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Ramblings of a Conuly - LiveJournal.com
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Actual conversation while Evangeline was sitting on the toilet.
Evangeline: (pointing to her fingers) One. Two. Three. Four. Five. FIVE! FIVE! Connie! Is this FIVE?
Me: Uh, yes, honey, you have five fingers on that hand.
Evangeline: YAY! I HAVE FIVE!
Then she asked me for the specific names of each finger. She's really into her fingers right now, you must understand.
Evangeline's party was today.
Every day for the past month and a half, she's asked me if I was making a chocolate cake for her birthday. Sometimes she didn't ask, she just stated it. Recently, she even started upping the ante: Connie? Connie? You know, I yuv you. Yeah, I yuv you because you making CHOCOLATE CAKE for my birfday!
*eyeroll*
So I *did* make a chocolate cake, and despite having to use goat milk for sheep yogurt (that would have itself been replacing sour cream), and having to use cocoa powder for baking chocolate, and not knowing if I put the right amount of boiling water in and having to guess... yeah, despite all that?
Best cake I've made this year.
Light, spongy, delicious.
The frosting was good too.
I rock.
Weird quote of the day.
In a murder mystery. They've just gotten their second death threat. This one is signed! With... "a crude attempt at a smiley face".
A what now? It's a damn smiley face! Two dots. A curve. Maybe a circle. How can it possibly get any cruder?
Editors, please. Do your jobs, and we can all pretend that the writers are simply brilliant folks.
I'm still getting the CSA, until November!
I just forgot to post the past two weeks. *blush* Got some potatoes, though - that's why I asked about them.
Anyway, this week I got 4 winter squash, 4 peppers, 4 pounds potatoes, half a pound salad greens, almost a whole pound of chard, a quart each of apples, plums, and pears, a dozen eggs, and that's it.
*winces*
Bad, bad, *bad* writing here.
Somebody asked about the odds of having a third boy (instead of a girl for a change) and I responded that they're the same as they ever were. But just in case, I googled - I mean, I don't know, I suppose it's likely that some men are prone to make more X sperm or more Y sperm, but even then the odds are the same, they've just always been skewed, right?
So I read this site that claims:
One sample, containing only the “small, round-headed sperm” presumed to be X sperm, belonged to a man whose family had produced only daughters for over 250 years.
The site goes on to explain how this idea was mistake, etc. etc. etc., but I'm still hung up on the fact that apparently this man's family had produced only girls. He must simply not exist! Nor his father, nor his father's father....
Sheesh.
Yet Another Article about how Latin Isn't So Dead After All.
These articles come around periodically, they might as well just reprint the old ones.
A Dead Language That’s Very Much Alive
By WINNIE HU
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — The Latin class at Isaac E. Young Middle School here was reading a story the other day with a familiar ring: Boy annoys girl, girl scolds boy. Only in this version, the characters were named Sextus and Cornelia, and they argued in Latin.
“I can relate, but what the heck are they saying?” said Xavier Peña, a sixth grader who started studying Latin in September.
Enrollment in Latin classes here in this Westchester County suburb has increased by nearly one-third since 2006, to 187 of the district’s 10,500 students, and the two middle schools in town are starting an ancient-cultures club in which students will explore the lives of Romans, Greeks and others.
The resurgence of a language once rejected as outdated and irrelevant is reflected across the country as Latin is embraced by a new generation of students like Xavier who seek to increase SAT scores or stand out from their friends, or simply harbor a fascination for the ancient language after reading Harry Potter’s Latin-based chanting spells.
The number of students in the United States taking the National Latin Exam has risen steadily to more than 134,000 students in each of the past two years, from 124,000 in 2003 and 101,000 in 1998, with large increases in remote parts of the country like New Mexico, Alaska and Vermont. The number of students taking the Advanced Placement test in Latin, meanwhile, has nearly doubled over the past 10 years, to 8,654 in 2007. While Spanish and French still dominate student schedules — and Chinese and Arabic are trendier choices — Latin has quietly flourished in many high-performing suburbs, like New Rochelle, where Latin’s virtues are sung by superintendents and principals who took it in their day. In neighboring Pelham, the 2,750-student district just hired a second full-time Latin teacher after a four-year search, learning that scarce Latin teachers have become more sought-after than ever.
On Long Island, the Jericho district is offering an Advanced Placement course in Latin for the first time this year after its Latin enrollment rose to 120 students, a 35 percent increase since 2002. In nearby Great Neck, 36 fifth graders signed up last year for before- and after-school Latin classes that were started by a 2008 graduate who has moved on to study classics at Stanford (that student’s brother and a friend will continue to lead the Latin classes this year).
Latin is also thriving in New York City, where it is currently taught in about three dozen schools , including Brooklyn Latin, a high school in East Williamsburg that started in 2006. Four years of Latin, and two of Spanish, are required at the new high school, where Latin phrases adorn the walls and words like discipuli (students), magistri (teachers) and latrina (bathroom) are sprinkled into everyday conversation.
“It’s the language of scholars and educated people,” said Jason Griffiths, headmaster of Brooklyn Latin. “It’s the language of people who are successful. I think it’s a draw, and that’s certainly what we sell.”
Adam D. Blistein, executive director of the American Philological Association at the University of Pennsylvania, which represents more than 3,000 members, including classics professors and Latin teachers, said that more high schools were recognizing the benefits of Latin. It builds vocabulary and grammar for higher SAT scores, appeals to college admissions officers as a sign of critical-thinking skills and fosters true intellectual passion, he said.
“Goethe is better in German, Flaubert is better in French and Virgil is better in Latin,” Dr. Blistein said. “If you stick with it, the lollipop comes at the end when you get to read the original. In many cases, it’s what whets their appetite.”
Latin was once required at many public and parochial schools, but fell into disfavor during the 1960s when students rebelled against traditional classroom teachings and even the Roman Catholic Church moved away from Latin as the official language of Mass. Interest in Latin was revived somewhat in the 1970s and began picking up in the 1980s with the back-to-basics movement in many schools, according to Latin scholars, but really took off in the last few years as a language long seen as a stodgy ivory tower secret infiltrated popular culture.
Harry Potter books use Latin words for names and spells, and at least two have been translated into Latin (“Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis”), as have several by Dr. Seuss (“Cattus Petasatus”). Movies like “Gladiator” and “Troy” have also lent glamour to the ancient world.
“Sometimes you need to know Latin to understand that part,” said Adrian McCullough, 10, a sixth grader in New Rochelle who plans to reread the Harry Potter books now that he is learning Latin.
Marty Abbott, education director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, said it was possible that Latin would edge out German as the third most popular language taught in schools, behind Spanish and French, when the preliminary results of an enrollment survey are released next year. In the last survey, covering enrollment in 2000, Latin placed fourth. “In people’s minds, it’s coming back,” she said. “But it’s always been there. It’s just that we continue to see interest in it.”
Ms. Abbott, a former Latin teacher, said that today’s Latin classes appeal to more students because they have evolved from “dry grammar and tortuous translations” to livelier lessons that focus on culture, history and the daily life of the Romans. In addition, she said, Latin teachers and students have promoted the language outside the classroom through clubs, poetry competitions and mock chariot races.
In Scarsdale, N.Y., where Latin enrollment rose by 14 percent to 80 this year, the high school sponsors a Roman banquet on the Ides of March during which students come wearing tunics and wreaths in their hair. Seniors serve bread, olives, roasted chicken and grapes to younger students, and all of them break bread with their hands. Dr. Marion Polsky, the Latin teacher, said that former students still send her postcards written in Latin and that at least three have gone on to become Latin teachers.
Here in New Rochelle, the district introduced a Latin class for sixth graders last year and is now adding a second Latin class for seventh graders. Richard Organisciak, the superintendent, said the district had spent $273,000 since 2006 to promote foreign languages including Latin. Last month, the district also started a dual-language English-Italian kindergarten and a Greek class at the high school; it is considering offering Chinese next fall.
The high school principal, Don Conetta, said he had encouraged more students to study Latin, though he acknowledged that he was hardly “a stellar student” himself in Latin and came to appreciate its value only later in life.
“If my Latin teachers could hear me now,” he said. “I took three years in high school, and four semesters in college, and I can’t remember the first line of Cicero’s orations.”
Students like Ciera Gardner, a sophomore, started Latin three years ago with two friends who have since dropped out because of the workload. But Ciera, an aspiring actress, said that she had persisted because Latin would look good on her college applications and that in the meantime, it had already helped her decipher unfamiliar words while reading scripts. “It’s different,” she said. “Everyone says ‘I take Spanish’ or ‘I take Italian,’ but it’s cool to say ‘I take Latin.’ ”
Max Gordon, another sophomore, said that he had learned more about grammar in Latin class than in English class. And he occasionally debates the finer points of grammar with his mother, Kit Fitzgerald, a video artist who studied Latin, while washing dishes after dinner.
“In some ways, it’s really frustrating,” he said. “I’ll hear someone say something that isn’t grammatically correct and I’ll cringe.”
It's a pity that the last quote is from a boy who now feels that Latin Grammar == English Grammar.
Last night, the niecelings got to bed late.
So did I!
So when Evangeline didn't wake up for breakfast, I argued to let her sleep - and then I went and took a nap on Jenn's bed.
This seemed perfectly safe. Past experience has shown that Evangeline, upon waking, will habitually go into her mother's room. If I am there instead of her mother, she'll scream, thus waking me up. Then I can take her to the bathroom, feed her, and tell her to STOP SCREAMING ALREADY... but maybe not in that order.
Around 10:30 I woke up and realized that she hadn't gotten me up yet. So I went in to check on her - and she was up and cheerful.
Whoops.
Now, I don't know if she woke up when I entered her room (she was on her hammock, so that's a distinct possibility, and in fact almost certainly what happened) or if she woke up earlier and was just... I don't know... behaving? but I figure that as long as she was happy and staying out of trouble, it's a moot point.
Right?
But her cheerful smile upon waking was definitely very weird.
Jenn thinks you guys might not realize the sarcasm here
Rest assured, I do actually recognize that the ability to put ones foot above ones head is special.
Jenn hasn't seen the playground trick yet, but she gasped in amazement at the video I took of Ana climbing a wall taller than her head. As in, she has to stand on tippytoe just to reach the top.
No footholds. No handholds. Just a cement wall, and a rail along the top of it.
It's actually easier than the playground climbing, because she doesn't have to be flexible or anything. All she has to do is jump, grab the railing, and then scramble up somehow while holding on for dear life.
It's easy because you don't need much upper arm strength to lift only 35 pounds, even when those 35 pounds are *you*.
Okay, here's one that kept me up all night.
I know that some types of potatoes are good for baking, and some types of potatoes are good for boiling, and some are good for frying. Others are "all-purpose" potatoes, presumably good (or bad) at everything.
But... how do you know which is which? I mean, if I handed you a random potato, and you didn't know what variety it was, and maybe you'd just found out that there are more than three types of potatoes in this world... how would you know what to do with it without asking?
An article about a common but rarely-diagnosed auto-immune disorder
Sjogren’s Disease
An Autoimmune Disorder, in Camouflage
By JANE E. BRODY
How can a disease that afflicts some three million Americans, 90 percent of them women, be as obscure as Sjögren’s syndrome? Experts say it is one of the three most common autoimmune disorders, but few lay people know of it, and doctors rarely think of it when patients describe its various symptoms.
Medical students, even those in postgraduate training, learn little or nothing about Sjögren’s (pronounced SHOW-grins), in which the body attacks its own secretory glands and tissues. Diagnosis can be difficult because symptoms vary widely from patient to patient, and many of those symptoms mimic those of a host of other conditions.
As a result, “this major women’s health problem is still largely underdiagnosed and undertreated,” said Dr. Frederick Vivino, a rheumatologist at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center and director of the Penn Sjögren’s Syndrome Center in Philadelphia.
But Dr. Vivino said in an interview that there had been “a dramatic change” in the diagnosis and management of Sjögren’s in the last 5 to 10 years. Although it was originally listed in the National Organization for Rare Disorders registry, recent population studies in the United States and in Britain have documented Sjögren’s as the second-most common autoimmune rheumatic disease, behind rheumatoid arthritis.
The disorder was first described in 1892 in a 42-year-old man and called Mikulicz’s syndrome. But the diagnosis fell into disuse because it seemed to encompass so many conditions. The syndrome was resurrected in 1933 by Henrik Sjögren, a Swedish ophthalmologist, who described 19 women suffering from dry mouth and dry eyes, the most common symptoms of the disorder.
A Spectrum of Symptoms
Lisa Worthington, 43, finally learned she had Sjögren’s last December, after six to eight years of confusing health problems.
“Sjögren’s is like a chameleon — it causes so many disparate symptoms throughout the body,” Ms. Worthington said in an interview. “It can seem like multiple sclerosis, stroke, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, chronic fatigue, reflux and a bunch of other diseases. I’ve often had to explain it to physicians.”
Ms. Worthington now runs a marketing and public relations agency out of her home on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which permits her to take time off when her health demands it. Before receiving a correct diagnosis and treatment for her spectrum of symptoms, Ms. Worthington said, she was told she had fibromyalgia, a reasonable explanation for her chronic muscle fatigue, joint pain and weakness.
“If I had to spend all day on my feet, the next day I had to stay in bed,” she said. But not until she awoke one morning with her eyes so dry she could not open them — “the lids were stuck to the eyeballs” — did a rheumatologist suggest Sjögren’s.
Though a blood test for telltale antibodies was negative, which happens in 40 percent of cases, the doctor sent her for a lip biopsy at the Sjögren Clinic at the National Institutes of Health, which confirmed his suspicions.
The all-too-common delay in diagnosis, which Dr. Vivino said still averages six years, can result in serious complications, including damage to vital organs.
Prompt diagnosis is also important because people with Sjögren’s face a 44-fold increased risk of developing lymphoma and must be alert to early signs of this cancer.
Changes for the Better
Dr. Vivino said that although Sjögren’s was long thought to be an affliction primarily of white women around the age of menopause, it is increasingly being recognized in nearly all population groups: younger women, women of various racial and ethnic groups, men and even children.
“About 200 pediatric cases have been identified thus far,” he said.
Ms. Worthington was 37 when she developed symptoms that prompted her to consult a doctor; knowing what she does now, she believes signs were present years earlier.
Two other important advances are the publication in 2002 of internationally accepted criteria for diagnosing primary Sjögren’s (the condition can also occur secondary to other disorders), and the development of several medications that can stimulate the flow of saliva and relieve dryness and inflammation of the eyes.
Dr. Vivino said there was also growing interest among pharmaceutical companies in biologic remedies that could cause a remission of symptoms.
Widespread Effects
Sjögren’s can affect the basics of daily living and forces its sufferers to adjust life around it.
“I have trouble swallowing,” Ms. Worthington said. “I can’t swallow anything without liquid. I always carry a bottle of water with me, long before it was fashionable. Even at night, I have to drink water frequently and, of course, use the bathroom frequently. I often wake up feeling like I never slept.”
My stepmother, Sophie Brody, also had Sjögren’s. She thought at first she had a tumor because food would become stuck in her throat. Eventually she was unable to swallow anything but pureed and liquid foods. Even to swallow those without difficulty, she had to have her esophagus dilated every three months.
Her dentist was the first to suspect Sjögren’s. Her teeth were inexplicably decaying, breaking and falling out, the result of an insufficient flow of saliva to cleanse them. Women who develop Sjögren’s in early adulthood often need complete dentures by their mid-40s, Dr. Vivino said.
Depression is another frequent component of Sjögren’s, often preceding the onset of debilitating symptoms that may make anyone depressed. In fact, doctors at Johns Hopkins Medical Center are investigating various neurological manifestations of the syndrome, including spinal inflammation that can result in a misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Because Sjogren’s affects so many organ systems, other common symptoms and signs include vaginal dryness; enlarged parotid glands, the salivary glands in front of the ears; hoarseness; chronic dry cough; recurrent sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia; an extreme sensitivity to cold; dry skin and rashes; digestive problems, including a sensitivity to gluten; thyroid disorder; kidney problems; memory problems; numbness, tingling and burning pain in the feet and hands; frequent oral yeast infections; and an altered sense of taste.
Ms. Worthington’s taste buds are now much less sensitive, she said, and when she cooks she has to be careful not to use much garlic, salt or pepper.
She uses a variety of medications to relieve her symptoms, including one that stimulates secretions throughout the body, special eye drops that treat both the dryness and inflammation, and regular eye drops throughout the day.
Now that she and her doctors know what they are dealing with, she is checked every three months by a rheumatologist for signs of lymphoma, every six months by a dentist and every year by an ophthalmologist.
An article about the ultra-Orthodox in Israel who, among other things, have *kosher phones*
Well, it's their choice to restrict their lives, can't criticize them for that, however odd I find it.
But what's interesting is the segue about the "kosher" web browser.
"If your kid puts 'banana' into Google, some of the first sites he'll get are porn," explains Chairman Moshe Weiss. "Put banana into Google on Rimon, and you get all the same sites without the porn."
You know, I've heard this argument about diapers as well, and, just to check, I went over to google and put in "banana".
Well, I have no filters on my Google, and my default is to show 100 results per page, and on that first page - no porn. None at all. Not any. If I were looking for porn, I'd be sorely disappointed right now.
Of course, I was searching in English. I suppose it's possible that your average Israeli on the street is just a lot more depraved than I am...?
Ana's school has a little dinky playstructure
In fairness, they have this dinky playstructure because they didn't have room for anything better.
But often I see little "safe" playstructures put up instead of more challenging ones because, well, "it's safer".
Let me tell you something. It's not safer. All that happens is that the kids play more dangerously on it in order to get something interesting out of the experience. They try to do the exact same things they'd do in a better playground - except that this one isn't *designed* for that, so it's not as safe as it should be. Or it's so small that they don't really have the room to do what they want to do.
So really, you've accomplished nothing. Brilliant.
Anyway, as I was saying, Ana's school has this little dinky playstructure. And lately Ana's discovered she can Do Something Cool.
She can clamber over the banister on the stairs, onto the platform, and then climb over the fence on the platform to be actually *in* the platform. From there, she can go down the slide.
Her friends can't do this, and I just can't figure it out. It's not that hard!
All she has to do is hoist herself over a chest-height fence (on a step), perch on tiptoe on her left foot on a ledge about an inch and a half wide, lift her other leg straight up until she kisses her knee and her foot is above her head, and kinda heave herself over the fence. I mean, the fence on the platform only goes up to her eyeballs! It can't be that difficult, can it?
Somehow, her friends are unable to replicate this feat. I just don't understand it.
You know what I've been seeing a *lot* of lately and want to stop?
I want people to stop - just stop - with the Healing Power of Luna Lovegood.
I'm so tired of random characters coming across Luna, taking her seriously, and being totally healed of all their prejudices and, incidentally, inner turmoil. Life doesn't work that way.
I'm also tired of everybody who runs across Luna being surprised that other people might
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