Lift Up Your Hearts!

Fixed ideas, even if later discredited, are hard to dislodge. This is why urban legends and Internet rumors must repeatedly be quashed. Either we like what we "know" and don't care enough to be concerned about its veracity, or a new generation comes upon the outdated information and unwittingly embraces it. Or both.

This, I'm afraid is what will happen in the case of obstetrical practice. Several years ago a study (the "Term Breech Trial") led to the conclusion that it was safer for breech presentations to be delivered by Caesarean section, rather than vaginally. Consequently, this has become standard, established practice.

However, an article in the January 2006 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports serious flaws in the Term Breech Trial, and concludes that the recommendations from that study should be withdrawn.

Most cases of neonatal death and morbidity in the term breech trial cannot be attributed to the mode of delivery. Moreover, analysis of outcome after 2 years has shown no difference between vaginal and abdominal deliveries of breech babies.

Because Caesarean sections are considered to be more convenient than vaginal deliveries (nature is so messy!), and because people seem less inclined to sue doctors for interventions than for not intervening, I don't expect to see a rise in the number of women allowed to attempt vaginal deliveries of breech babies. Nonetheless, it is important to note yet another instance of major life decisions being made on the basis of erroneous data.

I haven't yet managed to post my review of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but I'll let End of the Spear sneak in ahead while it's fresh in my mind, because I'm afraid if you don't see it soon, you'll have to wait for the DVD. Not that we had a hard time finding a showing yesterday, but it had already come and gone at our first choice theater.

Half a lifetime ago I read Elizabeth Elliot's Through Gates of Splendor. Subsequently I lost track of the story of the five American missionaries who were killed in Ecuador, but I could never totally forget it, especially since we have several friends in Ecuador—including some who were there at the time—and even sang in choir for a while with one of the children of the slain men.

Despite these connections, the story seemed "long ago and far away," so it was almost shocking to have an opportunity to learn "the rest of the story." Particularly because at last I could hear it from the other side. As I sat in the theater, the movie critic in the back of my mind starting saying things like, "That's all speculation; they don't know what really happened on the beach [where the killings occurred]." Suddenly I realized I was wrong: At the end of Through Gates of Splendor they didn't know—but they do now.

End of the Spear does a particularly good job of depicting the two clashing cultures respectfully and realistically. So often in tales of that sort one is ennobled and the other villanized; here both the Waodani and the encroaching outside world are shown to be nothing more nor less than human: virtuous and foolish, comic and tragic, quick-witted and bull-headed.

One concern I always have about movie versions of real events is how much liberty has been taken with the truth. I understand that some details were altered to fit the movie format, but I was reassured to note that Steve Saint, son of one of the missionaries, said, "seeing it, this is more of 'a true story' than 'based on a true story.'"

A moving story from the film's website (see "Behind the Spear") tells how the Waodani's first reaction to the idea of the film was negative. On being told about the Columbine tragedy, however, they agreed to make the movie in hopes the story of their escape from senseless and brutal violence will help others who seem just as trapped as they were.

End of the Spear is well worth the time, effort, and money to see. I don't say that about many movies. Be sure to stay through the credits to learn a Waodani view of why Americans are so fat.

As further proof that we haven't progressed much, ethically, from the days when unsavory characters made midnight forays into graveyards to provide medical researchers with cadavers for dissection, I offer this macabre story of tissue removed from bodies entrusted to various mortuaries in New York City, without consent and without proper safety precautions. The tissues were then implanted, in the form of bone and skin grafts, in hundreds of unsuspecting patients across the country.

I'm beginning to suspect that "factory medicine" is as dangerous a practice as factory farming.

Because I have a friend who is an avid deer hunter, the New York Times article on chronic wasting disease caught my eye. CWD is the deer and elk equivalent of mad cow disease, and has spread so far to 11 states and two Canadian provinces.

The news is not all bad for hunters. Bruce Morrison, chairman of the National Chronic Wasting Disease Plan Implementation Team is himself a hunter and asserts, "I'm not worried." However, he also recommended that hunters in states where CWD has been found have their deer and elk meat frozen while the brain is tested, and warned that no part of an infected animal should be eaten.

Which is not good news for the rest of us. I fail to see a material difference between this warning and a call to increase greatly the testing of animals that end up in the meat departments of our grocery stores. We have not learned well from Great Britain's sad experience with mad cow disease, and need to stop burying our governmental heads in the sand. Japan's recent renewal of the ban on U.S. beef is not the most important reason for tightening the regulations, although it is the one grabbing the headlines.

Personally, I'm awaiting news from Symantec and McAfee that they will be implementing special protection measures for Gateway computers.

It was a bit frightening.

A few months ago we added a Maxtor OneTouch 200G external hard drive to our system, which excited me greatly because it made backing up my files much easier. Then one day last week we heard a sudden "pop!" and...nothing. No recognition of the drive by the computer, no light on the drive, no light on the power supply. The last was actually good news, as it gave us hope that it was the power supply that had given out, rather than the drive itself with all our data.

Our first attempt to determine the full extent of the damage was frustrating. I called CompUSA (from which we had purchased the drive) and was told (1) yes, they did carry replacement power supplies for our Maxtor drive; (2) they were in stock; and (3) the cost would be $9.99. I thought that was very reasonable, and we headed out to the store.

Only to be met with incredulity: No, we don't have such a thing; we don't sell them and never have. But I just called and was told, etc., etc. Sorry, even though you called our local number, you were actually speaking with a call center and they were just plain wrong.

To the credit of the CompUSA manager, he did offer to sell us a device he thought would be compatible for the quoted $9.99, instead of the marked price, which was twice that. To take advantage of his offer would have been a mistake, however; we were spared thanks to reading the fine print and knowing 1 amp = 1000 milliamps (i.e. 300 ma is not the same as 3a.).

Maxtor itself was much more helpful. To our pleasant surprise, the drive was still under warranty, and they immediately sent us a new ($30) power supply. (Actually, I'm grateful to CompUSA, since if we'd been able to purchase the power supply that night we wouldn't have thought to check the warranty!) The package arrived today, and thanks be to God the drive itself was fine, and all our data with it.

We're up and running again, and struggling with the moral of the story: Back up your data, but quis custodiet ipsos custodes? How to back up the backup? If it's data you really don't want to lose, better have redundant backups, preferably not all in the same room, house, or city.

For those of you who have given up on the long-broken links to Peter's Ponderings and Hannah's Happenings, I finally fixed them. Enjoy!

You will notice a change in the form used for making comments. Thanks to an enterprising (among other adjectives) spammer, I've had to institute an anti-spam measure. When you want to add a comment, simply type in the authentication code you'll see in the form, then send your comment as usual. Thanks for your patience.

This Orlando Sentinel column by Leonore Waldrip needs a wider audience. So for the dozen or so of my non-robotic readers, here it is.

Imagine: You are happily expecting the birth of your child, and when the thrilling moment approaches you check into your local hospital, a scenario common to most American mothers-to-be. You give birth to a healthy baby boy, but when you, yourself, are finally released from the hospital, it is more than three months later and you have lost your uterus, both arms, both legs and very nearly your life.

That's what happened to Claudia Meija. Somehow during what should have been a very brief stay at the hospital, in an area (labor and delivery) where the patients aren't even sick, she acquired an "aggressive streptococcal infection," a.k.a. flesh-eating bacteria.

There were no complications with the birth: "Everything was normal." But then she developed a rash ("possible allergic reaction to the sheets") and severe stomach pain ("normal for someone who had just given birth"). Two days later, doctors performed a hysterectomy. Twelve days later they amputated all her limbs, having given her the choice between that and dying. Even so, it was months before she was healthy enough to leave the hospital.

Is it any wonder that when Jon was in the hospital with viral meningitis I prayed as much that he would not acquire a new infection as I did that he recover from the original?

Is it any wonder that, despite its own inherent risks, home birth is looking more and more like the safer alternative?

Most of you will hear about this sooner or later—it was on the front page of the CNN website tonight, so no doubt it will be on the evening news. So yes, that's our Milwee Middle School at which a student brandished a pellet gun that had been modified to look like a 9mm handgun. There was a brief hostage situation; the school was "locked down"; and the student isolated and later shot by the SWAT team, after which the remaining students were sent home. The gun-wielding student, who was labelled "suicidal," is currently in the hospital on life support.

Here's a local version of the story:

http://www.wftv.com/news/6056445/detail.html

The Giver, by Lois Lowry (Dell Laurel-Leaf, New York, 1993)

I doubt I would have found The Giver had it not been required reading for two of my nephews. One read it as a class assignment in seventh grade; for the other it was read aloud in fifth grade. Intrigued, I borrowed the book from our library.

The Giver makes me wish I belonged to a literary discussion group. Without a doubt there is plenty here to discuss, and I can see why teachers might be eager to share this Newbery Award winner with their classes. I would love to talk about it in a group, to toss about various interpretations and implications. And yet, despite the "young adult" designation, despite the fact that the main character has not yet reached his teens, I question the value of such a book in the elementary or middle school curriculum.

My friends and family know all too well how strongly I believe children are much more capable than we give them credit for, and are all too familiar with my rants about how society—especially school—holds them back, does not respect them, and deprives them of important opportunities for growth and learning. Certainly a 10-year-old could contribute intelligently to a discussion of The Giver, if he had the background and experience. However, modern American education—which definition I extend backwards at least as far as my own experience—will rarely if ever allow such a child to develop. To speak intelligently on the serious issues that emerge from this book requires more knowledge of history, philosophy, religion, literature, and ethics than many adults possess. Without such a background, how can a discussion rise above the level of the readers' feelings?

I'm reminded of the first Gulf War, during which our local elementary schools made a point of engaging their students in discussions about the war, querying them on such issues as why we were fighting and whether or not the war was justified. What, other than confusion and a false sense of self-importance, can come from asking such questions of people who know nothing of history, let alone economics, politics, and religion?

Before we ask our children to wrestle with life's difficulties, ambiguities, and moral dilemmas, let them have a strong course of history and logic, at least. To do otherwise is to send them unarmed into mortal combat.

Time spent celebrating the season precludes (for the moment) collecting and publishing my thoughts on Christmas and culture. That will come later. In the meantime, please know, or remember, that hidden deep within and behind and under and through and above all the traditions and chaos and commercialism of the season lies meaning and purpose and hope and a story unequaled. And have a

While browsing the USPS website for international postage rates, I found it amusing to note some of the items one cannot mail to certain places. Most countries prohibit money and weapons; some countries also have more interesting restrictions:

You will get in trouble if you send "coffee in any form" to the Philippines. Jordan prohibits "advertisements concerning treatment of venereal diseases." Don't send "wireless receivers and their accessories, parts, or batteries" to Iceland, "Japanese shaving brushes" to Uganda, horror comics to Great Britain, playing cards to Spain or Madagascar, "books and prints contrary to the Islamic faith" to Saudi Arabia, "circulars or advertisements containing amulets, charms or talismans" to Malaysia, or "primary educational books not written in Portuguese" to Brazil.

Italy prohibits stamp albums, artificial flowers, "bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof," "hair and articles made of hair," "nutmeg, vanilla, sea salt, rock salt, saffron," typewriter ribbons, and "toys not made wholly of wood." The list for Ecuador includes "all maps showing the territory of Ecuador with incorrect boundaries," "bits and mouthpieces made of copper or any alloy containing copper," "preparations for erasing ink and handwriting," "so-called 'Panama' and 'Mocora' hats and the straw used for making them," and unrefined salt. Taiwan forbids coins over 100 years old along with "extracts, essences, and concentrates of tea" and "sugar, molasses, saccharine, and other sweetening substances."

North Korea makes it very simple: "All merchandise is prohibited."

Jonathan has his own small electric screwdriver, which he uses to remove and replace the tiny screws on the back of his (non-working) computer keyboard. I would be amazed enough at his physical dexterity, but what really blows me away is his knowledge of when and how to reverse the direction of the tool.

I could write so much more about the great things Jonathan is doing, and I probably will, eventually. But what impelled me finally to write was watching him peel, perfectly, a hardboiled egg for his lunch today. He only just turned two years old!