I wrote this here about our discussion of vaccination in birth class, but the more I read about it the more angry it makes me. Angry at people who think vaccination is a lifestyle choice, that is. I've gravitated toward a number of different public health-related positions in my professional lif...

I can't stop watching TED talks. Really, there's no better way to spend 20mins. Here's one on practical wisdom and doing well by doing good. He discusses over-reliance on rules and how it fucks up community and empathy and leads us down to mediocrity. C'mon kids, let's end the wa...

Two days ago was the third trimester observed, now we are in the third trimester official. So, here's what the midwife had to say: all is well. Everyone is healthy, baby is head down, hiccuping near my pelvis with her butt right around my ribs. Belly is 30cm in circumference top to bottom, weigh...

I can't stand it. Not so long ago I complained about this kid I grew up with starting a Facebook fight with me over my non-SOTU commentary. Nevermind that every pundit out there, even the Republicans, agreed that Bobby Jindal was a disaster. Anyway. He keeps arguing. This time at least by email,...

There's no right or wrong, it's a personal decision. When people say that, they usually mean that they have strong feelings on the subject and will privately call you a douche-nozzle if you disagree, but they won't say so to your face. At least that's what I mean when I say it. Our f...

I don't know how this happens, I really don't, but there I was in the shower, happily singing, "ooooooh, what a beautiful buuuuuzz, what a beautiful buzz!" and somehow, from somewhere, in popped an "isn't it rich...?" But wait. What? WTF? No, NO, Stephen Sondheim, you...

What a beautiful buzz. "Loving Cup," by the inimitable Rolling Stones. The best and perhaps only real rock-n-roll band, or so my father claims, with a song for every possible situation. I tend to think he's right. Today's early fucking 5am snack - a big ass bowl of Kashi Go Lean Cr...

Addicted to twitter. Oh not really, not like a crack monkey with 140-character sentences dripping out of my nose, but enough so that I've started using tw- as a regular prefix. Because it's fun. Duh. I can track news, random people, mommy bloggers, localites, politics, zen quotes and far awa...

Because I've been asked, and because it's not very hard, here's a quick and dirty guide to how to get what you want from government, or citizen lobbying. That's right, lobbying isn't just for overpaid, similarly-suited, K street types, regular people can do it too. And, at the st...

WTF is a rutabaga? Well, it looks like this. I didn't know that off the top of my head - I had to look it up on the internet. Apparently, it's about the same size as a 25-week-old fetus, at least according to the tracker that hubs keeps on his iPhone. Not that this is new, I've regularly...