Health
The person who has saved more lives than anyone else in recorded history was an agricultural scientist named Norman Borlaug who developed high-yielding crops and thereby prevented an estimated 245 million to 1 billion people from dying in developing countries due to famine. It is amazing to me that the advent of a new and better way of doing something essentially saved at least as many people as the populations of Canada, Australia, France and Great Britain combined. Often I get caught up in the movie drama illusion of feeling like the only way to help people is with larger than life actions. To help the world become a better place I must storm the African jungle and start my own militia to save gorillas like Dian Fossey or kick down doors with my SWAT team to save child sex workers like Aaron Cohen. Most days saving the world seems that it is a job for those who can throw caution to the wind and move mountains with their bare hands. That is why today I want to honor the Norman Borlaug’s of the world and hopefully I will drum up some inspiration for myself (or you) to find little things that can change the world in big ways.
First of all, I am going to put the disclaimer on this video that I am not responsible for the messed up aspect ratio. That is YouTube's fault. I got this video in an email several weeks ago. I think it is a real testament to what one person can do for a cause that they care about. Secondly, I don't have a lawn but this stuff is crazy town. Daily I think to myself, "Here is another thing that in fifty years will go the way of the lobotomy and lead paint."
"Oh tomato-ketchup? I know that one."
So I had a baby at the first of the year and gave no deference to the age old tradition of making new years resolutions. Now that we are solidly through the first part of the year, the kiddo is firmly in this world and I don't wake up in a cold sweat , fearing for his life anymore. I feel like I can reset and refocus on a few goals I have for the remainder of 2010.
Now I know what it feels like to be an overfilled water balloon.
I braved stinky pits for the entire nine months of my pregnancy and am now reporting to you on my findings!
To borrow a joke from a guy I know who is way funnier than me, today I just needed to kick some ass at the "All Valley Karate Championship" as opposed to really challenging myself but getting killed at the Regional Qualifiers.
Note to self: I need to buy an MP3 of "Eye of the Tiger".
While researching the best diaper option for my kiddo I actually found a book that is quite popular on Amazon that suggested you should let your child go free range and use their "visual cues" to rush them to a handy toilet or bucket. At least for me, this seems like the LEAST eco-friendly solution as I would need to constantly clean and replace everything in my house from the curtains to the carpet... can I use that expression in a non-pubic hair context? Well, I just did.
I had my first big breakdown this week over the whole crib situation. After doing a superficial search on cribs I discovered several very troubling things that had me reeling from my normal "greener is better, but only within the realm of what mere mortals can achieve and afford" mentality down into the depths of organic OCD mania.
I don’t want to be a hippy-dippy moron who ends up in the hospital because I refused to get preventative medical care and at the same time I don’t want to be among the first wave of women in history to take this drug especially when there are no research studies to prove its safety only to have my kiddo end up like the armless thalidomide babies of the 1950s... The container that holds the drug that has a priority rating for pregnant women by our government has a disclaimer that completely contradicts the notion that pregnant women should be taking this unless “clearly needed” which I interpret to mean, works in an leper-type H1N1 colony. The insert goes on to say similar things about nursing mothers and pediatric use. This isn’t some conspiracy theorist spouting wharrgarbl, this is packaging included with the product made available on the CDC website.
