January 2006 Archives

The Movie Of Your Life

| | Comments (16)

Julie D is an Indie Flick
But you'll have to go to the extended entry to see what the movie of my life would be.

Back to Basics:

|

Why Does High School Fail So Many?


An interesting overview of a school system that is creaking under its own weight.
I graduated from Westchester HS in the LAUSD, my two oldest children graduated from Cleveland HS, also in the LAUSD. These two high schools are 25 miles apart, and do not even begin to represent the huge diversity and geographical span of the Los Angeles educational chaos. I was able to find a reasonable education for my children in this public school system but only by working the system - getting them into magnet programs, and trying to keep after the teachers and administrators to see that my kid's unique needs were addressed. I admit that I could have done better, but I was raised to respect the public schools. We left LA in January 1997 and I have heard that things are continuing to deteriorate. But I have also seen public education deteriorate in Oregon and even here in New Hampshire. This says to me that the problems are probably inherent in the system and that it is time for something to change. But I also admit, that I don't know what needs to change first. I think that it is possible that the problems in the schools are just a microcosm of the problems in our culture.

nominate your favorites here!

| | Comments (1)

What's My Eschatology?

| | Comments (1)

I found this quiz over at Keel The Pot.
I've moved the results to the extended entry, because otherwise it messes up my template.
It was an interesting quiz, given that the specific Catholic views were not really presented as options. For example, read the Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1038 to 1060
1060 At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. Then the just will reign with Christ for ever, glorified in body and soul, and the material universe itself will be transformed. God will then be "all in all" (1 Cor 15:28), in eternal life.

from a reader - a wonderful story

| | Comments (1)

Grief, Gratitude and Baby Lee

(might require registration)

A tribute to the Challenger crew

| | Comments (3)

The depths of exploration...

Here in Concord NH, we have the Christa McAuliffe planetarium, and the High School's auditorium is named after her.
Yet this year's senior class weren't even born when the Challenger was lost. My eldest daughter sees the Challenger disaster as a defining moment for her generation, much as the assasination of JFK was for mine. My youngest daughter (a senior at Concord High!) will probably consider 9/11 the defining moment of her generation. Ironically, she did not hear about it for several hours, as the teachers in the Middle School deliberately cut off the news and computers after the disaster struck.

more meme

|

***You Are a Seeker Soul***
You are on a quest for knowledge and life challenges.
You love to be curious and ask a ton of questions.
Since you know so much, you make for an interesting conversationalist.
Mentally alert, you can outwit almost anyone (and have fun doing it!).
Very introspective, you can be silently critical of others.
And your quiet nature makes it difficult for people to get to know you.
You see yourself as a philosopher, and you take everything philosophically.
Your main talent is expressing and communicating ideas.
Souls you are most compatible with: Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Meme of Fours

| | Comments (3)

I'm working on a long post on how the recent attacks on midwifery in the USA are part of the culture of death, but inbetween attacks of inspiration and moments of desperation I've been making the rounds of the blogs. Erik, who has been quiet for a while, has put up several good posts and even a meme - with which he tagged me. It's easier than doing what I'm supposed to be doing, anyhow. Taxes, financial aid forms, cleaning house, preparing a talk for my confirmation students. Maybe if I worked a little harder on my blogging I could regain my status as a mammal in the TTLB ecosystem.....

not sure I agree with all this

| | Comments (2)

but interesting none the less
a survey on the Best Cities to Have A Baby
|from Fit Pregnancy magazine.

no big surprise here

| | Comments (2)
Your 2005 Song Is
Beverly Hills by Weezer

"My automobile is a piece of crap
My fashion sense is a little whack
And my friends are just as screwy as me"

You breezed through 2005 in your own funky style!
via my daughter the FM producer

silent no more

| | Comments (1)

but of course!

| | Comments (1)

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

I wish that I could work in a place like this

|

curses, memed again!

| | Comments (1)

jessica's diary: my weird habits

This time my daughter nailed me.
The problem is that I can't really think of my weird habits. I know that I must have them, but to my mind if I have them they can't be that weird. But I'll try to think of five of them, and if any of my children or friends read this and can contribute more, feel free to chime in in the comments box.

1) I have to sleep on the proper side of the bed. My husband must be on my right side.
2) The silverware must be properly arranged in its drawer. I have used the same organizer for 15 plus years and several moves,even though the plastic is getting discolored, because I haven't found anything else that fits the silverware properly.
3) drinking glasses must be put into the cupboard upside down, so that nothing can fall into them. If they were stored right side up, I rinse them before I use them.
4) there is a proper way to set the table. If you are at my house I must use it or I get anxious and rearrange things. However, I tolerate all kinds of stuff when it isn't in my space.
5) ?????? I'm sure that there must be more. contributions accepted.
You're supposed to tag 5 other people. OK, the next five of you to read this, if you haven't already done it, you're it. Let me know when you've done it and I'll link to your answers.

It's snowing again

| | Comments (1)

I am getting totally tired of this weather. Almost balmy for a couple of days, and then smash - more of the wet white stuff. I want a vacation. I want a break. I want to go home.
Just heard on the radio that there is a jacknifed truck north of Nashua, and 4 exits worth of backup on the interstate here in Concord. I was going to head out and run some errands before the weather got too very bad, but maybe I'll just wimp out. The weather looks bad enough as it is. But they didn't close the schools here and my youngest drove to her High School classes an hour ago. Hopefully it won't be too horrible when she needs to drive home this afternoon.
At least today I didn't have to fight my way the 46 miles south to Nashua today.

Respect Life Sunday

| | Comments (4)

My homily notes from today. Transcribed from my Palm.
******************
Radical choice costs something.
Leave behind - go forward.
Repent.
Leave the comfort and step out in faith.
Don't be like the squid, who having found a rock of security then consumes his own brain.
Let God challenge us.
Let us follow where he leads.
Take the chance if it is time to move on.
What tangles up our lives?

4500 abortions daily in the USA alone! Not only women are affected. Men are hurt by Fatherhood Aborted.
We are called to be agents of mercy.
We all struggle with our personal sin(s).
We take our self (selves) out of communion (excommunicate our selves) by our sins.
We lose when we proclaim I not we.
*******************
Father actually did an excellent job tying together the message of the readings with the pro-life message. Jonah was sent to proclaim the Lord's message to Ninevah - he fought it but eventually obeyed the Lord and the people of Ninevah repented. Are we listening to the Lord's commandment to carry His message to His people? Are we letting our fear keep us from proclaiming the Gospel - especially the Gospel of life, the message of repentance and forgiveness? Have we listened to God's call in our life? Are we willing to leave behind our present life to become "Fishers of men"?
********
Tonight in confirmation prep we also discussed life issues. The first hour was a presentation from the local Crisis Pregnancy Center. She brought in models of fetal development and showed the kids just what the unborn look like at various stages of development. She talked about the 3-fold mission of the CPC to protect the innocent unborn:
prevention through chastity (abstinence based teaching);
intervention through providing counselling, referral to prenatal care, ultrasound to show moms their baby, financial and social support;
and rehabilitation - after abortion counselling, healing, and referrals.
Then we broke into the small groups for the second hour. My small group has several kids from the local Catholic High school. My co-teacher is an attorney and I am in health care so we decided to break the subject up between us. He talked about Law and Morality and how being a practicing Catholic is counter cultural because we believe in Absolute Truth and firm moral laws (and that the laws of God are more important than the laws of man). I talked about the realities of abortion and taught the specifics of what the Church says about life issues. You know, the non-negotiable issues. Like the right to life begins at conception and ends at natural death. And that direct abortion is always morally wrong. And that euthanasia and destructive embryonic stem cell research are morally evil. And we talked about how best to prevent abortion (chastity). And how the sin of abortion often is the consequence of other sins like adultery, fornication, or contraception (that last one perked up a few eyebrows but we didn't have time to get fully into it).
I'm not quite sure how we got into it, but the morality (or lack thereof) of in vitro fertilization got into the conversation. Many of the kids were quite unconvinced that IVF was morally wrong - and believing that IVF was OK they were then arguing that embryonic stem cell research was perfectly OK because "You might as well get some use because they're going to die anyhow. I mean, what if they could save thousands of lives?" To which I pointed out that I'm going to die anyhow and maybe I should let them cut me up and use my organs to save the lives of a dozen other people?
We had a good discussion going and I wish that we would have had another hour or so.......

I love teaching these kids. My biggest frustration is that the sequence of teaching is somewhat erratic so that there isn't always a good foundation for the designated subject matter. My other frustration is that there is so little time. We get 2 hours every other week over - that's it. It isn't much time compared to sports, TV, and the family's social lives. But we do what we can. pray for us?

From Summa Minutiae

|

3 more saints for the year. From his random saint's generator
St. Athanasius - January 31
Bishop caught in the Saracen invasion of Sicily. Athanasius was born in Catania, Sicily, and had to flee to Patras in Greece when the Saracens invaded his lands. He became a Basilian monk and was named the bishop of Modon.
St. Leonianus - November 6
Hermit confessor. Originally from Pannonia, he was captured by raiders and taken to France. Regaining his freedom, Leonianus became a hermit near Autun. He embraced the monastic life in his later years.
St. Begga - December 17
Begga was the daughter of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace, and St. Itta. She married Ansegilius, son of St. Arnulf of Metz, and their son was Pepin of Herstal, founder of the Carolingian dynasty of rulers in France. On the death of her husband in the year 691, she built a church and convent at Andenne on the Meuse River and died there. Her feast day is December 17th.

om media and bias

| | Comments (1)

time to curtail public financing ?

| | Comments (2)

The unholy lust of scientists

via Happy Catholic

So much of what is called 'truth' via the scientific method is actually statistical data. Liars figure, and figures lie. And 'peer review' of journal articles is not immune to peer pressure, both to approve and reject submitted research.

I wish to announce

| | Comments (2)

that I have purchased a wonderful bit of original art from Owen Swain (Luminous Miseries). You can see a copy of my purchase here. I am very pleased that I have this beautiful poem/image and I wish to recommend to all of you, that if you are looking for a unique gift for yourself or for a friend, check out Owen's gallery.

random thought

| | Comments (1)

I was watching Life on the Rock tonight. The guest of honor was an Olympic quality cross-country skier, along with her husband and 4 year old son. She mentioned (among many other things) that she uses natural family planning.
I thought for a while about that while she went on talking about the other challenges of being a devout Catholic in the star athletics environment. I remembered all the news items about this that and the other scandals involving 'performance enhancement steroids' - especially the male sex hormones (Testosterone, androstendione, DHEAS, etc.) And then I thought about something else - and I wonder if there is a cultural blind spot here.
Many female athletes (Maybe even most) use supplemental female hormones to enhance their training and performance by manipulating their menstrual cycle. It is pretty well known that one can delay or prevent bleeding indefinitely through continuous use of everyday type oral contraceptives. The progestin (synthetic progesterone) component of oral contraceptives is usually made by tweaking testosterone until it looks to the body sort of like progesterone (at least, close enough to block the normal actions of ones own progesterone). So why is it that male athletes can't boost their own testosterone but female athletes can use synthetic hormones to tweak their estrogen/progesterone levels (and eliminate the menstrual cycle). Is it intent (i.e. contraception) that makes it OK?

what a job!

|

a moral dilemma?

|

Catholic hospitals and emergency contraception

I participated in a rather technical and somewhat heated discussion of this topic. This was at a conference on NFP sponsored by Marquette University a few years back. The post referenced above is an excellent digest of a matter that isn't as simple (from any perspective) as it first seems.

thanks

| | Comments (2)

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and prayers. They are much appreciated. We went out to dinner to celebrate, then on Friday I was asked to speak briefly at our local Ultreya (Cursillo follow up meeting). Saturday we finally took down the tree and the creches and did music for the vigil Mass, and Sunday we fought some pretty fierce blowing snow, icy roads, etc to take our daughter to play at the Youth Symphony's winter concert. I slipped on the ice and bruised my knee and twisted my ankle - it isn't too bad but it twinges all the time.
Will try to write some real stuff later this week.

anniversaries

| | Comments (17)

51 years ago today, I entered the world, a 46 minutes late (17th)birthday present to my mom, a 12 days early (20th) birthday present to my father. 33 years ago today, I entered the Catholic church during a daily Mass in a small chapel on the campus of Loyola Marymount University. After hearing my first confession,Father Randall Roche S.J. received my profession of faith, anointed me with the oils and conferred upon me the sacrament of confirmation, and gave me my first holy communion. Thirteen months later, he also witnessed the joining of me and my husband into the bonds of Holy Matrimony.
Three years and three days ago (1/9/03) I posted my first entry on this blog at its original site on blogspot.
It's been an eventful life, so far. Unless I beat the odds, I'm more than halfway through my walk on this earth. I hope and pray that I've been able to do what it is that I was created for. Of course, I'll only find that out for sure from the other side. But that shouldn't stop me from trying daily to do whatever I'm called to, if I can figure it out.

hmmmmm

|

Alicia:

Thank you for asking for a special patron saint for 2006 to be drawn for you. You were chosen by St. Martin of Tours!

Please let me know that you receive this message and of any connections betweenyour saintand you.

God Bless
Moneybags

Prayer to Continue to Fight for God
Lord, if your people still have need of my services, I will not avoid the toil. Your will be done. I have fought the good fight long enough. Yet if you bid me continue to hold the battle line in defense of your camp, I will never beg to be excused from failing strength. I will do the work you entrust to me. While you command, I will fight beneath your banner.

St Martin of Tours, Italian Soldier, Hermit, Bishop
******************
Connections - not nearly as many as some others have found with their saint. However, I do work with the poor, and I have lived in France. I will endeavor to imitate St. Martin's selfless generosity and his humility.

They're back!!!

| | Comments (1)

filipina doc blog

|

blegging for a midwife friend of mine

| | Comments (1)

I have known the person writing below for many years. She practices primarily among the Amish but also has clients among the 'English' as well. I know her to be compassionate, competent, and and excellent teacher. She and I were both able to present talks together at a conference in 2000 and it was a great pleasure. I sent one of my midwifery students to her for an apprenticeship and had nothing but positive feedback. I pray that the events she describes below will lead to good outcomes in the long run, and that her suffering will not go to waste.

update

|

on this prayer request
I e-mailed you about a week (or week and a half ago) with a prayer request. I saw my OB-GYN this afternoon, and I'm not pregnant.

My doctor said we shouldn't worry yet, and that my irregular cycles may be acting up. He did say my uterus and ovaries are okay, so there's no chance the fibroids have returned. And I'm happy about that.

Needless to say, however, we're very disappointed in the situation. We have to put our faith in God that this wasn't the right time for us to be parents, and we will have the baby (and babies) we were meant to have when we were meant to have them.

Thank you for the prayers, and thank you to everyone who prayed and forwarded the request along. We appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

not sure what to title this

| | Comments (12)

Life has been throwing us a few curve balls lately, and I would really appreciate both prayers and, if you feel so inspired, guidance/inspiration/advice. The email link works pretty well, and comments are also emailed to me as they are posted.
I can't go into a lot of detail, but my employer is a federally qualified health center. That means that our funding is unpredictable and the needs for our services increase exponentially as the economy tanks. Of course, our funding usually decreases just as the need for us increases - that's the way things tend to work. There are non profits and there are non-profits. Some are pretty flush financially - the Ford Foundation, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Planned Parenthood, etc. And some get pretty desperate for funds - your local community health center, your local public radio station, EWTN, etc.
Now, it seems logical to me that midwives are a cost effective and generally good way to provide prenatal care and birth services. But OB residents can not only provide a lot of that care, they can also provide funding to a clinical site (to pay for the providers that supervise them, for one thing). We have OB residents, but there are not enough of them, nor do they have enough time, to take care of all our patients. So we schedule them to see the high risk moms and invite them to meet the low-risk moms and allow them to do labor and birth care under the supervision of OBs for the high risk and midwives for the low risk patients. It is clunky, but it has been creaking along for the last 6 years or so.

Things seem to be poised for a change. Some of the recent changes in funding for health care are having a negative effect. We are already being pressured to see patients every 15 or 20 minutes, and to do not only their care but their teaching and the documentation of that care within this short timeframe. If the financial constraints continue, we may be forced to provide the same care for the same # of patients at 75% of the time and at 75% of the reimbursement level.

I'm not sure where this is going to send me, in particular. I love working with the population that I serve, especially the immigrant moms. I have some patients that have been seeing my since I arrived at this practice more than 5 years ago. I am on second or third babies for some of these moms, and I have whole families for whom I am their partera, their 'doctora'. But I know that I am not indispensible.

Pray that I will be able to discern what, if any, message God has for me as I adjust to some of these changes. Pray that I will be able to be humble and obedient to His will. Pray that I will continue to be able to discuss this openly with my beloved husband. Especially pray that I will be able to get my self out of the way.

a wonderful compendium of articles

|

the baptism of Jesus

| | Comments (2)

and the lice line

I bet most moms can really relate!

Hymn Sing

| | Comments (1)

Good morning, and welcome to our hymn sing. We are pleased to announce that we have a hymn for everyone. Our program this day will include:

The Dentist's Hymn
Crown Him with Many Crowns

The Weatherman's Hymn
There Shall Be Showers of Blessings

The Contractor's Hymn
The Church's One Foundation

The Tailor's Hymn
Holy, Holy, Holy

The Golfer's Hymn
There Is A Green Hill Far Away

The Politician's Hymn
Standing on the Promises

The Optometrist's Hymn
Open My Eyes That I Might See

The IRS Agent's Hymn
I Surrender All

The Gossip's Hymn
Pass It On

The Electrician's Hymn
Send The Light

The Shopper's Hymn
Sweet By and By

The Realtor's Hymn
I've Got a Mansion, Just Over the Hilltop

The Massage Therapist's Hymn
He Touched Me

The Doctor's Hymn
The Great Physician





And for you motorists...

45 mph
God Will Take Care of You

55 mph
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

65 mph
Nearer My God To Thee

75 mph
Nearer Still Nearer

85 mph
This World Is Not My Home

95 mph
Lord, I'm Coming Home

Over 100 mph
Precious Memories

******************
anyone with any Catholic suggestions?

the burden is the blessing?

| | Comments (1)

Arwen/Elizabeth: Lucky
food for thought.

more food for thought

|

why I don't watch ER anymore

| | Comments (3)

So, who saw ER? on Amy's blog.

It's bad enough dealing with some of this guano IRL, I'm not at all entertained by it on the small screen.

However, my vote for the worst ER episode of all time is "Love's Labor Lost". Unreal and more unreal.

seasons and trends

| | Comments (2)

I've worked in OB for 20 years now, and one thing I've noticed is that things tend to arrive in clusters. For example, we'll have several patients with twins, and then none for a while. We'll have a run on premies and then a run on going overdue.
Right now it's really challenging, because we are having a run on moms with serious mental illness complicating their pregnancies. We thankfully have many good medications that enable men and women to live close to normal lives, despite serious conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. But these medications carry risks, especially to unborn children. The newer drugs seem to be more effective with fewer side effects - at least for adults. But a recent release from the FDA about Paxil reminds us all that the unborn infant has special needs to be considered.
On the other hand, a mom who is unable to eat for fear that all her food is poisoned is not going to be able to care for herself or her unborn child. A mom who is manic and believes that she can fly is a risk to herself and her baby. A mom who is severely depressed and won't even get out of bed for days is not going to be in the state of physical health that we would all want for her.
By the very nature of mental illness, many of these moms get pregnant without intending to. Some are victims of abuse, and others simply can't connect the dots that lead from sex to pregnancy. Psych drugs are notorious for altering the menstrual cycle, and some ladies become convinced that their medications have made them infertile.
Anyhow, I request prayers for some of the moms in whose care I participate. As a midwife, I'm not the primary caretaker for these moms - but I do participate in the care planning process, try to help the resident physicians to negotiate the often tortuous process of getting the right help for these ladies, and of course I pray for them.
Isn't it St. Dymphna who is the patron saint of the mentally ill? Are there others? I seem to recall an itinerant priest who is invoked for mental illness and the homeless, but I can't remember his name.

how would you handle this?

| | Comments (5)

I'm going to paraphrase from a friend's blog - it's a situation that I think most parents are up against repeatedly - How do you explain to the children the counter-cultural ways that they are being raised?

(a young child) asked her parents "why we do things like go to church, CCD, confessions, pray before meals and bed, etc. 'when none of my friends do'. "

Nearly all of her friends do go to church. They're just different churches and parishes. The question wouldn't be so difficult if it were "why do we do these things?". The emphasis of the question is "why do we do these things (when I don't see anyone else doing them)?"
It's hard to answer it in a pastoral, non-judgemental fashion. You have to be careful that your children doesn't walk away thinking less of their friends. At the same time, you don't want to water down the importance of what you've been teaching them. In a way it's a bit like when kids whine "but Kaitie's parents don't make her do ..." or "but Joshua's parents let him do ..." but in a different form based on one's beliefs.

And what about the other side - where the other families go on really 'cool' trips or have lots of 'stuff' that is paid for by having two incomes or by getting into horrendous debt?

Later on:
Today the mom of the family came back from yet another round of "teaching" CCD to her 4th grade class (the oldest child is in it as well). She came back feeling as though her students are not only disinterested, but also spoiled. Without exception, every one in her small class _except_ her daughter got an iPod Nano for Christmas.
One student wore a hoodie sweatshirt and tried to see if he could surreptitiously listen to it without being noticed. In a CCD class?! One announced that he was going on a cruise in February. Meanwhile _none_ of these kids attends Mass because
their parents can't be bothered or have more important things to do.

One can talk about her (the mom's) efforts as "just planting the seeds", but to her it seems like she's throwing Kentucky Bluegrass on a Walmart parking lot. The parents' examples (with materialism,
divorce, and virtual non-Catholic belief) is a megaphone compared to
the whisper of her instruction. She wonders why the parents
bother putting their kids into CCD. This mom is pretty certain that
next year she won't teach and (further) she'll pull the children out and teach them at home where they'd learn _more_. As it is, she's
supplementing with additional instruction on weekends.
(A note from the dad here)

I thank God that my 4th grade daughter, in tonight's bedtime prayer,
prayed that some of her fellow CCD students might take their CCD more seriously. She seems to understand how un-Catholic her fellow
students are and what they're missing out on. Not bad for a 10 year
old...


priest blog

| | Comments (2)

Bonfire of the Vanities
he's a gen x revert, too!

Addendum - I did the math wrong - he's not an older Gen X guy, he's a baby baby boomer. sorry folks. But it does show that there has been redemption among my generation.

About time!

| | Comments (5)

Virginia midwives gain legal footing

this refers to direct entry midwives, who primarily practice in the home or in a birth center. CNMs, who have a bigger lobby, were able to secure legal status much earlier. I am very thankful that my sister CNMs in Virgina worked collaberatively on this effort.

another stupid quiz

|

that I moved to the extended entry so it won't mess up my front page. (I amy be a slow learner, but I'm not totally stupid)
Via Julie D.

I am writing to request prayers. About two years ago, I had to have fibroid (non-cancerous) tumors removed from my uterus. My OB-GYN assured me I'd be able to have children when the time came, perhaps with some difficulty, and with the caveat they be delivered by C-section as my uterus lost some of its strength and muscle mass during the operation (hence the potential difficulty conceiving).

My now-husband supported me throughout this operation (we were only dating then) and we were married in late 2005. Now, we have reason to believe we're pregnant. After asking the intercession of St. Gerard and many prayers to God, we hope to have our first child in the late summer of this year. The prospect overjoys us both.

At home tests have been inconclusive, but my OB-GYN's nurse practioner thinks it might be too early, that I may have ovulated and conceived later than my slightly unsteady cycle usually is supposed to, and wants to wait until my appointment next week to take another test and see if we are, in fact, expecting. It is a glimmer of hope in uncharted territory for us.

Please pray that we are pregnant and for a safe, healthy delivery and child.

Thank you.

Signed,

Mom-to-Be?

speeches from Michael Crichton

| | Comments (2)

Fear, Complexity, Environmental Management in the 21st Century
Aliens Cause Global Warming
Environmentalism as a Religion
Mediasaurus: The decline of conventional media
I first read Mr. Crichton as a teenager - I think the book was The Andromeda Strain. I also remember reading The Terminal Man somewhere that published it as a serial. I'm fond of medical fiction but much of his non-medical fiction I found unappealing.
I also watched the early seasons of ER, when Dr. Crichton had a little more control over the medical veracity of the stories, but eventually I was turned off by the inaccuracies, and after the episode "Love's Labor Lost", I pretty much quit watching the show.
Anyhow, I think it is pretty interesting that a Harvard trained physician and writer should become such an iconoclast - shattering the images that many other media savvy scientists have put forth over the last decades.
I found the first speech listed here via my blog pal Bene Diction, and was interested enough to look for the other links. I know that Julie D has been reading The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, and this seems to be some of the same. I am a person who sees science as a tool, but not as a god. Technology lo mismo. So much of what we regard as proven facts, on closer examination, are closer to statistical deductions masquerading as gospel truth. I don't remember who said it (Mark Twain?) but I think of the saying, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics."

Happy New Year

| | Comments (6)

I've noticed that I often don't seem to have topical to the date(or even the season) posts up on this blog. It's probably because I really don't pay that much attention most of the time - I've been known to look at my husband and ask him what day of the week it is. And I am so glad that most supermarkets now take ATM cards, because I used to look really ridiculous asking the clerk to tell me the date.
I used to at least be able to look in my Magnificat and get half a clue, but about 6 months ago my dearly beloved took a shine to the Magnificat and I was no longer able to carry it with me everywhere.

Ah, but I had my revenge! I thought about getting him his own subscription to Magnificat, but I then went a few steps further into POD-dom. My big Christmas present to him was the four volume set of the Liturgy of the Hours - the leather bound set with all the ribbons. Let me tell you, this is not the best time of year to be trying to learn how to navigate that baby. Between trying to figure out which set of readings apply to a day that is not only the Sunday in the octave of Christmas but is also the feast of the Circumcision (or whatever the newer name is) seemed to be baffling him. Let me just say that while waiting to say morning prayer before breakfast, the pancakes got cold.
I can hardly wait for some one to put the Liturgy of the Hours into a Palm friendly format.
Anyhow, I now get to figure out how to stuff the Magnificat into my purse. It's former space is now occupied by a CRSV Bible that I picked up when Scott Hahn spoke at a local parish.
Maybe I will have to bite the bullet and look for a slightly larger purse. I hate buying purses. Most of them are ridiculously arranged and horribly overpriced. I have never understood the fascination that some women have with them. But then, I also don't get the shoes thing. I'm happy if I can find a pair of shoes that fit and don't look too clunky and don't cost my first born male child his manhood.

We had a thoroughly boring New Year's Eve. Stayed up till midnight, popped a bottle of cheap but alcoholic bubbly, had one glass each, and went to sleep. Today we had at least one meal of traditional food - blackeye peas cooked with ham hocks and seasoned with pepper sauce, served with my yellow cornbread cooked in my cast-iron skillet. Let me know if you need a recipe.

Hoping and praying that the year of our Lord, 2006, will bring more joys than sorrows to all of us, and that we will endure if that is what He requires of us. God bless all of you.

addendum: Thanks to the readers who suggested I check out Universalis - even though I have the Today site linked, I hadn't checked it out further. I will probably download the trial version and see if it works well for me before shelling out the 30 pounds sterling for the full version.

resurrected blog!

|

Heroic Moments
another Catholic momblog
from Bill White's lovely wife

dominican blogger!

|

My British midwife friend wrote to me and many others, and I thought it important enough to share with all of you. I was fortunate enough to have lunch with her a couple of years ago as she was traveling through my part of the world. Her letter follows.
**********************
I have some news to share. Sorry if you are a list member who has no idea who I am! I have decided to going out to Indonesia to work with Robin Lim. Ibu Robin is better known in the USA as the author of After the Birth- a Woman's way to Wellness.' and she has been in Bali, Indonesia for years.

A year ago today ,a couple of midwives from the clinic in Bali which is called Bumi Sehat, hopped on a plane to Aceh and have been working there ever since.they have moved from a tent to a makeshift hut but conditions are very primitive and the popluation still traumatised.

February 2013

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28    
The WeatherPixie
CURRENT MOON

About this Archive

This page is an archive of entries from January 2006 listed from newest to oldest.

December 2005 is the previous archive.

February 2006 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.