Reincannation

Simple explanation of Reincarnation, as believed by Hindus: a soul is reborn again and again, each live becoming a greater creature - from fly to bat to giraffe to monkey (with every other creature in between in according to the Hindu hierarchy of creation) until finally becoming a human. And in that human form, the goal is to live well - according to Hindu scriptures, respecting all beings and living piously - to achieve Nirvana. Oftentimes, usually, humans falter and must go through the entire cycle again (and this is why Hindus respect all creatures, because that ant that you would like to step on could have been your great-great-grandfather in a previous life) and again until, by reaching Nirvana, they are freed of the endless cycle and move on to what Christians would call Heaven.

Simple explanation of Recycling: processing used materials so they may be reused to make new materials. This can be done an infinite number of times.

So is Recycling just reincarnation for inanimate objects?

And then is a landfill Inanimate Nirvana?

Incidentally, a 2004 study by the Danish Environmental Council found that incineration might actually be the most cost-effective method of processing recyclable materials.

And Hindus cremate their dead.

A Warning To Facebook Users

Facebook recently got some bad publicity as they changed their Terms of Service without notifying their users to state that they own any and all information posted on Facebook even after you delete it. To Facebook's credit, they have returned to the previous Terms of Service (for now) while they work on revising it (and anyone is welcome to join the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities group to make sure the process goes as it should).

But that is not what this warning is about. For some reason or another, I trust Facebook. I don't believe they had any malicious intent in mind in modifying their Terms of Service, but were only responding to the exponential growth in size of the application, and only making sure that the legal language put in place for a tiny start-up app still applied to this now huge internet phenomenon. Really.

But my trust in the corporation that is Facebook is irrelevant. Did you know that if your friend comments on someone's note - someone who is not your friend - you are able to see that someone's note? Conversely, that means that strangers (friend of a friend) are able to see your notes.

Are you strict about who becomes your Facebook friend? And if you are, are you confident that every one of your hundreds of Facebook friends holds to the same strict criteria that you do in accepting Facebook friendships? Think on that for a moment while I move on.

One of the "fun" parts of Facebook is the meme, the Notes where you post inane personal information and then tag 25 of your friends. The Facebook Chain Letter, if you will. Now, this is probably why many of you don't do this already, but for everyone else who sees no harm in the exercise beyond feeling a little closer to people with whom you've lost touch and wasting a little bit of time that you probably could have spent working or folding laundry or playing yet another round of Chutes and Ladders with your kids, here's a fun little meme.

10 Inane Questions (or some other catchy title)
1. What was the name of your first pet?
2. What was the make and model of your first car?
3. What is your mother's maiden name?
4. What city did you live in as a child?
5. What street did you live on as a child?
6. What was the name of your best friend?
7. Who is your favorite actor?
8. What is your favorite color?
9. What is your bank account number?
10. What is your password?

Now, you obviously wouldn't answer 9 and 10, but when you answer any of these questions, hidden amongst seemingly related questions in a silly game (like the Name Game one that I've seen recently that really bothered me), you're providing a hacker the answer to the security questions that other sites (banks, for example) set up to keep your account safe. Let's take a look at the questions in the Name Game:

The Name GameShare
Today at 8:25am
YOUR REAL NAME: Maya Security IsCompromised

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names)
Trusting Naive

YOUR SECRET SPY NAME: (your first name backwards)
Ayam

NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dads)
Bob John

STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Iscma

DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Green Fish

SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, county where you were born)
Security Cuyahoga

SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning
The Red Milk

FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Maed

STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Strawberry Oatmeal

PORN STAR NAME: (1st pet's name, street you grew up)
Fido Market

YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of last name plus izzle)
Iscizzle

YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Doggy

YOUR NEXT CHILDS NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy
Chanel No 5 Gobstopper

Take a moment to look at the questions they are asking just in the parentheses. Then ask yourself if you've ever posted your status as "Leaving my house unattended for an extended period of time."

We all want to be safe, and we'd like to believe that Facebook is a safe place to share information. But unless you know exactly who's watching (and there are currently over 175 Million Facebook users according to the Facebook blog (blog.facebook.com, and that doesn't count any hackers who may be watching because you just made it on their radar), please be careful what you post.

The Octuplets

So there's been lots of chatter going on (admittedly, some by me) about the welfare-receiving single mother of six in California who just gave birth to octuplets. I know that in vitro fertilization is expensive, and wonder how she happened to afford it. Hell, food stamps can only be used on certain products. And while emergency departments are required to treat everyone who walks in, regardless of his/her ability to pay, I know that fertility clinics are not held to the same requirement.

My husband suggests that the physician responsible for going through with the treatment (I'm not sure, but I would think that having given birth to six other children shows that she does have a viable uterus that will "take" IVF, and that there was little need to stack the odds in her favor) be financially liable instead of the citizens of California (and realistically, all of us).

People are questioning her sanity. I read one story where her mother talked about how she was an only child and always wanted siblings (ironically, surrounding yourself with fourteen children that need you to tend to them constantly will only make her feel more isolated).

Her tale reminds me of two stories. The first is "The Color of Water" by James McBride, the story of his welfare mom who raised twelve children by herself after being shunned by her family for marrying a black man and converting to Christianity. "McBride and his eleven siblings all graduated college and lead successful careers."
It's a rather touching tale and shows that the world can judge, but they can't know how the story will end. She may just turn out to be strong enough in the long run.

Of course, on the flip side, here's the other "story" that comes to mind:

THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread.
She whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.


Okay, I lied. There's actually a third story that comes to mind. It's called "Too Many Daves" by Dr. Seuss, and it starts with:

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty three sons, and she named them all Dave?
Well, she did, and it wasn't a smart thing to do
Because now when she wants one and calls out "Yoohoo!
Come into the house, Dave" she doesn't get one,
all twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run.

(my apologies to Dr. Seuss if I messed up the exact wording; the boys haven't had me read that book in a while)
It goes on from there to list all the names she wishes she would have given the boys instead, all of which are just plain silly (but my boys' favorite, of course, is - everyone say it together - Oliver Boliver Butt).

Did she play with dolls when she was little? Did she have an imaginary friend? What is her plan? When will she be satisfied that she has enough children? Is there a particular number she's trying to reach when she finally feels she's there? Is she trying to build her own Sports team? What sport would it be? Is she hoping they'll play on the same team or should she be able to make up two teams so they can always have a full game? Were she in any other country, would she be judged so? Then again, would she have undergone treatment? Could she be starting her own adoption agency? Maybe she creates such genetically advanced children that are incredibly adorable that she wants to help the less fortunate?

And how did this physician, who I read in the paper had the lowest success rates of any fertility clinic, manage to succeed so phenomenally with her - if this is to be considered to be a success?

When my eldest son was learning addition early on, he loved doing math problems involving himself and his brothers. Namely, that when he's twelve, one brother will be nine, and the youngest will be seven. What really struck me was when he came up with this doozy: When my eldest is twenty one, the middle one will be eighteen, and the youngest will be sixteen. That's three major milestones, all in one summer. Yikes.

Okay, so now consider the future of this mother of fourteen children ages zero to seven. Do we really need to keep judging her, or will she need our support for when she has fourteen teenagers under one roof (I don't know when the birthdays are, so maybe there'd just be thirteen at one time, but you get my point). And thirteen years from now, she'd be forty-six years old. And it's not unheard of for women to enter menopause as early as their forties. I would not want to be anywhere near that house then.