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Greetings, Quotaholics:
Patti brought up the subject of sex education in the last issue. For some
of us that consisted of rumors and tall tales told by our friends. Even
though parents didn’t seem to do a very good job of teaching about sex
back then, I suppose most of us figured it out.
But
there was one aspect of sex that everyone seemed to know was wrong. Masturbation.
I remember hearing several of my friends say they had been told that masturbation
would lead to various ills. From blindness to hairy palms, almost everyone
had been told that it would harm them in some way.
This never made much sense to me. It seems like parents would rather have
their children masturbating than experimenting with the neighborhood kids.
After having children of my own, I decided to never give any misinformation,
and most importantly, never to instill guilt.
According to an article in the U.K.’s Telegraph,
in the Extremadura region of Spain, officials have started a government
sponsored program to teach teens about masturbation.
"’The campaign is simple, clear, natural and easily understood by
the people it is aimed at, who are aged between 14 and 17,’ said Laura
Garrido, president of the Youth Council of Extremadura."
"The campaign includes leaflets, flyers, a "fanzine" and
workshops for the young in which they receive instruction on self-pleasuring
techniques along with advice on contraception and self-respect."
They even have a catchy slogan. "Pleasure is in your own hands".
Needless to say the campaign "…has sparked political controversy
and challenges traditional Roman Catholic views on sex".
"’This is an intimate subject that should be dealt with at home,’
complained local opposition leader Hernández Carrón of the
rightwing People’s party. ‘We have become the laughing stock of Spain.’"
"’They are interfering with the right of parents to educate their
own children about a matter as important as their sexuality,’ agreed the
conservative Confederation of Fathers and Mothers of Schoolchildren."
As I said, I don’t think parents or teachers should tell children that
masturbation dangerous or evil, but I doubt that most countries are ready
for it to be taught in the schools.
How did you learn about masturbation? Were you told that it would harm
you? Were you told that it was a sin? Do you think masturbation is a healthy
alternative to teen sex? Could encouraging masturbation be used to help
cut the teen pregnancy rate? Did you ever discuss it with your children?
Typing with both hands,
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Regarding Timothy Leary – “His ashes were shot into space. So his body
and brain could finally be together after all these years.” – Jim Mullen
Regarding J. Danforth Quayle’s book Standing Firm – “The year’s most
unawaited book.” – Dave Shiplett
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Shopping Trip
[Thanks Bonnie]
On a visit to Chicago,
Jill was eager to visit a posh department store about a dozen blocks
from their hotel. Her husband obligingly hailed a cab. They got in
and he told the driver, “My wife wants to go to Neiman Marcus.”
The cabby looked over his shoulder at us and said, “And the gentleman?
Does he want to go to the bank or the pawn shop?”
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“I am not here to parade my religious sentiments, but I declare I have
too much respect for the faith in which I was born to ever use it as
the basis of a political organization.”
“If I were not French I would choose to be - Scotch.”
“Let them look to the past, but let them also look to the future; let
them look to the land of their ancestors, but let them look also to
the land of their children.” - All from the seventh Prime Minister of
Canada Wilfrid Laurier
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Speak right up!
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Flocking
It’s that time of year again. Birds, once fiercely territorial from
Spring through Summer, are putting aside their differences and banding
together to move en masse to areas more conducive to survival.
Large flocks of birds are seen gathering on electrical wires looking
like they are waiting for a bus headed south. Masses of birds attack
the berries remaining on bushes to "bulk up" for the trip.
Just this week, Robins, usually carnivores, resort to eating berries
to get as much protein as possible for the energy needed to relocate
to their winter homes. Usually eating bugs and worms, they suck down
anything edible, going for the "quantity, not quality" method.
Clouds of birds blanket the skies as they join up for their migrations.
Literally hundreds of animals fly in very close proximity to one another
in an unchoreographed dance across the sky. How they manage to do so
in such numbers without bumping into one another, I can only guess.
I know it is simply instinct that draws them together. It is somewhat
entertaining to watch, however. Small groups are joined by other small
groups and individuals. The flock grows. Unspoken directions are relayed
through the group from an unknown leader and the whole flock reacts
to the movements by duplicating the maneuvers. It looks more fluid than
solid as the flock flows across the heavens.
It is sometimes amusing to my feeble mind to watch as a small flock
soars by. Inevitably there are individuals zooming along behind, trying
to catch up to the flock for that camaraderie and safety offered by
sheer numbers. In my mind I can almost hear the lone speeder saying
"Wait for me! Wait for me!"
Here’s your quiz:
Considering that humans have difficulty in masses, often bumping into
one another on roads and walkways, have you imagined yourself flying
in a migratory flock?
What type of migratory birds use your skies as their "highways"?
What flocking techniques have you witnessed as birds prepare to move
south for the winter, or north in the spring?
Flocking - Where Gang Activity Is Politically Correct
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
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Email Kirsten
“Our
care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.”
~ Seneca ~
Today I would like to tell you about Chris. I am related to Chris by
marriage. My husband has a cousin. Actually, he has a scary number of
cousins, being from a good Irish family. But this one particular cousin
has three children, one of whom is Chris. Chris is twenty years old
and he is dying of cancer.
It all started about three years ago, when Chris was a junior in high
school. He complained of a pain in his leg that wouldn’t go away, so
his parents took him to a doctor. When X-rays failed to show anything
out of the ordinary, a battery of tests was undertaken. Chris was diagnosed
with the same cancer that took the life of a Canadian hero by the name
of Terry Fox.
Within the first year of Chris’ illness, the cancer spread to his other
leg and to his lungs. A combination of surgery and chemotherapy put
him into remission, and for some time he was in reasonably good shape.
He graduated high school and went to Europe with some friends.
About a year ago, the cancer reared its ugly head again. It spread into
Chris’ spine, and ate away at three of his vertebrae. Several weeks
ago, a transplant was performed. Yes, a transplant of vertebrae - something
that I had never heard of before. It was a long operation - more than
twelve hours - but Chris got through it. There were hopes that the surgery
and the chemotherapy that followed it would save Chris.
This week, Chris was readmitted to hospital, and we were all forced
to accept the inevitable. There is no more that can be done for Chris.
There is no way to patch up parts of him, replace other parts, heal
other parts. Chris is now breathing with the aid of a machine, and just
yesterday, doctors confirmed that he has mere days to live. His parents
have been given a list of what to expect over the next few days as Chris
fades away. Chris has been taken back home, where he can spend his final
days in familiar surroundings, among the people who love him.
Along with the rest of the family, I am waiting. It is all we can do.
That and celebrate the life of this courageous young man who we have
to say goodbye to, all too soon.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
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My brain hurts. Not from actual hard work I did today, but from the
meeting I just got out of. We had a meeting like this last year that
lasted two hours, but that was basically because of one person attending
asking questions about things that he had nothing to do with. We didn’t
invite him this time, but it still lasted over an hour.
So why did it last so long? Well, we wanted to make changes to the
way things are done. Last year, we decided that Admissions would send
me a list of people that they had accepted and are now cleared to
register (we call this “moving to reg.”) They would send me this list
once a day, and I would create their accounts for my web page. I would
then send the list to our Academic Computing (”AC”) department so
they could create their e-mail accounts. Now, when I create accounts,
their password is the last 6 digits of their Social Security Number
and they have to change it the first time they log in. When AC creates
accounts, they assign passwords and have a web page that students
can use to look up their username and password. The problem with this
approach is that students would have the same username for my web
page and e-mail, but their passwords would be different. This created
some confusion with students, as they didn’t know which password to
use where.
Another problem we had is that Admissions would sometimes send more
than one list in a day. That meant I would have to stop what I was
doing, create the accounts, then send them off to AC, who also had
to stop what they were doing to create accounts. There was never a
set schedule for creating accounts, so this could happen at any time
during the day. We wanted to fix that.
So we came up with a plan. The idea is to not have Admissions send
me lists, rather I would run a report at noon on each day that would
tell me who was “moved to reg” in the previous 24 hours. I would create
their accounts for my web page, and send the list to AC, who would
have their accounts created and the lookup database updated within
24 hours. Then the students could look up their e-mail password and
change their temporary SSN password on my web page to their e-mail
password. Eventually this process will be more automated, but we figured
this will do for the Spring semester. This way we could set aside
blocks of time to create accounts, and the students would know what
their password is.
It didn’t take us long to come up with this plan, as it is very similar
to the plan we came up with last year. The problem is, Admissions
didn’t listen to us last year. There were at least 3 people sending
me lists, and they did it the way they felt like it. We had to come
up with a schedule that they would agree to. To do that, we had to
think like they thought. We already knew what they said last year,
but they didn’t do that. We had to think of what excuses they would
come up with this year.
And that hurt my brain. No one can think like them, nor make excuses
like them. I know what they’re going to say, and I don’t yet know
how to respond to it, except for to say, “What, are you bloody nuts?”
The next meeting — yet to be scheduled — is with them. Anyone got
a book on procrastination?
Tim a’Musing
Having a Ball with Yarns
E-mail Dear Tim
Comment
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Miscellaneous Tips
To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the
potatoes.
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Looks like we all know how to eat big!
Next opening line…
The leaves are beginning to fall…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
Next
week I’ll have too much to eat…..
I might be able to stand on my feet…..
After "tater" salad, dressing and ham…..
I’ll marvel at how full I am…..
And say "All root, all right, and all reet".
(You’ll have to go a long way back to understand that.) - Skeeter |
Next
week I’ll have too much to eat…..
Then a nap will be so neat…..
After all that scrumptious southern cookin’…..
I’ll get up and go lookin’…..
For a place to sit down and prop up my feet. - Skeeter |
Next week
I’ll have too much to eat—
the matzo ball soup’s really neat—
It’s good and it’s kosher
none like it the world over
it surely beats trafe-UGH-pigs’ feet. - Cassandra in New York |
Next week
I’ll have too much to eat
I planned not to have any meat
But when neighbors invite
Then their turkey I’ll sight
My earlier plan’s been defeat! - Maria in Illinois |
Next week
I’ll have too much to eat
So much I can’t see my feet
I’ll slumber and snore
When I can’t eat no more
Then I’ll get up and have me a treat - Bonnie |
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Re: Sex Education
I learned at school,
and by experience. Just like everybody else. What was taught in school
in the late 60’s early 70’s, was just enough to make you curious.
Pink eggs with bows, and blue sperms with smiley faces. Menstruation.
Animations, nothing real. My mother was pregnant before anybody had
"the talk" with her. My kids grew up seeing sexuality. We
had animals. I never hid anything from them. Any time they had a question,
I answered it. Honestly. Even if it wasn’t pretty. I don’t sugar coat
anything. I didn’t censor anything they watched, or read, or listened
to. We talked about song lyrics. They walked in on me more times than
I can count. To my knowledge, they haven’t had any STD’s, they practice
safe sex. I’ve told them plenty of times that I’m not ready to be
a grandmother. Yet. I’ve got plenty of time for that. I wish I could
have raised myself. L&K, - herm
The first time
I asked mom where babies come from, she could have just said that
they grow in mommie’s bellies, and waited a year for the next obvious
question. Instead, she gave me Biology 101, but left out all the social
aspects. I grew up thinking that I knew all about sex, but assumed
that every copulation caused conception, making it a very rare and
embarrassing act. - Bob of the North
[I thought there was a distinct possibility
that the event occurred just once per month, regardless. So I told
people my parents tried eight times to get me, not realizing how embarrassing
this was for my mother. She finally set me straight. Not eight times.
Eight months. Oh.]
Would you believe
we had to watch a truly horrible film in sixth grade? I remember it
being very graphic about certain diseases, and we were separated into
boy and girl groups to watch it. I know my mom tried to answer some
things, but basically gave me a book that explained most of it. She
had never had anything explained to her because her mom was very uptight
about sex, which explains why she got pregnant at seventeen and got
married. It’s hard to believe this happened in ultra-conservative
Oklahoma in the 60’s! - Ruth
in WA
Patti
said, "The article states that children and teens aren’t being
given adequate information leading them to make bad choices culminating
in increasing cases of STDs."
This is like saying “nuclear proliferation” is rampant
because kids in 7th grade science class haven’t learned enough
about splitting atoms. What children need is guidance, discipline
and wisdom, so they will have the appropriate tools to navigate their
coming autonomy. Nobody becomes a better driver because they understand
the airflow characteristics of a 3-angle valve job. Information is
not the answer to this situation, but rather morality. Children enter
the world as complete narcissists because they are helpless, but their
environment is filled with people who take care of every need. If
they never progress out of that mindset, they will look for “life”
to continue to cater to them and their feelings/desires forever. Morality
is the proper foundation for making relational decisions, not information,
(like the difference between philosophy and mathematics… information
is adequate when there is only one right answer). If moms and dads
abdicate the parental responsibility of training children in sexual
relationships and thrust them into adult decision making in absentia,
how come they don’t do the same when it comes to the question
“should we move to Detroit, or buy a lottery ticket from Nigeria?”
Sexual relations is an adult issue and are best navigated by “big
people”.
"The CDC estimated that 19 million new sexually transmitted
infections occur each year and half of them are seen among 15-to-24
year olds. This last fact says, conversely, the other half are cropping
up in those over 24 years old, people who supposedly were taught how
to avoid STDs by a better, less conservative, sex ed program. Or,
people who should know better. Is the high rate of infection really
a matter of "not knowing" or just the typical response of
‘bullet proof’ teens who don’t believe any of the stuff adults tell
them about all the bad things that can happen?"
In statistical analysis the best way to make sure something CAN’T
go wrong is to eliminate errors as a factor, (to keep rodent feces
out of chocolate candy, keeping mice out of the factory is more effective
than 100% inspection of product). I am now 59 years old and estimate
that I have had sex 5643 times. I have been married to the same woman
for nearly 41 years and have NEVER had an STD. Is it because I had
plenty of information to avoid those diseases or because I don’t
play “hide the chorizo” with other females?
"Do you think it is the school’s responsibility to teach your
child about sex?"
Oh, HELL no! Schools were designed to make children literate, (the
textbook used to be the Bible). Schools have degenerated to an amoral
humanistic abyss today and with no morality guiding the curriculum
they have NO tools to have wise influence in this subject matter.
It is the PARENTS who hold the responsibility for this issue and secondarily,
the extended family. - Bruce in Colorado Springs
Re: Odds
Yes, I have wondered
about the odds on things fairly often, and have been impressed by
the logic of the relevant math. There are so many almost impossible
things that could happen that it seems likely that we will see one
or more. One of the longest shots I had was one night when I fell
asleep early, and then woke up and was talking with my roommate much
later than usual. I heard a pedestrian, and my roomie got me to say
hello from our 3rd floor window. It was a guy looking for our address,
but reading a 1 as a 7, on a note from a mutual acquaintance. He was
soon back, and we got introduced. It turned out that we had been pen-pals
when we were kids. - Bob
of the North
Two things
come to mind. Being in the middle of the Monarch butterfly migration
that one time while I was hitchiking on that particular freeway onramp
on that particular day. Pure magic.
The second thing is walking on Sunset Cliffs towards Garbage Beach
one night-morning?-about 1:30 A.M. and finding a guy sitting in his
parked car with the engine running and a garden hose duct-taped to
his exhaust pipe and going in his wind-wing. (Anyone but me remember
wind-wings?) I had been partying at the foot of Newport Street and
couldn’t find a ride home so I walked. It was unusual for me to walk
home and even more unusual to take this particular route home as there
was an enormous hill to hike up at the end of the walk. This was in
the days before the 911 system. I always wonder what happened to him
and hope he made it okay. - Grammie Sammie
Re: Kate’s Dizzy Spells
Okay–here’s one
for Cliff’s odds article–but it concerns yours, actually. I remember
seeing a program years ago about a woman who had the same problem,
crippling vertigo. She went through all the tests and no one could
find out what was causing it. She finally found an ENT who had a controversial
cure for problems like this. It involved a specific rotation of the
head to re-align a small bone in her ear that had become dislodged.
I remember that she had a great deal of relief from her problem after
this. Here’s a link that might give her some answers– http://www.entandallergy.com/services/balance
- Ruth in WA
Regarding
Kirsten’s article on the girl, Kate, who has severe vertigo. I don’t
really have any suggestions to help this. However, in June 2001 or
2002, I came home from work one day feeling a bit sick to my stomach.
I lay down on the bed for a few minutes, then got up to go to the
bathroom. After 3-4 steps, it felt like someone grabbed hold of my
hair on the left side of my head and yanked down hard! Vertigo (which
I had never experienced) had hit me - the world turned completely
upside down and my body could not tell up from down. It kept wanting
to lean to the left attempting to bend my body in half. Not only that,
but it made me extremely sick - I began vomiting and kept it up for
the next several hours. The only time I could get relief was to lay
on the bed on the right side of my head with my knees drawn up under
my chest and my behind sticking up (no laughing!) and keep COMPLETELY
still. Any twitch would set off the vomiting (which by then I had
nothing left to bring up). I knew I needed to go to hospital but did
not want to risk moving. After approx 5 hours of this, I finally had
my husband drive me. By the time we got there, I had begun feeling
better and could move some without vomiting. Finding nothing else,
they diagnosed vertigo. Nothing more happened for 2 years. One day
I woke up, and again, it hit, but not 8as severe. It lasted a few
hours, again diagnosed as vertigo and it went away. It continued to
happen off and on for the next 2 years - at times it would last up
to 2-3 weeks. Never as severe as the first episode. I quit going to
the doctor because they could never give me an answer. At one yearly
visit, I mentioned it and my doctor decided to do MRI. Nothing showed.
Again, I had hearing checked, etc., nothing showed. I continued to
suffer episodes off and on. My last bad episode was in 2006. I still
have moments when the world tilts (sometimes quite suddenly) and I
just have to wait until it goes away, but thank goodness, nothing
like those earlier times! I do feel "off" on the left side
of my head most of the time (which is where my body tilts to when
the vertigo hits) and so have just decided to think it is ear related
until something else is shown. What irritates me - these episodes
have caused me to have to call in from work. When you try to explain
to someone you have vertigo, they believe it is a "bit"
of dizziness and can’t understand how it affects my life or why I
call in. I certainly feel for Kate. I couldn’t imagine if it after
that first time, it never went away and I continued to feel that way!
I pray for her and her family and hope the doctors are able to find
an answer soon. - Theresa, SC
Re: Giant Bug
One of those may
be a giant bug–but the other is a giant moth. - Ruth
in WA
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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