The other day as I was driving to work I saw a whole tree full of Blue Herons. it was an early morning, but there they were, their silhouettes black against a stormy morning sky. Strange, really to think that I drove on by, thinking only "that's odd".  As my week continued I forgot about the birds until  I found myself going to sleep one night and all I could think about was this tree, and the twenty or thirty Blue herons who had perched themselves within it. I just kept thinking how bazaar and beautiful it was, these majestic and patient birds, so many of them and only one tree. it bothered me so much that night that I actually got out of bed ( those of you who know me, this is a great accomplishment indeed) And I sat in my living room thinking about what I had seen and wondering why I hadn't stopped my car, why I had just driven by and forgotten this sight. It was so unlike me, so unlike the person I used to be, where id a tree full of Blue Herons had been in my pathway, I not only would have stopped. I would have analyzed it to death. It would have had immediate pertinance to my existance. It would have moved me.

This experience and thoughtfulness in itself made me realise something about myself that I had not. For as much as I have gained, I have lost more than I could have imagined. I used to feel the wind in my hair and think of God. I used to look around me for anything to point me in the right direction. In fact, there have been moments in my life, where I feel God has directed me using these little clues. Always in answer to my prayers, of course and mainly when I least expected it. The thing is, I started talking to God again lately...I am sure he tried to respond in other ways, but my talking to God this time really was just out of pure selfishness. It was a one sided conversation. It was " Hey there God... I would like this...oh and this...yes and this.. sooner than later please..thanks so much" and then me...wandering off, not listening to his response or even really caring to care. My life is too busy now to care. Right?

Except in the middle of the night.

Especially on a work night.

So I began doing what I would have done before... research. And what do you know?

The Blue Heron is a symbol for early Christains to have Patience to wait for the truth.

A whole tree of Patience for truth.

A whole tree of patience for truth that I zoomed on by in my busy life.

WHY GOD MADE MOMS     All answers given by 2nd grade
school children to the following questions :

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean. 
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background, like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom . You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Mom s work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Mom s know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Mom s have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it , she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

There are certain times in life where it seems that even if you make no decision at all regarding an important life event, that in itself is deciding to keep things the way they are. The problem is that by keeping the status quo, things can go downhill very very quickly....if that is the trend of motion already

I need to make a major decision and very soon. The problem is, whatever decision I make very much influences the whole rest of my life, the rest of my childrens lives, and my career. It's a very scary thought taking a step into unkown territory...sometimes its even scarier stepping into once known territory. And to step away from the finacial security I have worked so very hard to gain...and into a life where my primary reason is my son's well being. I have been there before, different time and place. I have wanted to build a future where I know he can be taken care of, but recent events have led me to believe that maybe he needs me more now...then later. Maybe this very particular moment in time IS the one that will make the difference. How do you know?

I think that if I have learned anything from the last two years of what I have been through, then its this: If you do not take big chances, then you cannot make big gains. I think I can weather the storm ahead, I think I can. Thinking is only the first step.....the rest is the hard part. I need him to be able to weather the storm, I can't do it for him.......and that is a completely different situation.

I came across an article on the Taos hum today and thought it would be interesting to put this out there to the group and see if our scientific minds can brainstorm reasons that 2% of the population in Taos, New Mexico can hear this hum. Any Ideas as to why this happens? Please share...

There is something to be said about the US putting sanctions on Iran on Thursday and it has nothing to do with terrorism, oil or weapons. Instead it's about money and trade routes. Somebody very bright said to me ten years ago that the foresaw the third world war between Russia, China, Iran against the US and India. I would just like to say that at the time I may have questioned whether this person was just paranoid...now I look back and rethink what he said, he was right. That the US has an interest in the middle east not as much for oil as for a massive trade route that can supply most of Eastern Europe and Asia with cheaper goods. The problem is that with all of the conflict in this area, it is impossible until there is some sort of organized peace. The thing is, that Russia, China and Iran all want certain rights to this passage without having it be overseen by the US. Whoever brings peace to this area gets a big payoff...that is what the war in Iraq is about. It also is what these sanctions are about. It's also why Russia is backing Iran.

I pulled this off of the web...so its not my writing, but I think it's interesting that with all of the debate on vaccinations, I wonder if the parents of the children in Nigeria were told they might get the disease. following is the article:

Polio outbreak sparked by vaccine

Since 2005, 69 children paralyzed by virus derived from the oral medicine

Sunday Alamba / Ap A man pushes a child with polio in a wheelchair as they beg from passing motorists, in Lagos, Nigeria.

Updated: 9:58 a.m. PT Oct 5, 2007

LONDON - For doctors struggling to eradicate polio, fighting the paralytic disease can mean vaccinating children in war-torn regions, persuading governments to pay attention, and begging donors for money.

A recent polio outbreak in Nigeria revealed another potential problem: the vaccine commonly used against it. Last week, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that since 2005, 69 Nigerian children have been paralyzed by a polio virus derived from the oral vaccine. Two other cases made it to Niger.

Such cases are not unknown, but the continuing Nigerian outbreak is the biggest ever, and follows a boycott of the vaccination campaign in Africa's most populous country because of unfounded fears the vaccine was a Western plot to sterilize Muslims.

Officials now worry that the latest Nigerian outbreak traced to the vaccine could trigger another vaccine scare.

"This is the oral polio vaccine paradox," said Olen Kew, a virologist at the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This vaccine is the most effective tool we have against the virus, but it's like fighting fire with fire."

Dangerous mutation
What's needed to stop Nigeria's outbreak is more of the same vaccine that caused it.

The oral polio vaccine contains a weakened version of polio virus. Children who have been vaccinated pass the virus into the water supply. Other children who then play in or drink that water pick up the vaccine's virus, which gives them some protection against polio.

But in very rare instances, as the virus passes through unimmunized children, it can mutate into a form that is dangerous enough to spark new outbreaks.

That happened for the first time in 2001, when 22 children were paralyzed in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Subsequent vaccine-caused polio outbreaks have occurred in the Philippines, Madagascar, China and Indonesia.

Experts say these types of outbreaks only happen when not enough children are vaccinated. In northern Nigeria, only about 39 percent of children are fully protected against polio.

In the West, an injectable polio vaccine with inactivated virus is used, to avoid the problems with the oral vaccine. But the oral vaccine used in the developing world is much cheaper than the injectable vaccine, and can be given to children by volunteers with little training.

The latest outbreak linked to the vaccine comes "in the wake of all the other problems they've had in Nigeria," said Dr. Donald A. Henderson, who led WHO's smallpox eradication campaign in the 1970s.

Keeping quiet
In 2003, politicians in northern Nigeria canceled vaccination campaigns for nearly a year, claiming the vaccine was a Western plot to sterilize Muslims. That led to an explosion of polio, and the virus jumped to approximately two dozen countries worldwide.

Now, health officials' decision to keep quiet about the outbreak linked to the vaccine for so long — WHO and CDC have known about the Nigerian outbreak since last year — may look suspicious.

Dr. David Heymann, WHO's top polio official, said that because WHO considered the Nigerian outbreak to be an "operational" issue, it was unnecessary to share the information beyond its scientific committees.

CDC's Kew said added: "The people who are against immunization may seize on anything that could strengthen their position, even if it's scientifically untenable."

Rumors are still rife among Nigerians that the vaccine is unsafe, and several religious leaders continue to lecture on its dangers. If there is another mass vaccine boycott that unleashes the virus further, that could derail the global eradication effort for good.

Nigerian health officials contacted by AP declined to comment on the situation.

"Convincing the Nigerians to take even more of this vaccine will be a tough sell," said Dr. Samuel Katz, an infectious diseases specialist at Duke University and co-inventor of the measles vaccine.

The delayed reporting of the Nigeria situation may also have delayed the scientific response. If WHO had shared information sooner, "the global research community could have started its laboratory and epidemiological studies earlier," said Dr. Isao Arita, of the Agency for Cooperation in International Health in Japan.

Scientists are still learning how the oral polio vaccine behaves, and need details when problems arise to determine how to avoid similar outbreaks in the future.

More than 10 billion doses have been given to children worldwide, and the vaccine has been credited with cutting polio incidence by more than 99 percent since 1988. Many more children are still paralyzed by the wild polio virus as compared to the virus in the vaccine.

But no vaccine is risk-free.

WHO said that changing the vaccination strategy is unnecessary. "It would be nice if we had a more stable oral polio vaccine, but that's not the way it is today," Heymann said. "We will continue working the way we have been working because we don't want children to be paralyzed anywhere."

Vertical farming in the future? I thought this was pretty neat. Take a look at some of the innovative ideas for sky-farms and let me know which one is your favorite! 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21153990/?pg=1#Innovation_VerticalFarming_071005

So tomorrow launches the Ancestry.com mtDNA deal, where you can send in a swab of your cheek saliva and find out who your ancestors are. Pretty cool use of science. Sure, flawed in some ways. Read here for more info:

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/labnotes/archive/2007/10/15/shaking-the-family-tree-with-recreational-genetics.aspx

My question has less to do with the capitalization of science, and more with the history of the FBI's research on this particular subject.

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/april2002/miller1.htm#Population%20Data

Do they really need to know who a criminal's mother's mother is?

Maybe the spawn of my spawn will pay for that comment.

Late last school year my special needs son came home and told me a para-educator slapped him in the face. Now, I know that my son is not the easiest child to deal with. I know he can be stubborn. I also know that in the context of world problems, this ranks fairly low on the list of human priorities. But to me, in my world, and in his, it's a big deal.

The woman, protected by her union, still works at the school he attends. The reason? Because nobody SAW her do it. The fact that my son recapped the situation exactly and was fearful every time he saw her, the school finally concluded that she could not be within eyesight of my son. Still, she is there, with some other child... and that bothers me.

There have been other incidents that I have heard of, a few weeks ago a local news story was broadcast about the same type of abuse. And a friend of mine told me another story of a parent she knew who saw a special needs child being hit with a shoe in a classroom by himself with his para.

I am not looking for answers on why this happened. I simply wanted to write it down.

Titan

The evolving map of Titan shown on msnbc.com on the 11th of October is fascinating to me. http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_071012.html. Not only does it look like art, its quite a testiment to our mapping techniques. What at one time took the human race thousands of years to do for our own planet, we are now able to do for a moon that we have not even landed on yet.