Physicist Dismisses Fears and Threats with Class

Posted by Scott on Monday, September 8, 2008 at 9:15 am. 0 Comments.

“Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twat.”
– Brian Cox referring to death threats sent to the LHC team

Filed under , , , , , , , .

This Week’s Del.icio.us bookmarks

Posted by delicious on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 10:30 pm. 0 Comments.

A Moderate Approach to Vaccinations

Posted by Scott on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 12:37 pm. 1 Comment.

The controversy about the possible connection between vaccines and autism has been in the news again lately. Portland is a sort of alternative-parenting Mecca, and I know people who fall all over the map on the vaccination issue. The only constant seems to be very strong feelings on all sides.

We talked to people who felt that the only rational approach was to not vaccinate your kids at all, just in case the vaccines were causing problems. Why take the risk? On the other hand, we spoke to people who felt that vaccinations are a kind of civic duty. If enough people skip them, outbreaks of disease will be more severe.

Personally, I dislike the extremists on both sides. Vaccinations, on the whole, are clearly a good thing, both for society at large, and for my family. And while I personally find it easy to believe that there is (or was) a link between certain vaccines and autism, the idea of not vaccinating at all seems like an overreaction to me.

The one piece of rational advice I received when we were making this decision was from a doctor here in Portland. He recommended that you get your child vaccinated, but not all at once. The traditional schedule has your child getting several different vaccines at once, which has the net effect of overloading their immune system. It’s not hard to imagine that a child with a temporarily overloaded immune system might have difficulty fighting off an infection. Whether that leads to autism or not, it sounds like something to be avoided.

We follow an alternative vaccination timetable which still has her getting all her shots, but rather than grouping them all together every six months, we’re spacing them out, one shot at a time, every three months.

I’m not trying to suggest that this approach is right for you. The point I’m trying to make is that when you’re surrounded by extremists on all sides, try looking a little closer at the problem. There’s may be a more moderate approach that no one is really talking about.

Filed under , , , , , , .

Zoe likes Eating

Posted by Scott on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 6:51 pm. 0 Comments.

Zoe Eating Burritos 3

It wasn’t too long ago that Zoe used to be completely uninterested in food. While her cousins and friends would gleefully eat anything and everything on their parents’ plates, Zoe would pick uninterestedly at her food and then tell us that she was “all done.”

We weren’t really worried about it, because we knew that every kid approaches food differently, and in time she would come around. Sure enough, looking through her photos now, I find her happily eating all the time.

She likes green beans, broccoli, meatballs, chicken, sandwich meat, and refried beans. She adores black olives and freeze-dried fruit, and she even nibbles on bread sometimes. She’s still a bit pickier than her friends, and flatly refuses to eat some things (like tortillas, pickles, or anything that comes on a spoon). Still, it’s clear that she’s developing her own tastes, and as you can see from these photos, we’re not missing out on those classic baby-covered-in-food moments!

Filed under , , , , .

It Gets Worse

Posted by Scott on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 7:09 pm. 0 Comments.

Vanessa: “There is no fun in my life!”
Dr. Huxtable “As you get older, it gets worse.”
– The Cosby Show

Filed under , , , , .