Jump to content

Menu

ColoradoMom

Members
  • Posts

    276
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by ColoradoMom

  1. So let me get this straight...she was not licensed when she could have been, she (I assume) charged money for a medical service, she performed certain "acts" which she knew she was not allowed to do, she carried medications (with full intent to use them) that she was not allowed to administer, and she allowed a high risk pregnant woman to "convince" her to take a risk with her and her baby's life. And she knew all this going in?

     

    Yeah, sorry but she did just about everything wrong in this case and while I'm not against home birth at all, I think that if you want to take risks with other people's lives then you have to be willing to stand up and take the responsibility when it all goes to crap. I'm not sure she deserves jail time, but I'd definitely have to hear all the evidence before I could say that for sure.

     

    I think if she was not charging money for her services she would not be prosecuted because then she'd just be someone helping out with a home birth. But when you label yourself an expert in something as serious as childbirth and then allow a woman who was told multiple times that she needed a more emergency ready setting to talk her into doing something she inherently knew could go very wrong, well...she should not have been be surprised when the worst case scenario happened.

     

    And yes, childbirth is completely natural and has never been safer than it is today, but 100 years ago every 1 out of 100 women died in childbirth. People feel it's natural and safe because, well it is. But that's not because childbirth is naturally safe, it's because pregnancy care and medical care during childbirth have greatly improved.

     

    And for the record I refused a C-section and no one berated me or refused to give me drugs or birth my baby.

  2. [/i]

    You have the biochemistry correct. Humans make little* if any glucose from fat. Did someone claim that in this thread?

     

    However, ketone bodies are excellent brain fuel. A low-carb adapted brain does need ~50g of glucose per day, but it can be synthesized from amino acids if it isn't being ingested. But a diet that includes plant foods (and dark chocolate ;)) is unlikely to have less than 50g of glucose content per day, so even on a low-carb diet the brain typically gets adequate glucose from the diet.

     

    *We actually might make a very small amount, but metabolically speaking it's probably insignificant.

     

    Yeah, she said fat is a far superior "brain food". Leaving out her comment on glycogen, which is really only used in short term energy bursts for muscles, her comment that fat can be used by the brain is incorrect, as are many other things said in this thread.

     

    As far as this HGC diet goes, I'd be willing to bet money that if I got anyone on a 500 calorie a day diet I'd make them lose weight too.

     

    Why don't you guys just do the starvation diet and save yourself the money?

  3. in a ketogenic state where no glycogen is consumed, the brain runs on fat. in my experience, fat is a highly superior brain food.

     

    You have it backwards. In a ketogenic state your body eats muscle and produces ketones which are a VERY short term energy for brain function. You cannot in any shape way or form convert fat to glucose because the acetyl-CoA made from glycerol or fatty acids enters the TCA cycle and is not able to go back UP the pathway to create pyruvate to form glucose.

     

    Biochemistry 101.

     

    Fat gives you energy - but NEVER EVER EVER glucose. It isn't metabolically possible in humans.

  4.  

    I'll never forget how one month I had 4 LOLs (little old ladies) come in, independently, and ask me if I performed abortions (I am not an OB). By the time number 4 rolled around, I began to wonder if some local preacher had TOLD his congregation to make an appointment with their doctors just to ask this question. So I asked number four if this was so. Not only was it, but the REASON she wanted to know was because "abortions are killing children who would keep Social Security going". It appeared the preacher was selling his opposition to abortion to the blue rinse crowd by scaring them about their pension program. :001_huh: How I wish I had that power! "Check your fingersticks every morning or the Lord will smite you! And write it down. And bring that paper in with you when you come!"

     

    Wow - that makes me sick.

     

    This is why I have no use for this Ham guy. I don't know who he is, or who that other guy is either - but when you must attack others in order to lift yourself up, then you've got a BIG problem.

     

    I mean, is it really part of being a "good Christian" to tear apart the life's work of others just because they disagree with you? Because to me, that sounds like the antithesis of Christianity.

  5. The message is pretty clear, if we aren't fundamentalists, then we aren't wanted. That's fine. Plenty of other curricula companies and magazines want my dollars.

     

    Ditto. And I'm not really one or the other - I'm quite happy using Christian stuff or secular stuff. And to be honest - I think there are just as many zealots on the other extreme too - which is why I prefer to stay in the middle.

     

    But this whole thing is...unsavory. :ack2:

  6. Are horses expensive? I spat out my soda on the monitor. :lol:

     

    But as a horse lover and and English rider, it is worth it. You figure out real fast if this is where your slush money goes or not - because you'll be spending a lot of it on horses and related stuff.

     

    When I was a kid I worked at our show barn two nights a week feeding and watering. I got one lesson free and paid for the other. And I got to ride the show horses which belonged to the (rich) kids, instead of the lesson horses, because we were poor and could not afford to buy a horse let alone the boarding fees. It was hard work, especially in the Ohio winters, but I loved every second of it.

  7. I think it would be short-sighted for a company to only look at the dollar amount they sell at the conference. It is a form of advertising. For example, if I spend time with them in the booth and buy something a few years later (as the case would be for me and VTI and Lukeion,) they would be missing out if they thought the convention wasn't worth it.

     

     

    Not only that - it is a total write off for taxes.

  8. HSLDA is now pointing out that when people skip the state conventions, it means the state support group is losing its revenue base, either from profits or memberships it drove. Then you have the issue of who is doing the political watchdogging that is necessary.

     

     

    I'd actually LOVE to be a vendor at my state convention since it's right down the road - but unfortunately I am not Christian enough and must sign a declaration of faith. Here's the thing that really ticks me off - I can either lie and say yeah I believe all that stuff, or not go because I have a few disagreements on what they feel I should believe.

     

    So I stay home.

     

    I've been a homeschooler in Colorado for 10 years and I've never joined a group or gone to a convention because of this and you know what? It's their loss. I spend thousands of dollars on stuff every year and if they don't want my money, someone else does.

     

    I do enjoy my HSLDA membership and I will continue to be a member, but honestly I wish HSDLA would point out that not welcoming those who don't subscribe to your very narrow particular belief system is what is hurting them, not those of us who decide to purchase elsewhere.

     

    And as far as Amazon goes, hey - if they put it on Amazon they know they won't make any money. It's the trade-off for massive exposure and sales. You make squat. If you don't want your product discounted like that - then don't sell it on Amazon.

     

    I always go to Amazon first because I have premium membership and get free 2-day shipping. I pay $80 a year for that - so it only makes sense to buy from them when I have a need.

     

    OTOH - I LOVE to use PayPal and since Amazon doesn't take PayPal I will also search out smaller stores that will take my PayPal money before I actually make a decision.

     

    So - it all evens out. :001_smile:

  9. My son was an anti-reader at that age too - then we started reading Percy Jackson. He really turned around after that and has read quite a few adventure series about boy heroes. Right now he's reading the fourth Artemis Fowl book.

     

    Other books he really enjoyed at that age were:

    Where the Red Fern Grows

    Call of the Wild

    The Alchemist series

    Alex and the Ironic Gentleman

    Timothy and the Dragon's Gate

    Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

  10. Someday, you're gonna be sitting with your friends and thinking "I wish my mom was still here with us...." (as sad a thought as it is...)

     

    besides .. how many times did YOU embarass HER when you were a kid? I know I gave my folks plenty of red faces & grey hairs. ;)

     

    Yeah, I have to go with this too. I think you should celebrate your mom's unique quirks and be happy she's there to enhance your life.

  11. Breastmilk doesn't cause tooth decay, for goodness' sake. My best guess is that people who think they've found "proof" about things like that are looking for "proof" that cow's milk is just as good as mother's milk for babies.

     

    Yes it does. It has sugar in it and I personally worked in a pediatric dentist office for three years and saw the results of parents who didn't understand this. It's called baby bottle rot, and YES it does happen to breast-fed babies too.

  12. I don't know if you guys know about this site (givawawayoftheday.com) - but they give free software away everyday. Usually it is boring stuff like organize your desktop or check your registry keys ( :confused: ) - but today is a free scrap-booking program!

     

    :001_smile:

     

    I just downloaded it and it looks fun.

     

    So just FYI for scrap-bookers. Oh, and it is only good until midnight tonight, then they change the giveaway.

     

    http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

  13. What I had a hard time swallowing were statements like:

    secular novelists employ the techniques of meaning to create the ILLUSION that their story is meaningful, or that university writing programs can not teach their students to write a story their audience will love because that would "undermine their deeply held quasi-religious view of the world."

     

    I find this preposterous.

     

     

     

    And yet, from what I can gather - the purpose of secular humanism appears to be the validation of all things by science and logic. So, he's kind of right even though he's says it in a sort of demeaning way. If you only believe what you can prove, well then you're not going to have an easy time convincing people to give a crap about your fiction because nothing about fiction is logical and provable...because it's fiction.

     

    So I think his point was that "successful" secular humanist authors MUST insert meaning into their stories by attaching non-validated...emphasis (for lack of a better word) to it. Which, if what he says is true and they don't believe in "meaning" (and I'm not sure that is correct) then he'd be right. They are creating the illusion of meaning.

     

    Yes, it IS convoluted and I can see your point. But this is such a small thing to me. Just not enough to get my hackles up.

  14. What I had a hard time swallowing were statements like:

    secular novelists employ the techniques of meaning to create the ILLUSION that their story is meaningful, or that university writing programs can not teach their students to write a story their audience will love because that would "undermine their deeply held quasi-religious view of the world."

     

    I find this preposterous.

     

    And statements such as saying that for secular humanism "Right and Wrong are illusions we design to advance personal agendas" are highly insulting to me.

     

    But enough... don't want to go into a discussion about religion.

    I just find it sad, as a Christian, that curricula must be that exclusive and polarizing.

     

    Well, it's all an illusion, right? Especially in a story. The job of an author is not so much different than an actor. You make stuff up and try and get people to care about your made up stuff. That's how I take it. I'm not offended by stuff like that but I can see where some people might be.

     

    And I don't find it polarizing even though I'm not religious - just take this stuff with a grain of salt. In fact, it would present a good opportunity to talk about it with the kids, I think. I'm willing to use lots of different things for teaching and there is just no way I can agree with most of it.

     

    When we did Apologia science we skipped over a lot of stuff, but it didn't bother me that he presented his point of view. I just presented mine along side of it and sometimes I said - "Well, that's a bunch of crap..." And then sometimes I said "Well, I can see where he's coming from but this is how I would say it different..."

     

    I'm willing to give this program a go because I think his incidental Christian stuff will not get in the way of the main lessons which is how to create an adventure story, character arc, theme, etc.. Even in that lesson about secular humanism it really isn't the point - in fact it really doesn't add to his main point very much because in order to be meaningful things have to be assigned meaning first. Pretty obvious, that one.

  15. Thank you - that pretty much answers my question.

    I am not anti-Christian (I am actually Christian myself, but married to an atheist), but I don't want a curriculum to tell my student that there is no meaningful literature without underlying religious conviction.

    Too bad, it sounded really cool.

     

    I'm not sure that's what he said. From what I read it appears he was trying to differentiate between people who believe in meaning and people who don't. He even specifically said not religious meaning, but general meaning and then pointed to secular humanists who do not believe in meaning but when writing books insert meaning into their stories because stories without meaning are pointless.

     

    He says:

     

    "Without the basic assumption that something is more than just itself, that the person is more than a bag of meat, a sacred text more than just words on parchment or paper, a treasured heirloom more than a lump of silver, the events of one’s story lose their power. They can’t signify any real theme. They can only give the illusion of doing so, which is a kind of lie."

     

    I think the point of the lesson was to teach the student author that people relate to the underlying meaning of a story and not just the characters or plot and if you want your reader to care about the characters and plot, you make it happen with significance and purpose.

     

    The part I think you may be objecting to is where he states secular humanists do not believe in "meaning". I'm really not familiar with the dogma of secular humanism, so I can't really comment on that.

     

    Edit: Oh, and I am totally getting this for my son next year! Of course, he doesn't know it yet but it sounds like so much fun. I'm really not a religious person but it still looks fantastic. I sent for the sample DVD. I figure if he really hates it and refuses to cooperate I'll do it myself! :)

×
×
  • Create New...