thedragonweaver
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "thedragonweaver" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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06:56 pm
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Vaccination, Anti-Vaxers, and Game Theory
Anti-vaccination is coming up in the news an awful lot lately, especially around here. And it's hardly surprising, given the recent measles outbreak in San Diego and the ongoing pertussis (whooping cough) outbreak in a Waldorf school in the East Bay.
One thing that I've noticed in the comments on these stories is that anti-vax types— and I mean the passionate anti-vaxers, not the unsure— keep having the "free rider" thing brought up to them, and explained, and they obviously don't understand it. Well, okay, a lot of people don't get a good grasp of numbers. They also don't seem to understand that vaccines are not 100% effective, and how that affects the herd immunity concept. (I've seen at least one comment flat-out deny that such a thing as herd immunity exists, but for the sake of argument let's just say that they mostly don't understand the concept.)
( Please read, I'd like your thoughts on this. )
Current Mood:  thoughtful
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09:38 pm
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Language Shaping the World
This article is entitled "Why Japan Didn't Invent the iPod." In general, it comes down to the complexity of the language, and the fact that personal computers were not easily capable of handling the character set until the last decade or so— which puts them two decades behind the West in terms of personal computers.
Obviously, this didn't stop them technically, but it shifts the focus— where we work from personal computers as hubs, they worked from devices as stand-alone objects. It's only in the last decade where personal computers have started to make major inroads into the markets.
I hadn't thought about it, but it makes sense. Awesome phones, but they wouldn't think of plugging them into a computer. Awesome consoles for the same reason.
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09:13 pm
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Oh, the Punishment
( Horrible Pun. You have been warned. )
Entirely the result of Ironic Sans, a blog about design. Go and check out his cool type Darth Vader.
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10:06 am
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Wait For It...
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09:46 am
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Medical Update
Up more than a pound from the previous week. Some of this must be water weight. (Please.) That brings me up to almost 39 pounds over pre-pregnancy weight.
Dude's gotten into position. He may stay there a while or he might decide to make an early entrance.
Oh, and yesterday I fell over. Nothing serious— I was trying to stand up with my hands full and got a severe cramp in my calf. Bruised my backside, not much, but in such a position that my examination today was extremely uncomfortable. Oops.
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02:31 pm
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Done
...with work, that is. Had my last day at the radio station. I'm already done with the photography.
Now I just have to balance the extreme amount of work that needs to be done in our apartment with my exhaustion and my boredom. We'll see if it works.
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07:51 pm
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Great...
So China's suffering an outbreak of a child virus that ranges from minor to deadly, does not respond well to treatment, and has no vaccine available.
As a poster on Slashdot put it, we're sending athletes from all over the world to a polluted city with known sanitation problems, under-effective epidemic prevention, and a known viral problem that might cross into the area, and they're not letting the athletes bring their own supplies. What could go wrong?
Current Mood: pensive
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03:20 pm
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37 Weeks Photo
Okay, it's a bit late, but I've been busy.
( Photo behind the jump )
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07:48 pm
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Boom-di-adda
We used to sing a version of this at summer camp. I think I like this version better, though, even though it's an ad.
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09:22 am
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38 Weeks
( Medical yadda yadda )
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04:49 pm
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¡Muchas Gracias!
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lovecarnievan, drdeleto, goobermunch, derbiser, ng_nighthawk, rg_rothko, returntoshore, and fufachew.
   
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03:39 pm
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On to the weekly checkups!
From this point forward, I get to go in for checkups on a weekly basis. So, quick stats:
1 pound up from two weeks ago (almost 36 total up).
Dude was awake and rather startled the doctor with his "active" heartbeat.
When I mentioned how he moves (big rolls and pushing rather than little kicks very visible from the outside), she said that most first-time mothers don't get to see that. slownewsday, how does your Beanlet™ move? Is it just that I'm carrying forward?
I am apparently "Not too big and not too little" and the doctor estimates he'll be about average in size, 7.5 pounds.
I've also measured around and my waist is a little bit more than half again as big around, or a little more than 150% of the size it was before we started this whole adventure. You math types can have fun figuring that out, and remember that it's a lot more fun to estimate a pregnant woman's belly in feet than in inches because that makes it sound huge.
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09:18 pm
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So This Is Patronage
I've mentioned, on and off, that once a year I get together with a light opera group that does Gilbert & Sullivan. One of the premiums of this particular company is that we perform with a full orchestra— full orchestration sounds considerably grander than a synth or a volunteer group. (In this instance, a full orchestra runs from 18-24 players, including violin, viola, cello, bass, cornet, French Horn, trombone, woodwinds, and percussion with timpani.) So despite the fact that this is community theater with no paid actors, directors, or what have you, and a typical house may run less than 100 persons (though we did sell out the last weekend of Pirates of Penzance two years ago), it sounds really, really good. (This is also a credit to our musical director, who is a professional conductor as well as voice teacher, and who is extraordinarily good at not only safely coaching voices, but in requesting the right sound for a piece so that it can be understood. A lot of opera style isn't actually suited to the operettas since it lowers understandability.)
And this is actually due to the generosity of ONE person, who has taken it upon herself to fund the yearly orchestra. All. By. Herself.
I somehow got sent the stipend information. The orchestra, this year, cost just shy of $15,000.
She does this every year. And all that she gets in return is the free pass to all the shows. You know, like I get for doing tech stuff.
This is a patron of the arts. Man, it would be fun to have the kind of money to do that, though I'd probably build a theater close to where I live instead of fifteen miles away, and it would have amenities like, say, a green room so the actors didn't have to sit in crowded dressing rooms or a hallway on their butts. (The fire marshal decided that chairs in the hallway were a hazard, so no seats this year.)
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08:41 pm
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Just Askin'
Why is it that local realtors feel compelled to describe .15 acre as a "big lot"?
There's a lot more ponderables in regards to the local CAR types, but I think everybody already knows they're insane.
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10:12 am
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"What are these people trying to pull?"
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06:52 pm
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You Must Have Sound
The next internet meme video.
Via badjeebus, who is in Cupertino doing testing.
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10:25 am
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Stop Drooling
Steampunk Star Wars Figurines
From here.
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10:01 am
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Heh.
The Waldo Ultimatum
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11:52 am
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Query For All the Mothers
birchfire, you too— nannying experience is good.
What do I need to know? I mean, they're going to be sending me home with a little person in a month or so. I think I've got the basic concept down— feed him (lactation consultants available at the hospital and through online services), shelter him (bassinet has been found), keep him clothed (we have not bought a single outfit since the gifts and hand-me-downs are enough to fill a dresser drawer— for the one size), change him (table also provided, Costco membership coming soon), and lots of love (baby sling also graciously handed down.)
Put to sleep on back, check. Support head, check. Weird poops at the beginning, don't freak, check. Said goodbye to regular sleep several months ago (still getting plenty of REM, so body tired but not brain tired.) For breathing problems, temperature, or ceasing of any bodily function entirely, call doctor or go to emergency room; for all symptoms that are simply, "Is this normal?" ask around a bit first (quickly) and call doctor if appropriate.
I understand that there's going to be weirdness on my end, I think that's pretty well covered.
But, again, what do I need to know? Am I missing some basic concepts? Is there something you would really have liked to know?
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09:30 am
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35 Weeks, Gondoliers
34 pounds up from pre-pregnancy weight. Lordy lordy, no wonder I'm tired. The doctor estimates that the Dude will be seven to seven and a half pounds when born— I'm prepared for him to be a bit larger, based on family history. Bets on birth weight can be made in the comments. (16 ounces to the pound, in case you forgot.)
He's still orbiting a lot. "Does he move?" "Does he stop?" He's apparently in the proper head-down position, so I'm guessing he's been that way for a while as his movements have been fairly consistent. My glucose was a bit high but as I told the nurse, it's tech week and theater people live on sugar. (Mmm. Cinnamon bunnies.)
Oh yeah. The play opens tomorrow night. It will be our conductor's 200th conducting performance. I am not on stage but I have been the graphic designer (flyer and program, the latter far more difficult since it's a single sheet), set painter (color design and theory— "let's see if this works; it does, let's teach everyone else how to do it so I don't have to get on a ladder again"), photographer (I'll be uploading the photos to my Flickr account today, since badjeebus isn't here playing World of Warcraft) and some props construction.
Before you say, "That sounds like an awful lot," keep in mind that in the past years I've done all that AND been on stage singing and dancing.
I didn't realize quite how hyperactive I normally am.
Update: Photos uploaded; link updated.
And I forgot to mention two things: I think the nurses like my kind of pregnancy, because it's "Contractions? Blood? Pain?" "Nope, nope, nope." I'm sure it's nice to have an unproblematic pregnancy. And Kaiser has something I rather like: "newsletters" for the pregnancy that tell you what to expect and what to do at all the stages. Even if they do need some minor updates (such as the whole "bring cassettes and batteries to the labor room"— they do mention no cell phones, but also tell you to bring plenty of film.)
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