Newsworthy

I read two very amusing articles in The Gazette this morning. One was from the Washington Post about the creationist museum being built in the States that will show dinosaurs co-existing with man. Here are a couple of excerpts:

"The nation's largest museum devoted to the alternative reality that is biblical creation science is rising just outside Cincinnati. Set amid a park and three-acre artificial lake, the 50,000-square-foot museum features animatronic dinosaurs, state-of-the-art models and graphics, and a half-dozen staff scientists. It holds that the world and the universe are but 6,000 years old and that baby dinosaurs rode in Noah's ark.
The $25 million Creation Museum stands much of modern science on its head and might cause a paleontologist or three to rend their garments. But officials expect to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors when the museum opens in early 2007.
"Evolutionary Darwinists need to understand we are taking the dinosaurs back," says Kenneth Ham, president of Answers in Genesis-USA, which is building the museum. "This is a battle cry to recognize the science in the revealed truth of God."
Polls taken last year showed that 45 percent of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago (or less) and that man shares no common ancestor with the ape. Only 26 percent believe in the central tenet of evolution, that all life descended from a single ancestor.
Another poll showed that 65 percent of Americans want creationism taught alongside evolution."

At least they bothered to explain why the T-Rexes that Noah brought on the ark didn't eat all the other animals - baby dinosaurs were probably very small and harmless.

The other article was from the NYT about the book that strikes fear in the heads of all mothers - What to Expect When You're Expecting. I think that the journalist has been reading the Broad, because she has frequently discussed the panic-inducing information inside the covers of this book, as well as pointing out the insanity of several pregnancy web sites and online forums. The rest of us mommies have also piped in our 'here heres' about this subject. We are all a bit fed up with the scary stories. Here's an excerpt:

"in its third decade the book has turned into a publishing conundrum: It is the most popular and widely trusted book in its category and yet is coming under such regular criticism that its authors are revising some of its key tenets. The reaction comes in part from expecting parents who call it a worst-case-scenario handbook. (Nicknames include "What to Freak Out About When You Are Expecting" and "What to Expect if You Want to Develop an Eating Disorder.") Though many parents swear by it, a startling number protest that, instead of emphasizing the wondrous process of fetal development, the book dwells mostly on complications, including the pedestrian (anemia), the more exotic ("incompetent cervix") and a catalog of horrors at the book's end ("uterine rupture")."

Funnily enough, I looked at my copy last night. I had been having really bad backachiness all day and consulted the index. Of course it took me to a page that suggested that I might be having premature labour and to call my doctor - that helped me sleep last night :-)

Both of the links provided require that you register for the newspaper sites - but they're free!

Also, apologies, but my old comment site is shutting down, so I have to go with blogger now. At least you don't have to be a member anymore to use it!

Movies

Occasionally, I stay awake long enough to watch a movie.

We watched Danny Deckchair, which was a cute and funny romantic little bit of stuff. It stars the guy who was the roommate in Notting Hill and Aowyn from LOTR. He cleans up fairly well.

Kungfu Hustle had some great action fight bits and neat super kungfu powers, but not very original plot. I especially liked the landlady who could blast apart a building with her yell.

The Life Aquatic was only ok because I was distracted doing stuff on my computer. There were a few good bits, but mostly it was a slog to get to the end of the movie.

I really enjoyed Broken Flowers, it was a slow moving movie, but the sliences were wonderfully full of unspoken dialogue and the neighbour was fantastic.

Sahara was surprisingly good. I'm an old fan of the Dirk Pitt novels and I found that the characters were well casted, especially Dirk and his pal Al, who I thought was a gas. I hope they adapt a few more of the novels into movies.

Wimbledon was dumb and not very good.

 

Installing that exit sign was a good idea

We went in for an ultrasound yesterday and lo and behold this baby actually has its head down! We had  thought that it was transverse, but apparently it's just long-limbed and active enough to make me feel like I'm being prodded on both sides at once. This means that we're still on track for a vaginal birth provided everything goes normally. The doctor estimates the weight at around 5lbs, 7oz now. Ben was born 6lbs, 2oz three weeks early, so I'm guessing we'll be in the 7lb something range by the time it comes - bets anyone? The one thing the doctor did remark on was the length of the leg bones - apparently this one is definitely going to have Steve's legs. Let's hope that the nose again skips a generation :-)

Sleepless

I've had the worst luck sleeping last week. Between Ben waking up at night and baby pumpkin keeping me awake with endless kicks and rolls, I haven't  really been able to sleep from 3am until at least 6:30. By Friday, I was fried. Perhaps this is good preparation for when the next baby arrives, but I had kind of hoped for a bit of a break. I have a distant memory of how I slept before Ben arrived. I was a deep sleeper, the kind of sleeper that falls off quickly and stays asleep all night. I rarely remembered my dreams and would wake up most mornings refreshed. What the heck happened? Ben turned me into someone with 'mom ears', the woman who can hear a small cough over a thunderstorm at incredible distances. Now, even when Ben doesn't wake up at night, I'm so programmed that I wake up anyway. I feel like Molly Bloom, laying awake with my brain running at 100 mph, and of course you know that the more that you think about trying to get back to sleep, the more impossible it becomes. You'd think that our bodies would evolve to deal with this sleep deprivation, but I only get stupider, which seems like the worst quality for someone caring for small children. Last night I slept a bit better than usual and it was bizarre waking up almost early. I was still late for work, but not half as bad as normal. I'm hoping for a repeat tonight - sweet dreams!

Testing something

I'm testing out a new (to me) blogging tool because I'm too lazy to log in to Blogger - how pathetic is that?

 

 

Powered By Qumana

Four years? Already?

I like being married to the best guy on the planet!