Vaccines and Disease - Thoughts Please

It's well known that I'm leery of over-vaccinating the Bee, and it's also known that I'm absolutely terrified of germs and illness. (It's super fun to be me.) So I've been obsessively reading about the mortal dangers posed to your child by H1N1 strain of flu, and the mortal danger you're putting your child in if you vaccinate them against it. (Sigh.)

Contents of my morning readings here:
1 Classification
1.1 Influenza C
1.2 Influenza A
1.3 Surveillance
2 History
2.1 1918 pandemic in humans
2.2 1976 U.S. outbreak
2.3 1988 zoonosis
2.4 1998 US outbreak in swine
2.5 2007 Philippine outbreak in swine
2.6 2009 outbreak in humans
3 Transmission
3.1 Transmission between pigs
3.2 Transmission to humans
3.3 Interaction with avian H5N1 in pigs
4 Signs and symptoms
4.1 In swine
4.2 In humans
4.3 Diagnosis
5 Prevention
5.1 In swine
5.2 In humans
6 Treatment
6.1 In swine
6.2 In humans
7 See also
8 Notes
9 Further reading
10 External links

So which paralyzing fear do I let rule? The fear of her dying from swine flu, or the fear of her dying or having serious side effects from a vaccine? What are you planning to do this year?

Please give me your thoughts everyone.

To go along with my intended bra shopping this weekend...

They must have caught wind of my intentions...

Can Wearing Your Bra Cause Cancer?
By Dr. Mercola
There’s little doubt that a bra is an important support device, particularly for women with large breasts who may suffer serious discomfort and even pain otherwise.
However, wearing certain types of bras might not be in your best interest. In fact, if you’re in the habit of wearing the most popular styles, you may be setting yourself up for some potentially serious health problems.
Is Your Bra Helping or Harming Your Body?
There are several potential problems with bras. And while some types of bras are worse than others, simply wearing an ill-fitting bra could spell trouble.
Many physicians and researchers now agree that wearing a tight fitting bra can cut off lymph drainage, which can contribute to the development of breast cancer,[1] as your body will be less able to excrete all the toxins you’re exposed to on a daily basis. Aluminum from antiperspirants, for example, is one potentially dangerous source of toxins that can accumulate if your lymph drainage is impaired.
Says Dr. Michael Schacter, M.D. in his article, The Prevention and Complementary Treatment of Breast Cancer[2]:
"Over 85 percent of the lymph fluid flowing from the breast drains to the armpit lymph nodes. Most of the rest drains to the nodes along the breast bone. Bras and other external tight clothing can impede flow.
The nature of the bra, the tightness, and the length of time worn, will all influence the degree of blockage of lymphatic drainage. Thus, wearing a bra might contribute to the development of breast cancer as a result of cutting off lymphatic drainage, so that toxic chemicals are trapped in the breast."...

Read the rest http://tinyurl.com/qcvtmg

PLEASE, tell me...

Have any of you felt like you absolutely had to get closure with someone? Did you attempt it, and then ultimately achieve it? Is it really something that can make you close a chapter in your life or will some things just be open forever; always there to wake up at different intervals and make you feel weird?

Yeah, Race CAN Have its Place in this Election

Here's ANOTHER letter to the Editor:

How racism works--
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the 'Keating 5'? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does: When there is a color difference, it covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another.
- Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth

Drive. Pray. Love.

The other day I felt like I needed to breathe...to get out... so I scooped up Athena and we just drove. We drove to the country, which is quite out of the ordinary for me. I guess city girls need wide open spaces from time to time as well. Who knew? It was so incredibly relaxing and meditative. I felt more calm and clear than I can ever remember. Athena just looked around and periodically smiled at me in the rear view mirror before drifting off to sleep.

I think I am officially on a spiritual quest. I've been contemplating a lot my need for a spiritual guide of some sort. The first time that thought popped into my head my subconscious accused me of being a poser. It thinks that I only got this idea because of Oprah. I don't feel the need to explain myself to that judgemental be-otch, so I think I'm going to start. We all know I'm a bit wound up. What with all the anxiety and OCD issues, etc. But that is not to say that I am not incredibly grateful for my life with Athena right now. I just want to feel good with the world. Good with the universe. Good with God. So forgive me if my blog starts following me on this quest and you find it boring. I'll still love you guys anyway.

Yes, yes it is

Since light travels faster than sound, isn't that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?

What about you?

My mom and Athena

So, my SIL Jill Marie and I were talking about parenting styles used on us as very young children, how we parent OUR children and how it can affect the way the child behaves later in life, especially the teen years.

My mom was VERY open with me, but not to the inappropriate point. There wasn't a single question she didn't answer, there wasn't a single life story/experience she didn't share (even if she wasn't proud of what she did) and therefore I was never ashamed to tell her anything I did (even if I knew she wasn't going to be happy with me). Now, this isn't to say I never got into trouble. That would be a fairytale. She grounded me every time she caught me smoking or when I stole something from Kohl's once, but I never lied to her and she never lied to me. I wasn't kept in the dark about anything and was always encouraged to ask "Why?". She was HEAVILY criticized by almost everyone in her life for being too open with me and too close to me, but she continued to do what she felt was right. Now fast-forward 10 years later and they were the ones that had the rebellious kids. I never felt the need to rebel because honestly, I didn't have anything to rebel against. She followed the philosophy of "Choose your battles" and that's something that I use today. She didn't ban things like TV from me because someone might make a fart joke on the cartoon. Now, she didn't let me watch something like "Silence of the Lambs" when I was little, but she told me why I needed to wait to watch it.

I could go on and on, but I shan't. Do you feel that this style of parenting will produce a less-apt to rebel child or did my mom just totally luck out?

I promise I'll stop soon...

But to all the Darwinians:

If a man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?

I really will be off this soon I hope. Please don't stop hanging out with me.

Can you imagine living with me???

The God Particle?

So, I still haven't stopped obsessing over the universe yet and I've been doing a little, um, light reading. Will Physicists Find God? Newsweek International Edition ... This is one article among many.

"After this experiment, will we have a final theory of how the universe was created?

It is possible that this experiment will give theoretical physicists a brilliant new idea that will explain all the particles and all the forces that we know and bring everything together in a beautiful mathematically consistent theory. But it is very unlikely that a final theory will come just from this experiment. If had to bet, I would bet it won't be that easy.
As we come closer to developing an ultimate theory of the universe, how will this impact religion?

As science explains more and more, there is less and less need for religious explanations. Originally, in the history of human beings, everything was mysterious. Fire, rain, birth, death, all seemed to require the action of some kind of divine being. As time has passed, we have explained more and more in a purely naturalistic way. This doesn't contradict religion, but it does takes away one of the original motivations for religion."

Thoughts? Especially from those that lead toward the more religious side? Is this too much for blogging?

Things to Ponder

If the universe is everything, and scientists say that the universe is expanding what is it expanding into?

It's things like this that because of my OCD, I will think about this, try to wrap my mind around it, until my head pops off or I just fall over like a fainting goat.

How is it possible... where does the universe end... why are we here... aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!! (plop)