Summer Reading - Out of Control!

So, last night I was trying to organize my summer reading prospects since the summer is, after all, about half over. Here's what I have -

On loan from Abbie, I have Mistress of the Art of Death and The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin. These are about a Medieval woman doctor who specializes in forensics and autopsies. I don't know how historically accurate they are, but I've read about 50 pages of the first one and it is quite good so far.

In paperback I have

• The Color of Water by James McBride - someone recommened this to me, but I don't remember who. If you are reading this and you know who you are, I'll get to it soon. I promise!
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - 'nuff said!
• Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha - I read about this on the Unshelved blog months ago and decided to order it.
• See Under: LOVE by David Grossman - I've read that this book strongly influenced Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which I absolutely adore.
• The Tomoe Gozen series - This series is about a female samauri and her adventures. I read these years ago and gave them to KWKS to read. I just recently got them back and am looking forward to reading them again. At some point.
  
• And then there is the stack of other books I've picked up and bookstores and book sales and other book related purchasing opportunities. I'll get to them all. Someday.

On my Kindle I have

• Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead - According to Rolling Stone, you have to like this author in order to be cool. The book is great so far - I've read about a quarter of it.
• The Song of Roland edited by Charles Kenneth Moncreiff - I haven't read this since high school French class. I'm almost to the end, though.
  
• Her Wiccan Wiccan Ways by Traci Hall - It was free and sounded interesting...
• Hell to Pay by George Pelecanos - My new favorite detective fiction author. This is the sequel to Right as Rain
• Middlemarch by George Eliot - I've been promising myself I would read this for years!
  
• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak - Because I loved The Book Thief
• Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman - I saw the author on Bill Moyers' podcast and was very much impressed.
• Other random free things I've downloaded because they were free and looked interesting

Looks like I had better get busy!

Government Information Extravaganza!

We might get this Web2.0 thing figured out, yet! Here are links to some non-standard ways of accessing official U.S. Federal Government information -

Official Podcasts from the U.S. Government

Official Blogs from the U.S. Government

Just the facts: the swine flu and you

Gale is apparently jumping on the Swine Flu bandwagon with their own brace of H1N1 facts. At least they seem to be taking a more reasonable stance than the GLOBAL CRISIS sites put out by other publishers.

In times like these, rumors, misinformation and conjecture lay the foundation for panic. Help your community learn the facts about H1N1, commonly known as the swine flu, with free access to Gale resources. Download our widget to your homepage, Facebook page or blog to share access to our newly created portal in Global Issues in Context, dedicated to providing up-to-date news and information about the swine flu from around the world, and dozens of eBooks from Gale and our partners — which provide scientific and historical facts about H1N1.

Preview and download free resources today.

Gale is the voice of reason. Who knew?

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Saturday May 2, was my Weight Watchers one year anniversary. So, I thought you might like to see pics of my progress to date.

Here is a picture of me from 2001, which represents what I looked like before I began WW. I'm not sure how much I weighed here, but it was probably in the vicinity of 275lbs - I had lost a little weight in the summer of 2007 when I had a pinched nerve in my back, so I was right at 260 when I started WW. Assuming that I was 275 in the pic, my BMI was a whopping 47.2 (and 44.6 when I started WW)! As I've said before, I never had a philosophical problem with being fat, but my knees were killing me! Otherwise, I was actually pretty healthy, my cholesterol was less than 150 and my other blood work was normal.

I will say, though, that looking like this forced me to love and accept myself at a much deeper level than I would have otherwise. There's nothing like being fat-and-ugly to the rest of the world to make you appreciate yourself on a whole new level.



My husband took this picture of me Saturday. I weighed 171.4 that morning, making my BMI a much more reasonable 29.4. Still "overweight" but no longer "obese." My knees don't hurt as much, and I don't have to buy my clothes out of a catalog anymore. I'd still like to lose another 30 or so pounds, but I'm in no particular hurry to do so.



So, to anyone who is considering WW, the evidence here is pretty compelling. If you work the program, it will work for you. Period.

Swine Flu Information from DynaMed

About 36,000 people die in the U.S. every year of influenza and nobody notices. That's approximately twice the population of the town where I live. But, apparently, a few cases of Swine Flu, however unfortunate, are a Global Pandemic.

Anyway, here are some free resources from DynaMed.

Due to the recent global outbreak of Swine Influenza, EBSCO Publishing and the DynaMed Editors have made DynaMed’s information about Swine Influenza free to health care providers and institutions throughout the world. The DynaMed topic on Swine Influenza consolidates information from multiple sources for health care providers to stay current with recommendations for monitoring, diagnosing, and treating patients with flu-like illnesses during this outbreak. DynaMed Editors will continue to monitor information and update this topic as needed throughout this global crisis.

Global crisis? Really?

Li'l Koenig-Smiths

Cuter than Anne and Ben? Truly, a question for the ages...





Devyn and Sean April 2008

Goodbye, Sir Arthur

The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation web page reported today that Sir Arthur has passed away in Sri Lanka. He was my first favorite science fiction author with his short stories, and, of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Nine Billion Names of God.

I will miss him.

Related Links -

Arthur C. Clarke Foundation
British Interplanetary Society