Today’s Word of the Day is “meece.”
As in…
Meece
Prepare To Be Educated
I warned you this was gonna happen, here. But did you listen? Nooooo. Prepare to be educated. Oh, and congrats to the world’s newest country. Also, congrats to Peace Corps’ newest country director: Couldn’t. Be. Prouder.
East Timor is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania known as Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. The country comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor and the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco. The first inhabitants are thought to be descendant of Australoid and Melanesian peoples. The Portuguese began to trade with Timor by the early 16th century and colonized it throughout the mid-century. Skirmishing with the Dutch in the region eventually resulted in an 1859 treaty for which Portugal ceded the western half of the island. Imperial Japan occupied East Timor during World War II, but Portugal resumed colonial authority after the Japanese surrender.
East Timor declared itself independent from Portugal in 1975, but was invaded by Indonesia. The country was later incorporated as a province of Indonesia. During the subsequent two-decade occupation, a campaign of pacification ensued. Although Indonesia did make substantial investment in infrastructure during its occupation in East Timor, dissatisfaction remained widespread. From 1975 to 1999, there were an estimated 102,800 conflict-related deaths – approximately 18,600 killings and 84,200 ‘excess’ deaths from hunger and illness – the majority of which occurred during the Indonesian occupation.
In 1999, in a UN-sponsored referendum, an overwhelming majority of East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia. Immediately following the referendum, anti-independence Timorese militias – organized and supported by the Indonesian military – commenced a scorched earth campaign. The militias killed approximately 1,400 Timorese and forcibly pushed 300,000 people into West Timor as refugees. The majority of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed during this attack. The International Force for East Timor (INTERFET) was deployed to the country and brought the violence to an end. Following a United Nations-administered transition period, East Timor was internationally recognized as an independent nation in 2002. It is the poorest country in Southeast Asia with a 20% unemployment rate, and approximately one third of the population is illiterate.
A whole lot more from Wikipedia is here.
Rachel ships out shortly.
Please Me Inordinately
Stories like this one always please me inordinately. And it’s not just because they’re short. Nor because they combine something like physiology with something like psychology. I’ll tell you why at the end. But first, the story. It’s called What’s Behind the ‘Middle-Aged Groan?‘
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When my daughter was a toddler, she often imitated the long groan I made when I bent down. It was both funny and mortifying. Judging by the large number of videos of toddlers doing this on the internet, I was not alone.
Like many other people, I have a playlist of activity-specific grunts and gasps: When I’m heaving myself out of a chair, I sound like Rafael Nadal returning a volley. When I’m reaching for something, I release a wheezy “ooof.”
Why does this happen? Is it a sign of getting older? I couldn’t find any research on what I’ve termed “the middle-aged groan,” but every expert I consulted knew, instantly, what I was talking about.
Meryl Alappattu, a research assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of Florida and faculty member in the Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence, told me that when she bends over to pick things up, “I will sort of grunt and say ‘Oh, my mother’ in my parents’ native language, which is Malayalam, an Indian dialect.”
As people get older, Dr. Alappattu explained, “just bending over to pick things off the floor might require a bit more exertion, and we tend to brace ourselves.” And exhaling, she said, “could be contributing to that grunt or whatever sound you make.”
The experts weren’t aware of any studies on bending- and standing-related groans, but there is some research on grunting in athletic situations: One small study of college tennis players found that their serves were more powerful when they were allowed to grunt. Another, among gym goers, suggested that grunting might be a learned behavior. And there has been research on grunting as a sports tactic used to distract opponents or garner attention.
The symphony of sounds we make might have a variety of causes. “I think there is a physical component, a mental component, a voluntary component and an involuntary component,” said Tracy E.K. Davis, an associate professor specializing in health promotion and aging at Rutgers University.
The pain and stiffness that often come with age, for example, can prompt huffing noises, Dr. Davis said. And prolonged sitting may contribute to the sounds, said Lindsay DiStefano, head of the department of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut. When you sit for long periods, the muscles in your hips tighten, which makes standing a little more difficult, she said.
David Matsumoto, a professor of psychology at San Francisco State University, said these tiny cries for help could be a way “of telling others we are having a tough time for such movements.”
But it’s also possible that “the groan” isn’t about pain or exertion at all, Dr. Davis said. “I was in bed and turning over, and I was like, ‘Uhhh,’” she recalled. She asked herself why she’d made that sound and realized it was “out of frustration, because I couldn’t sleep.”
Where does that leave those of us who “ugh,” “hrrg” and “ooof” our way through midlife? If the sounds don’t bother you, pay them no mind, Dr. Alappattu said. But if they make you self-conscious, she said, try being more aware of your movements. “As you brace yourself, make sure you do so in a slow, controlled manner and practice slowing your breath, as opposed to letting it all out at once,” she suggested.
And take comfort: If you sound like a weight lifter when you bend down, you’re not alone. This week, I asked almost every middle-aged person I know if they ever do the “middle-aged groan.” No one asked me to explain myself.
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It is mere coincidence I’m writing this post one day after a 9-mile Carpenter Peak hike – but hey, thanks for that, Dan and Kelie Moe! The real reason stories like this one please me inordinately? No, it’s not because I like to imagine myself channeling Rafa Nadal in the French Open Finals. Rather, it’s because of that key term “middle-aged.” Because, you see, if I am now truly “middle-aged” rather than being, as some maintain, a full-fledged “geezer” then that means I’ll live to be 130. And therefore, as a necessary consequence, y’all will have to put up with listening to me “ooof” and “unngh” and ” arrgh” my way on and off the couch for another six-and-a-half decades.
Scary thought, that.