inclined. Or write to pose a particular question.  I'll help if I can, or I'll find somebody else to help.  I'm here for you.

Go in Peace and Power

Last Updated -- January 2010