Pro-Life Law and Order Episode

It doesn't go so far as to say Roe v Wade should be overturned, but one of the characters does say it should be revisited. About half the major characters in the show were pro-life, and they weren'tall crazy fanatics. I was shocked to see such a fair portrayal from Hollywood! Watch the episode for yourself and let me know what you think of it.

NIH hearings on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The NIH hearings were prompted by a 2009 study published in Science that linked Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with a retrovirus (XMRV), which is a virus that encorporates itself into the host's genome. Probably the most famous retrovirus is HIV, which is a similar virus, but certainly not the same as XMRV. About 2/3 of CFS patients were infected with the virus, compared to about 3% of the control population.

It is important, I think, to note that CFS has been linked with viruses in the past that were later found to be by-products of the disease (CFS causes immune dysfunction) rather than being the cause, so there needs to be more research done before we jump to any conclusions. However, one of the characteristics of CFS is a sudden onset with flu-like symptoms, and that indicates a viral cause. And the fatigue associated with CFS has been described as similar to late stage AIDS, which makes a retrovirus seem somewhat likely. I do hope this virus is the cause, because until the cause is known it will be difficult to find a cure.

This is an important topic for my family, as my mom and aunt both have the disease. My mom's case is mild, for which we are all grateful, but my Aunt's case is much more severe. My aunt is a leader of her local support group and was possibly one of the subjects of the study (she thinks she might have been).

The most interesting video to the layman is this one, but if you're interested in the details of the virus and transmission, watch all of the videos here. The second day hearings aren't up yet. They deal with the blood supply, whether CFS can be transmitted via blood transfusion, etc.

I also thought it was fascinating the link he made in this video between retroviruses and MS, Autism, and Fibromyalgia. Clearly there is much more work to be done in this field!

Music Appreciation Monday: Serenade for Strings

Composed by Edward Elgar, conducted by Ramon Tebar, performed by the Spanish Radio Television Orchestra. This is a beautiful piece, quiet and slightly mournful. It's excellent baby-sleeping music, too. :-)

First movement, Allegro piacevole*:

Second movement, Larghetto:



Third movement, Allegretto



*piacevole means "agreeable"

Japanese Curry

I love curry rice, but I don't like how much MSG is in the pre-packaged curry roux blocks. Unfortunately, I had not been able to duplicate the flavor in homemade versions. The flavor always fell short - mostly because all the recipes call for bullion,which I never add. But this recipe? Excellent! It's the Worcestershire sauce* and ketchup that does it, I think. Seriously good eats.

I added sweet potatoes and mushrooms and left out the peas (because I didn't have any). I also didn't use the apple puree. Served over japgok, it was an excellent meal, and really very healthy.

I do need to find a cheaper source for curry powder. I'm getting tired of paying $4 for a tiny jar at the grocery store that only lasts through 3 meals of curry or so. Any good ideas?

*To the best of my knowledge, my Worcestershire sauce does not have any MSG. It does, however, have ingredients (like anchovies) that have naturally-occurring glutamate. You might remember from my discussion of fermented soybean paste that glutamate is the key to getting tasty and savory food

Music Appreciation Monday: Ong Dal Saem

I freely admit this wasn't my own idea. My sister, as far as I know, was the inventor of the term and I haven't asked to use it. But I don't think she'll mind, especially since her last MAM was in January. I'm planning on posting classical music, folksongs, and hymns that we're listening to at our own house. (If I can keep up with my bloggy habits while I have a baby crawling all over the house, I might even consider turning this into a Mr Linky deal, too, complete with a banner.)

But enough of that. Ong Dal Saem (옹달샘) is a Korean song about a mountain spring and a rabbit who comes to drink from it early in the morning. The tune is the same as the German song Drunten Im Unterland, but the meaning is completely different. Here is a rough translation of the Korean lyrics (Junkmale or Iris can correct me if I've made any gross mistranslations):

Deep in the mountains is a spring.
Who will come to take a drink?
Clear and pure is spring,
Who will come to take a drink?
In the dawn a rabbit
Rubs his eyes and wakes up
He came to wash his face
He drinks water, then he goes.

This is my favorite version, with all the parts sung by the same person. It is based on a single from a popular Korean boy band, TVXQ. They titled the song "Mountain Spring":

And here we have two adorable boys singing the song, complete with hand motions:



And lastly, the tune used as a background for a yogurt commercial:

For Christians - Halloween or Not?

(otherwise known as "let's have some controversy on the old blog.")

As the title states, the question is for the Christian readers of this blog. I am particularly interested in the opinions of the church of Christ readers, especially since it seems like we are the only family in our church who does not celebrate Halloween. But I will gladly accept opinion of those in other denominations ;)

Do you or don't you? Why? Have you ever considered doing the opposite? At any point, did you do differently than what you do now? What convinced you to do differently?

It is a conscience issue for me, per Romans 14. It bothers my conscience to take part in such activities, so I do not do it. I will leave it at that, unless you want to take it to the comments. As I mentioned before, it seems like it's us and a smattering of Baptists who do not take part. This means we miss out on a big Halloween party every year. In a few years we will no doubt have to explain to Pearl why everyone else gets to do it, but she (we) does not. Believe me, sometimes I wish my conscience were fine with it; life would be a bit easier.

I also feel similarly about Christians' propensity for the traditional Easter things like egg hunts and Easter bunnies and whatnot.

Let's hear your opinions.

Sick Mama

I have to marvel at how well God protects little babies from illness. Here I am, sick as a dog (no offense intended to Luna ;-), having certainly spent the last week sharing every germ I have with Pearl, and she only has a little cough!

On a side note, it isn't helping me recover faster when a certain baby wants to eat every two hours overnight. I wonder if this was because my supply has dropped due to being sick, or if it was due to all my loud coughing and blowing of my nose? Or perhaps it's just how mildly sick babies eat? Whatever the reason, she actually did eat all 7 of those times last night.

Also, I'd just like to say that ginger tea is amazing. That is all.

Luna's Raw Diet Starts Anew

That Luna, she's got a lot of heart.



...dehydrating in the garage at 125 degrees F, since 6 PM yesterday.

A few weeks before Pearl was born, we switched Luna over to high quality canned food, then eventually to high quality dry food. We did this because we wanted to eliminate possibilities for Pearl to catch food-borne illness from Luna's licks, which were and sometimes still are quite plenty. After we stopped the raw diet, we did deep cleanings of the house.

Mostly we were concerned with Luna's fondness for licking faces, but now that she has been with Pearl for 4 months, she knows that licking Pearl's face means getting swatted. Sometimes I'll put her right to her face to see what she'll do, and Luna will sniff and turn her face away. "I must flee temptation!"

I also started to cut the contents of a bag labeled "Organs" but when I offered some to Luna, she sniffed and turned away. I'm not quite sure what organ it is, nor am I sure what animal it came from, but it did have a bit of an "off" odor to it. I just figured it was the normal smell of an animal product which we never buy for ourselves, but I guess Luna decided that she didn't want it.

I've decided that from now on, I will dehydrate all organ meats for Luna. It's a bit of work every time I have to dehydrate, but I think it's much more convenient after that. Undehydrated organs can only stay unthawed for so long before they start getting gross. Dehydrated organ pieces stay in the freezer - I can take a piece out and give it to Luna and don't have to go through the hand washing process that I do with undehydrated (I still do rinse though). Also, if the power were to go out for an extended period of time, dehydrated organs will be much less likely to go bad. Related to this is that dehydrated organs are MUCH more convenient for travel.

(I don't believe there's as much nutrient loss from dehydration. This is also why I dehydrated at such a low temperature, for meats.)

Of course, I do realize that heart is closer to a muscle meat than an organ, so I will have to dig through our chest freezer and attempt to find some liver, the best multivitamin a dog can get. We will be in the vicinity of one of the big Asian grocery stores this weekend, so we'll be able to stock up there, if I can't find liver already in our possession.

Luna's in for some treats the next couple of months. We have the usual chicken leg quarters, but we also have duck feet, goat pieces, whole sardines, and one gutted/skinned rabbit.