posted by amanda on Nov 12
“A sandwich is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla and stuffed with a choice filling of meat, rice, and beans,” Locke wrote in a decision released last week.
Thank goodness that we have judges around so that such matters can be resolved!
posted by amanda on Nov 7
Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes…in You and Your Kids
By: Joanne Miller
So, I’m still plugging through Turansky and Miller’s Say Goodbye to Whining… and I am growing a bit more disappointed with each chapter. Its such a bummer. This is a book that I wanted to love. It is on the mainstream Christian radar, and I would love for a GBDish book to be out there that didn’t even have to address spanking. After all, spanking is not the issue.
So I love the way that they say to get to the heart of issues. I couldn’t agree more.
If you discipline your child to change behavior but a bad attitude remains, then discipline is incomplete… Step back and ask yourself, “Why is this child struggling with a bad attitude?” This will help you focus your discipline. One mom recognized that her five-year-old son needed more sleep…
and so on and so forth. You get the idea. They are trying to get to the heart of the issue and not leave their children with a seething anger. Fabulous! I agree!
And then, out of nowhere…
“Mary, I’d like you to go and clean up the toys in your room.”
“But Moommmm!” Mary says yet again, rolling her eyes and huffing off to her room.
“Mary, come here, please. I can tell you’re having a bad attitude by your tone of voice. If you can’t obey with a good attitude, then I’m going to give you another job when you’re done with this one. Now I’d like to hear a different response.”
Hunh? That really sounds like dealing with the heart of the issue. They seem to contradict themselves over and over! So far, I’d still say this book has more good than bad, but it may be more of a “gateway drug” than a full leap to a grace based life. It sort of bridges the gap, but is not firmly in either camp.
Oh well, I’ll keep you up to date on my readings 
posted by amanda on Oct 31
LONDON — In the first comprehensive global study of sexual behavior, British researchers found that people aren’t losing their virginity at ever younger ages, married people have the most sex, and there is no firm link between promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases.
I’m not exactly sure why it is surprising that married people have sex more often than teens. Lets think about this - pretty much every married person has someone to have sex with… the same is not true for teens.
Its interesting to see the myths that were proved false in this study. Contrary to popular belief, sexual activity is not starting earlier, women tend to lose their virginity earlier than men, people in more developed countries (not Africa or other countries with high STD rates) are more likely to have multiple partners, and married women are more at risk for STDs, because they are less likely to have safe sex.
Interesting.
posted by amanda on Oct 25
MetroWestDailyNews.com - Local / Regional News: Police say Myspace tiff led to biting
A Framingham man angry that his ex-girlfriend removed him as a friend from her Myspace.com Web page, repeatedly bit, punched and then choked her on the weekend, police said.
Hmmm, I can’t imagine why she would possible remove him from her friends list. He seems like such a great guy :/
posted by amanda on Oct 20
ATLANTA — A lovesick teenage girl slammed her car into oncoming traffic in a suicide attempt as she counted down “ten, nine, eight …” in text messages to the female classmate who spurned her, authorities said. The teenager survived but a woman in the other car, a mother of three, died.Sixteen-year-old Louise Egan Brunstad faces a charge of felony murder for ramming her family’s Mercedes-Benz head-on into a smaller Daewoo driven by 30-year-old Nancy Salado-Mayo of Mexico who was killed. District Attorney Paul Howard said he likely will try Brunstad as an adult. If convicted, she faces an automatic life sentence.
How heartbreaking :( As an oh-so-old mid-twenty-something, let me say that my decision making skills were very bad as a teenager. Sadly, I still think they were “above average.” Teenagers can’t predict the consequences of their actions, and this is a great example. What a tragedy for all involved.
posted by amanda on Oct 12
HAMILTON, Ohio — A city prosecutor was charged with indecency after a security camera caught him walking around naked in a government building after business hours.
Hmm, OK. I can’t say that I’ve ever done that after hours at any of my jobs…
posted by amanda on Oct 12
Researchers Say Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes - New York Times
A team of scientists at the University of Utah has proposed that the unusual pattern of genetic diseases seen among Jews of central or northern European origin, or Ashkenazim, is the result of natural selection for enhanced intellectual ability.
…the Utah researchers argue, evolution has had to counter a sudden threat by favoring any mutation that protected against it, whatever the side effects. Ashkenazic diseases like Tay-Sachs, they say, are a side effect of genes that promote intelligence.
…Ashkenazi Jews occupied a different social niche from their European hosts, and that is where any selective effect must have operated, the Utah researchers say. From A.D. 800, when the Ashkenazi presence in Europe is first recorded, to about 1700, Ashkenazi Jews held a restricted range of occupations, which required considerable intellectual acumen. In France, most were moneylenders by A.D. 1100. Expelled from France in 1394, and from parts of Germany in the 15th century, they moved eastward and were employed by Polish rulers first as moneylenders and then as agents who paid a large tax to a noble and then tried to collect the amount, at a profit, from the peasantry. After 1700, the occupational restrictions on Jews were eased.
As to how the disease mutations might affect intelligence, the Utah researchers cite evidence that the sphingolipid disorders promote the growth and interconnection of brain cells. Mutations in the DNA repair genes, involved in second cluster of Ashkenazic diseases, may also unleash growth of neurons.
In describing what they see as the result of the Ashkenazic mutations, the researchers cite the fact that Ashkenazi Jews make up 3 percent of the American population but won 27 percent of its Nobel prizes, and account for more than half of world chess champions. They say that the reason for this unusual record may be that differences in Ashkenazic and northern European I.Q. are not large at the average, where most people fall, but become more noticeable at the extremes; for people with an I.Q. over 140, the proportion is 4 per 1,000 among northern Europeans but 23 per 1,000 with Ashkenazim.
When I was pregnant with my second (my son), I had a really mean OBGYN who worked in the same office as my main OBGYN. The mean one sat me down in his office and told me that my son would probably have Tay-Sachs because of my Jewish (Ashkenazic) blood. My family history made it so that my son was incredibly likely to suffer from Tay-Sachs, and this doctor told me that I was a horrible mother who was risking my child’s life when I refused to take the genetic test during my pregnancy. I told him that it didn’t matter because I would have my child no matter what happened.
Now why wasn’t that doctor telling me that my son was way more likely to become a Nobel Prize winner or a genius? 
That would’ve been a much more pleasant conversation.
And hey, doesn’t this tie in nicely with my post about IQ and breastfeeding? No wonder I’m a breastfeeder! Its all about the Ashkenazic blood, baby! LOL.
posted by amanda on Oct 11
Children Inherit Higher IQ from Mom’s Brains, Not Her Milk - CME Teaching Brief® - MedPage Today
The mother’s IQ was a better predictor of whether she would breastfeed than race, education, age, poverty status, smoking, the home environment, or the child’s birth weight or birth order. One standard deviation increase in maternal IQ (15 points) more than doubled the odds that a woman would breastfeed her child.
Hmm, well OK. You can’t argue with science, I suppose 
I guess this means that a Mensa meeting won’t be too different from a La Leche League meeting.
posted by amanda on Oct 11
Ahhh! Don’t you love fresh hair color? OK, maybe not you, PenguinSushi (For some reason, I automatically added a “t” to the end of your name when I typed that - PenguinSushit!) Anyways, for the rest of us who appreciate haircolor. Behold!!! I did my regular colors (chocolate brown, deep red, and blonde), but reduced the blonde and did the whole underside (which is normally virgin hair) in the chocolate brown. Its very fall-y
posted by amanda on Sep 17
I am so psyched! I just won a grain mill on eBay. Its new-in-box and it is a brand that I’ve been looking at for quite a while.
Now I am on the hunt for recipes that use fresh flour. Anyone have links?