Month: October 2009

bookmark_borderNew Math

Posted on by PaulaO

The receptionist person where I go for PT has 2 kids, one of whom is in, I think, 4th grade. She’s entertained me several times with the tough homework her kid brings home. Like:

What do the following have in common?

assess
banana
revive

There were others, but I can’t remember them. Anyone know the answer?

Last week or so we discussed math and how they are currently teaching division.

Here’s how I learned to do it. 12 into 16, then 12 into 36.

But here’s how her daughter is being taught to do it. You know that 12 will go into 162 at least 10 times so you write ten down. And you know 12 will go into 42 at least 3 times so you write 3 down. Then add the numbers on the right together and you get the answer.

How weird is that? In a way, it makes sense but not by much. Math is about breaking it down and putting it back together again. This way is about taking guesses and putting your guesses together when you’ve run out of them.

When I was in 4th grade, I had Mrs. Reel (shudder) for my math teacher. She didn’t like me because of a problem with my older sibling 2yrs prior. I didn’t like her, either. Anyway, she had me doing division in some sort of twisted way and I just could not wrap my brain around it. Instead of teaching me another way, she tried to force it on me. Didn’t work. Finally, I’d had enough and just could not do the in-class work. I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms. She got mad, drug me outside to the hall, and beat my butt with a paddle. I’d barely sat down when the school secretary came to get me. This did not please Mrs. Reel one bit because her favorite “Watch The Idiot Do the Problem” toy was leaving. She made me wait until she wrote a note to my parents (it was my grandfather who had come to get me).

That night, my father whopped me again for being a snot then sat me down (how ironic) to have me show him how bad I was at division. I tried to show him, he got all freaked out, showed me another way, and in less than 5 minutes, I could do any division problem he gave me. He went to school the next day and ripped Mrs. Reel a new you-know-what. He was furious that she’d not even tried to show me another way. He had her give me any division problem and had me do it. I did it. She was floored and, sigh, mad at me again.

As a historical side note, my grandfather came to get me that day because my mother had become very ill. That day was the beginning of a new phase of my life. Mrs. Reel’s treatment of me was just a small part of a huge upheaval but I remember it better than the rest. Perhaps because it was something my young brain could grasp while the rest of it was chaos.

bookmark_borderWhy I Won’t Get the Flu Shot

Posted on by PaulaO

…nor the H1N1 flu shot/snort (aka swine flu).

When I was younger, I had an aunt get the flu shot. She was promptly put into the hospital within hours, if not sooner. My older sibling got the shot a few years later when it was “safer” and he, too, became ill. (yes, yes, they’ve allegedly gotten better–again–since then, but…)

Everyone I know who has the flu shot each year gets sick more often than I do. They seem to have several “colds” and flu-like illnesses. And almost all of them say things like “Imagine how sick I’d be if I didn’t get that shot!”.

Mama Nature uses viruses (and diseases and other things) as a form of population control. The human population has not truly been under her influence for a long time. But she keeps trying and we keep beating it. So she comes up with stronger and worse illnesses in hopes to thin our ranks to more sane levels. Some day, she will succeed and as I lay dying from it, I will be mumbling “told ya so, I did I did”.

They’ve already proven that over-using antibiotics can cause super germs. I’m waiting for the super virus to appear. Think HIV was bad? Combine the over-use of alleged vaccines with the Mama Nature element, and there’s a worse one being brewed right now.

When exposed to a disease naturally, our bodies build up natural defenses. Having chicken pox as a child is a good thing. Having it as an adult whose vaccine ran out is not. When our dad got mumps, Mom put us in bed with him, hoping we’d get it early. We didn’t, but we’ve never caught it since then either. Perhaps we were exposed enough to build up (gasp!) a natural immunity to it.

But probably the main reason I won’t get a vaccine for H1N1 is part economics, part conspiracy theory, and part “too good too soon”. Someone is making loads of money from this vaccine. Tons. Add in the mass hysteria and the sugar-coated media coverage, and whoever is making the money is rolling in it, not even bothering to count it anymore. The vaccine was created fairly fast, kinda like they knew ahead of time. And while I truly believe the nature of vaccines and their creation have become common place, I don’t agree it is so common that this mass produced vaccine has been thoroughly tested and proven to cause less harm than the illness it is trying to prevent.

Toss in the mess of ingredients that may or may not be in vaccines and the dangers they may or may not cause, and I say again “Nope, not gonna get it.”

Lorna, however, will probably be getting it. We debate the pros and cons. We counter each other’s arguments. Yet neither of us will be swayed from our position. She listens to NPR while out delivering the mail and so has heard more reports and interviews than I have and feels more informed. I need to ask her if she’s heard any reports and interviews against the vaccine.

In trying to come up with linkages to share and to help make my position, I found a bunch of contradictory essays and very little facts for either side. One would say “Important Person said [statement] to Congress” and the other would say “And then Important Person continued with [statement]”. “Statistics say X number of This Type of Human reacted This Way” and another would say “And compared to This Other Type of Human, this happened instead”. There’s the squalene, the mercury, the gp120, the MF-59, and the ‘WTF is in this thing’ issues.

But this is my blog so I can say what I want and it is up to you to argue or agree. My opinion (if you ain’t figured it out by now) is Don’t get it. Wait a while. The vaccine’s availability will be limited at first anyway. Wait to see how many of these get sick(er), contract weird illnesses (Gulf War Syndrome), or die while you wait:

  • Pregnant women
  • Persons who live with or provide care for infants under 6 months of age
  • Healthcare and emergency services personnel
  • Children and young adults aged 6 months to 24 years of age
  • Persons aged 25-64 who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications

NOTE: If you have MS or any other immuno-suppressed disease, it is advised you not use the “live” nasal version of this vaccine.

bookmark_borderInternet and Email Hoaxes

Posted on by PaulaO

Got another one today from a well meaning friend. I like her a lot which is why I am gentler with her than I am with other people who send me such stuff.

You get an email that says “X is free if you…” or “send this to everyone you know!” or “send this to X # of people and…”. And it sounds good. Real good. Something in you wants to hit the FWD button in your email program. If this is you, STOP.

First thing you do is go to Snopes.com and look it up. Or do a simple Google search. In this case, I searched for “Ericsson T18 & R320 laptop promotion“. Yes, I already knew it was a hoax but I needed linkages. Oh, and both the “free” laptops? They’re cell phones. Old ones, too.

A few seconds will save yourself embarrassment and will help stop spam.

In the email I got today from my friend, there was even a statement that said “I did check it with Snopes and it is legit”. Don’t believe it. If a promotion needs such a statement, then it probably is false.

You know an email’s claims are a hoax if:

  1. There are more than 2 FWDs in the subject line.
  2. There are more than 3 exclamation points in the subject line and more than 3 in the post itself. (Unless they are really excited to get an A on that math test, delete it.)
  3. More than 2 words in all caps. THIS IS REAL!!!! THIS IS NOT A HOAX!!!!!!!!
  4. Tells you to send it to everyone you know.
  5. Tells you to send it to X number of people and something great will happen.
  6. Tells you to “keep this email going!!!!!!!”.
  7. Offers you something free or something free will come to you if you do what the email says.
  8. Says some sick kid wants X number of emails/cards/phone calls so he can get money to cure him of his cancer.

Just keep in mind that no business will give away free things based on number of emails you send; there’s no way to trace how many times or how long or how often an email is sent in order for something to happen to you or for you; and while our hearts go out to sick kids, puppies, and veterans, they gain nothing from forwarded emails.

Two final things: if you absolutely cannot resist forwarding an email, leave my name off of it and/or delete all the other forwarded addresses in the body of the email.

bookmark_borderA Matter of Words

Posted on by PaulaO

I see gender as one’s physical design. I see sex as being, well, what we do with that physical design. However, I also see gender as a thing of society, not a more simple thing of science.

Male is a gender with a penis, scrotum, and a ton of testosterone. Female is a gender with ovaries, uterus, and a lot of estrogen. Basically. But like gender and sex, male and female are not always that well defined.

I bring this up because of Caster Semenya, the 18 yr old African athlete who is going through something no 18 yr old should have to face. Her gender is being publicly examined, twisted, ridiculed, and discussed across the globe.

It all started when Semenya won the world championship for the 200m race. Several other athletes decided that the huge margin in time (I think it was nearly 2 minutes) meant that Semenya was actually a male. Not that she is an extraordinary athlete, no, that would have been too much into the spirit of the true competition.

And she’s just 18.

When babies are born, doctors look at one place on the body and announce boy or girl. The parents take that infant home and raise it according to what the doctor pronounced. Pink vs blue. Sometimes, a doctor looks and sees something different, something that is part one and part the other. If the infant’s anatomy contains some of this and some of that, the term is “intersex” (hermaphroditic is considered an incorrect term and is no longer used).

There’s a wonderful article on Medhelp.org that refers to another in Semenya’s shoes, María José Martínez Patiño. The article describes, in decent English, how a fetus becomes male or female. It also mentions a syndrome called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. Maria Patino isn’t the only female athlete to face this condition. With a statistic of 1 in 20,000 births, it is not *that* uncommon. In 2006, Santhi Soundarajan, an athlete from India, faced the same scrutiny. The article says this (bolding is mine):

Since testosterone helps in building muscle and strength, an AIS case would not give an XY female athlete any kind of competitive advantage.

Seven of the eight women who tested positive for Y chromosones during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics had AIS. They were allowed to compete.

We can hope that this is what will happen to Semenya. That she will be allowed to keep her medal. But whether or not she will be allowed to compete again? Who knows. I hope they choose well.

Oh! Almost forgot!

Caster Semenya won the 800 metres race in style. The defending world champion came in second, and a full two minutes behind the speedster, Semenya. Semenya got the gold and some tongues began to wag. First they tested her for drugs and discovered to their chagrin that she was as clean as an unused whistle. Next they decided to confirm whether she was actually a woman.

(…)

At this point I expected women rights group to be up in arms, fighting for Semenya and stopping men from laying claim to one of their own. Whatever happened to the women who proclaimed in the streets and on the hilltops that whatever a man can do a woman can do even better? Here was Semenya trying to prove that, and the wicked men stopped her. And the women yawned and looked idly away.

Now take the case of Usain Bolt. Like Semenya, Bolt left the other men in the 100 and 200 metres races gasping for breath and looking at the back of his head. Even Michael Johnson, an Olympic medalist, has described him as a freak of nature. Bolt was tested for drugs and he came out clean. And the old school folks in IAAF rested the matter there and went their sloppy way.

And this sucks plenty because the treatment of Bolt is not fair (not fair at all) to Semenya. Have they thought of testing Bolt to see whether he is half animal and half man? No. Yet if you look at Bolt very closely, he would remind you of the last time you saw a horse. Why have they not tested him to find out whether he is more of a horse than a man? My submission is that the man has dual -species status ” he is part horse and part man. Yet IAAF is minded to allow this horse -man keep running and stop Semenya from running.

(source)

bookmark_borderTeaser

Posted on by PaulaO

I’m writing again. Started working on Harri and Liz’s story, aka BG3, aka “Butch Girls and Stereotypes”. Yes, another damn romance. Here’s the beginning:

Liz Marsh refused to cry. Closing and taping shut the last box would make her cry. She could feel it. Her cheeks hurt. Her eyes burned. No words were capable of coming out of her mouth. Not happening. Unless she cried. That wasn’t happening either. She’d not cried when he’d died. She’d not cried at the funeral service or at the graveside. She’d heard whispers of how brave she was and others saying she just was a cold bitch.

She sat on the edge of the desk and picked up the picture frame closest to her. The photograph was of a small girl—herself–holding a cane fishing pole in one hand and the line with the six pound catfish in the other. She put the photo down and picked up the next one. It was of herself and an older man sitting at a table outdoors. It was at one of the church homecomings or something. Her grandfather was laughing and pointing at the pile of chicken bones next to Liz’s plate.

God how she missed him.

She clutched the photo to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut.

It’s not like he died suddenly. The cancer had been draining Tobias Marsh dry for a while, the last six months being the hardest. He had died at last, his body a ravaged husk, just two weeks ago. With him had died a huge chunk of Liz’s reason for living. She clutched the photograph in a half-hearted attempt to hold what was left of her together.

“Told you it was too soon to be dealing with this mess.” Someone spoke from the doorway.

Now she could cry.