Sunday, October 02, 2005
another weekend....gone......
ok, so it is sunday evening......and my entire body is in some degreee of pain.......from my wrists are in agony from grasping deeply rooted weeds.....ditto my back from bending down to get at the same said weeds........and faux cat-scratched arms are stinging from work done a bit too closely around holly bushes and roses.....and at some point my sunscreen melted off.....as i have a beet-red glow to my cheeks........between my yard and my moms i went through a truckload plus 7 big bags of mulch........and because the 7 bags wasn't enough.......she'll likely buy more tomorrow........all this......and i did take a few moments to watch part of the boston/nyy game yesterday (new york won the division).....and to follow the boston/nyy game today on-line (boston won and got into the playoffs as the wildcard....) and i taught sunday school, and i read the papers......and we all went to bed prior to 9:00 pm last night.......which means that i got some good rest......and i rode 15 miles on the exercycle......but still.....there is something empty about sunday night....when one considers all that one couldhave/shouldhave gotten done in addition to what was done........starting tomorrow at 8:00 am i will start thinking ahead to next weekend.........
re: roe vs. wade from nytimes....
October 2, 2005
Abortion Might Outgrow Its Need for Roe v. Wade
By JOHN LELAND
WITH the confirmation last week of John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice of the United States, eyes turned to President Bush's next judicial nominee, who, on a closely divided court, may determine the fate of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that recognized a woman's right to an abortion. But such speculation overlooks a paradox in the abortion wars: while combatants focus on the law, technology is already changing the future of abortion, with or without the Supreme Court.
Even if the court restricts or eliminates the right to an abortion, the often-raised specter of a return to back-alley abortions is not likely to be realized, said Dr. Beverly Winikoff, president of Gynuity Health Services, a nonprofit group that supports access to abortion. "The conditions that existed before 1973 were much different than what they are in 2005," she said. "We have better antibiotics now and better surgical treatments."
But no change is bigger than the advent of an inexpensive drug called misoprostol, which the federal Food and Drug Administration approved for treatment of ulcers in 1988, but which has been used in millions of self-administered abortions worldwide. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, freeing states to ban abortion, this common prescription drug, often known by the brand name Cytotec, could emerge as a cheap, relatively safe alternative to the practices that proliferated before Roe.
"We won't go back to the days of coat hangers and knitting needles," said Dr. Jerry Edwards, an abortion provider in Little Rock, Ark. "Rich women will fly to California; poor women will use Cytotec."
Because it was never intended for use in abortions, it has not been widely tested for safety and effectiveness.
In 2000, researchers at three obstetrics and gynecology clinics in New York noted that low-income immigrant women were already using misoprostol as an alternative to going to an abortion clinic, because it was easier and less expensive. They got the pills from doctors, pharmacies, relatives and from contacts in other countries.
The drug causes the uterus to contract and, if the contractions are strong enough, to expel the embryo or fetus. In the United States, misoprostol is typically used off label with the abortion drug RU-486 in non-surgical abortions and in some surgical abortions. A spokeswoman for Pfizer, which sells misoprostol under the name Cytotec, said the company does not comment on off-label use. Last year, Americans filled 365,000 prescriptions of misoprostol for ulcers, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical consulting firm.
A dose sufficient to cause an abortion costs less than $2, said Dr. John K. Jain, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Southern California, who has performed limited clinical trials of abortions using misoprostol alone. He said he found that it was effective 80 to 90 percent of the time, if administered by a doctor. This is slightly lower than its effectiveness in combination with RU-486.
Misoprostol is usually used in the first trimester, but under clinical conditions, Dr. Jain and other researchers say it has been used safely and effectively in the second trimester. Women taking it on their own risk greater rates of failure and higher side effects, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever and chills.
Carrie Gordon Earll, a senior analyst of bioethics at Focus on the Family, which supports a reversal of Roe v. Wade, said the existence of new technologies like misoprostol should have no bearing on the law.
"The law operates as a teacher in a moral sense," regardless of people's opportunity to break it, she said. "Even if you have some people who get a drug off the black market and sell it to women, that doesn't mean we don't have a policy to discourage abortion."
In Brazil, where abortion is banned except in rare circumstances, misoprostol is the method of choice for up to 90 percent of all abortions, said Alessandra Chacham, a professor of sociology at the University of the State of Minas Gerais, who studies reproductive health in Brazil. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, she said, pregnant women started to spread the word, because the drug's label warned that it could cause miscarriages. Compared with illegal abortions using other methods, the rate of infection with misoprostol was 12 times lower, researchers have found. But researchers at the University of Rio de Janeiro reported that they also found that among babies born with certain birth defects, a high percentage of the mothers used misoprostol. When the government in response restricted access to misoprostol, drug smugglers created an illegal black market, Ms. Chacham said.
But American women may not be as receptive, said Norma McCorvey, who in 1973 was known as Jane Roe, the woman who brought the case that legalized abortion, but who has since argued for the reversal of the court's decision.
"When women start using these self-induced drugs, and start seeing body parts in their potty, they're going to go bananas," Miss McCorvey said. "And it's going to be horrible."
Dr. Jain said researchers still need to learn more about what happens when the drug doesn't work. Currently, if women fail to terminate a pregnancy using RU-486 and misoprostol, they still have a surgical abortion. But if abortion were illegal, many of these women might carry to term. "Data suggest it causes birth defects, including facial paralysis and limb defects," Dr. Jain said. "It's hard to quantify, but yes, there probably is a risk."
And widespread use of misoprostol could have another unintended consequence, said Mitchell Creinin, director of family planning at the University of Pittsburgh, who has run clinical trials on the drug. In Brazil, if women have problems with the drug, they go to the hospital to be treated for miscarriage. If women in the United States start using misoprostol for abortions, Dr. Creinin said, "someone going through a miscarriage is going to be looked at suspiciously, like, 'Did you do something?' "
Dr. Creinin added that "compared to when abortion was illegal before Roe, misoprostol is still safer." But as with any illegal drug, there is a period of elevated risk before users discover the proper dosages and protocols. If abortion became illegal, he said, "If I were a woman, I'd rather go to Brazil than Mississippi, because at least there they've learned how to do it."
Abortion Might Outgrow Its Need for Roe v. Wade
By JOHN LELAND
WITH the confirmation last week of John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice of the United States, eyes turned to President Bush's next judicial nominee, who, on a closely divided court, may determine the fate of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that recognized a woman's right to an abortion. But such speculation overlooks a paradox in the abortion wars: while combatants focus on the law, technology is already changing the future of abortion, with or without the Supreme Court.
Even if the court restricts or eliminates the right to an abortion, the often-raised specter of a return to back-alley abortions is not likely to be realized, said Dr. Beverly Winikoff, president of Gynuity Health Services, a nonprofit group that supports access to abortion. "The conditions that existed before 1973 were much different than what they are in 2005," she said. "We have better antibiotics now and better surgical treatments."
But no change is bigger than the advent of an inexpensive drug called misoprostol, which the federal Food and Drug Administration approved for treatment of ulcers in 1988, but which has been used in millions of self-administered abortions worldwide. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, freeing states to ban abortion, this common prescription drug, often known by the brand name Cytotec, could emerge as a cheap, relatively safe alternative to the practices that proliferated before Roe.
"We won't go back to the days of coat hangers and knitting needles," said Dr. Jerry Edwards, an abortion provider in Little Rock, Ark. "Rich women will fly to California; poor women will use Cytotec."
Because it was never intended for use in abortions, it has not been widely tested for safety and effectiveness.
In 2000, researchers at three obstetrics and gynecology clinics in New York noted that low-income immigrant women were already using misoprostol as an alternative to going to an abortion clinic, because it was easier and less expensive. They got the pills from doctors, pharmacies, relatives and from contacts in other countries.
The drug causes the uterus to contract and, if the contractions are strong enough, to expel the embryo or fetus. In the United States, misoprostol is typically used off label with the abortion drug RU-486 in non-surgical abortions and in some surgical abortions. A spokeswoman for Pfizer, which sells misoprostol under the name Cytotec, said the company does not comment on off-label use. Last year, Americans filled 365,000 prescriptions of misoprostol for ulcers, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical consulting firm.
A dose sufficient to cause an abortion costs less than $2, said Dr. John K. Jain, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Southern California, who has performed limited clinical trials of abortions using misoprostol alone. He said he found that it was effective 80 to 90 percent of the time, if administered by a doctor. This is slightly lower than its effectiveness in combination with RU-486.
Misoprostol is usually used in the first trimester, but under clinical conditions, Dr. Jain and other researchers say it has been used safely and effectively in the second trimester. Women taking it on their own risk greater rates of failure and higher side effects, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever and chills.
Carrie Gordon Earll, a senior analyst of bioethics at Focus on the Family, which supports a reversal of Roe v. Wade, said the existence of new technologies like misoprostol should have no bearing on the law.
"The law operates as a teacher in a moral sense," regardless of people's opportunity to break it, she said. "Even if you have some people who get a drug off the black market and sell it to women, that doesn't mean we don't have a policy to discourage abortion."
In Brazil, where abortion is banned except in rare circumstances, misoprostol is the method of choice for up to 90 percent of all abortions, said Alessandra Chacham, a professor of sociology at the University of the State of Minas Gerais, who studies reproductive health in Brazil. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, she said, pregnant women started to spread the word, because the drug's label warned that it could cause miscarriages. Compared with illegal abortions using other methods, the rate of infection with misoprostol was 12 times lower, researchers have found. But researchers at the University of Rio de Janeiro reported that they also found that among babies born with certain birth defects, a high percentage of the mothers used misoprostol. When the government in response restricted access to misoprostol, drug smugglers created an illegal black market, Ms. Chacham said.
But American women may not be as receptive, said Norma McCorvey, who in 1973 was known as Jane Roe, the woman who brought the case that legalized abortion, but who has since argued for the reversal of the court's decision.
"When women start using these self-induced drugs, and start seeing body parts in their potty, they're going to go bananas," Miss McCorvey said. "And it's going to be horrible."
Dr. Jain said researchers still need to learn more about what happens when the drug doesn't work. Currently, if women fail to terminate a pregnancy using RU-486 and misoprostol, they still have a surgical abortion. But if abortion were illegal, many of these women might carry to term. "Data suggest it causes birth defects, including facial paralysis and limb defects," Dr. Jain said. "It's hard to quantify, but yes, there probably is a risk."
And widespread use of misoprostol could have another unintended consequence, said Mitchell Creinin, director of family planning at the University of Pittsburgh, who has run clinical trials on the drug. In Brazil, if women have problems with the drug, they go to the hospital to be treated for miscarriage. If women in the United States start using misoprostol for abortions, Dr. Creinin said, "someone going through a miscarriage is going to be looked at suspiciously, like, 'Did you do something?' "
Dr. Creinin added that "compared to when abortion was illegal before Roe, misoprostol is still safer." But as with any illegal drug, there is a period of elevated risk before users discover the proper dosages and protocols. If abortion became illegal, he said, "If I were a woman, I'd rather go to Brazil than Mississippi, because at least there they've learned how to do it."
Boston can clinch wild card by beating Yankees on Sunday
ok, so yesterday i watched the nyy/bos game on fox.......rather......i mulched the roses and took baseball breaks to get out of the heat.........i had intended to dedicate the afternoon to the critical matchup...but when the score was 5-2 (nyy up) in the first little bit i opted for physical labor as to not have to feel guilty later about a wasted afternoon.......the truckload of mulch had been in my plans for some time.......when i transplanted roses a while back i had not gotten around to mulching them......and when the garden hose burst (somebody failed to drain out all of the water after using it...) i was not able to water those roses either.......and so this morning i bought a new hose and mulch.....it seemed like a real redletter day to purchase new garden equipment, by the way........my idea of luxury goods.......of course.....there was not enough mulch to go around.....and so i am scheming on how i can secure yet another load this week.......not that there is any event coming up that would require nicely dressed beds....i just felt the need for the plants that survived the drought to be coddled a bit before cold weather comes.....but i digress from baseball.......the starting pitcher was a knuckleballer.......which required a second-string catcher who is more skilled with that pitch than varitek.....but the nyy seemed to prefer knuckleballs.......at some point wakefield was replaced.....and at that mulching break there was a sidewinder pitching.....now there is a curious throwing style.....akin to bowling......and the nyy got hits off that guy as well, so he was replaced by a recent college grad whose name escapes me......and so it went until the innings ran out.......boston plays the nyy again today......if boston wins they clinch the wildcard bid.......but only if cleveland loses?.......there is some combination of boston winning/lossing and cleveland winning/losing that could result in an extra game monday to decide the wildcard........as for me....i promised my mother that i would weed and mulch her front beds......when i can see the weeds from the road it is too outofcontrol.......we are trying to convince her to downsize her garden plans...to something that she can take care of now that her mastergardener is in college outofstate......that child was one in a million when it came to weeding/transplanting/nurturing.......and it is clear that the remaining child at home cannot take his place with regards to grandma's yard maintenance.....and since the nyy/bos game will not be televised for free on fox......it will give me something useful to do........this is something of a winwin for me, i must admit.....having cleveland in the playoffs isn't all bad...........we'll just dig out the traditional photo of grandpa broughton to sit atop the television cabinet.....for good luck....
Saturday, October 01, 2005
spatially challenged......
ok, so it is safe to say that people i count as friend or foe have never stopped to wonder why i failed to get that degree in engineering at mit.......such precision and attention to detail are beyond my interest let alone talent level......and when one factors in my spatially challenged brain....well.......let me give today's example......there has been an ikea-style chair and ottomon at our local aldi for several weeks now......blonde bent-wooden frame with a black padded seat/back pad.......quite a bargain for $39.95.......i invisioned it in my eldest child's apartment.....but every time i broached the subject of a chair......lets just say that my vision was not shared...until today....when said son asked about that chair.......and in my saturday rotation of errands i chanced to balance the last one in my cart......i had to hold it's empty box as i waited in the checkout line.......and here is where the drama unfolded..........at no point in the anticipation of buying this chair did it ever occur to me that i could not feasably fit into a honda accord...........i tried every conceivable twist and turn....but between the bent bottom brackets or the back....i could not jigsaw it into the rear seating area...or the front seat or the trunk of this vehicle.......and then it occurred to me that if i walked out with the box....then it originally came in a box.....and that i could/should disassemble it prior to transport home......and so i looked in every cubbyhole in the car for a tool, any tool, with which to remove the screws........no go.......and just about the time i was contemplating calling my mom to drive in with her van......i happened to move the box out of the way to open my purse to look for the cellphone.......and a bent angle tool fell out onto the concrete.......the very tool used to assemble the bugger was now in my hands for the disassembly......amen,amen, and amen.....if ever there was a moment at which i believed in the existence of a higher power......it was at the moment when........the couple in the red volvo drove by slowly asking me if i needed any help.....and i was able to thank them graciously....no...., assured that i had it all under control........and only after i had gotten all the pieces and hardware into the honda did i notice that my struggles had been in full view of every shopper waiting in the checkout....omg.......so the cost of the chair was no longer $39.95......i will have to factor in for humiliation at some point...............
Friday, September 30, 2005
good times never seemed so good.....
ok, so this evening.......boston evened things up with ny 5-3....many pitching changes...one needed a scorecard....literally to keep track of who was on the mound......and at some point...the boston fans stood up and sang......sweet caroline........by neil diamond.......npr ran a sweet piece on the phenomona this morning between the time i left the house and the time i walked into work......many theories about why this song is sung.....as it is clearly not a baseball song......
Where it began, I can't begin to know when
But then I know it's growing strong
Oh, wasn't the spring, whooo
And spring became the summer
Who'd believe you'd come along
Hands, touching hands, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
I've been inclined to believe it never would
And now I, I look at the night, whooo
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two, oh
And when I hurt
Hurting runs off my shoulder
How can I hurt when holding you
Oh, one, touching one, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
Oh I've been inclined to believe it never would
Ohhh, sweet Caroline, good times never seem so good
i suppose it is the good times that never seem so good that make it a fun song to belt out...especially after a few sam adams.......better still if boston is up on the baords..............
Where it began, I can't begin to know when
But then I know it's growing strong
Oh, wasn't the spring, whooo
And spring became the summer
Who'd believe you'd come along
Hands, touching hands, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
I've been inclined to believe it never would
And now I, I look at the night, whooo
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two, oh
And when I hurt
Hurting runs off my shoulder
How can I hurt when holding you
Oh, one, touching one, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
Oh I've been inclined to believe it never would
Ohhh, sweet Caroline, good times never seem so good
i suppose it is the good times that never seem so good that make it a fun song to belt out...especially after a few sam adams.......better still if boston is up on the baords..............
fyi.....
ok, so this info is per the planned parenthood website....and for the record...the morning after pill is available on-line via overnight shipment from several locations in this country....it is effective if taken within 5 days (120 hours) of unprotected sex......
Emergency contraception reduces the risk of pregnancy and helps prevent the need for abortion; it itself is not a form of abortion (Grimes, 1997; Guillebaud, 1998; Hughes, 1972; Van Look & Stewart, 1998).
The IUD, used as a regular method of contraception, "alters tubal and uterine transport and affects the sperm and ovum so fertilization does not occur" (Stewart, 1998). Postcoital emergency contraceptive insertion of an IUD may involve the same mechanism in some cases, but it is more likely to interfere with implantation (Van Look & Stewart, 1998).
Women Now Have More Options for Emergency Contraception
Yuzpe Regimen:
This method of emergency contraception is named for Canadian Professor A. Albert Yuzpe who published the first studies demonstrating the method's safety and efficacy in 1974. This regimen of ECPs uses two doses of oral contraceptive pills that combine estrogen and certain progestin hormones (FDA, 1997). The doses are taken 12 hours apart. Various prescription products contain the appropriate hormone combination and can be used as ECPs:
* Many common oral contraceptive pills can be used as ECPs, although their manufacturers do not label the pills for this use. "Off-label" use of approved medications is legal and commonplace in American medicine. Further, in February 1997, the FDA declared ECP use of birth control pills, following the Yuzpe regimen, to be safe and effective. At that time, six suitable pill brands were available on the U.S. market (FDA, 1997).Currently, the following brands of pills can be used as ECPs in the U.S.:
Pill Brand Manufacturer Pills per Dose
Alesse® Wyeth-Ayerst 5 pink pills
Aviane® Duramed 5 orange pills
Cryselle® Barr 4 white pills
Enpress® Barr 4 orange pills
Lessina® Barr 5 pink pills
Levlen® Berlex 4 light orange pills
Levlite® Berlex 5 pink pills
Levora® Watson 4 white pills
Lo/Ovral® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 white pills
Low-Ogestrel® Watson 4 white pills
Nordette® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 light orange pills
Ogestrel® Watson 2 white pills
Ovral® Wyeth-Ayerst 2 white pills
Portia® Barr 4 pink pills
Seasonale® Barr 4 pink pills
Tri-Levlen® Berlex 4 yellow pills
Triphasil® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 yellow pills
Trivora® Watson 4 pink pills
Emergency contraception reduces the risk of pregnancy and helps prevent the need for abortion; it itself is not a form of abortion (Grimes, 1997; Guillebaud, 1998; Hughes, 1972; Van Look & Stewart, 1998).
The IUD, used as a regular method of contraception, "alters tubal and uterine transport and affects the sperm and ovum so fertilization does not occur" (Stewart, 1998). Postcoital emergency contraceptive insertion of an IUD may involve the same mechanism in some cases, but it is more likely to interfere with implantation (Van Look & Stewart, 1998).
Women Now Have More Options for Emergency Contraception
Yuzpe Regimen:
This method of emergency contraception is named for Canadian Professor A. Albert Yuzpe who published the first studies demonstrating the method's safety and efficacy in 1974. This regimen of ECPs uses two doses of oral contraceptive pills that combine estrogen and certain progestin hormones (FDA, 1997). The doses are taken 12 hours apart. Various prescription products contain the appropriate hormone combination and can be used as ECPs:
* Many common oral contraceptive pills can be used as ECPs, although their manufacturers do not label the pills for this use. "Off-label" use of approved medications is legal and commonplace in American medicine. Further, in February 1997, the FDA declared ECP use of birth control pills, following the Yuzpe regimen, to be safe and effective. At that time, six suitable pill brands were available on the U.S. market (FDA, 1997).Currently, the following brands of pills can be used as ECPs in the U.S.:
Pill Brand Manufacturer Pills per Dose
Alesse® Wyeth-Ayerst 5 pink pills
Aviane® Duramed 5 orange pills
Cryselle® Barr 4 white pills
Enpress® Barr 4 orange pills
Lessina® Barr 5 pink pills
Levlen® Berlex 4 light orange pills
Levlite® Berlex 5 pink pills
Levora® Watson 4 white pills
Lo/Ovral® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 white pills
Low-Ogestrel® Watson 4 white pills
Nordette® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 light orange pills
Ogestrel® Watson 2 white pills
Ovral® Wyeth-Ayerst 2 white pills
Portia® Barr 4 pink pills
Seasonale® Barr 4 pink pills
Tri-Levlen® Berlex 4 yellow pills
Triphasil® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 yellow pills
Trivora® Watson 4 pink pills
frozen fish.......
ok, so i peeked into the freezer......looking for something/anything to fix for supper......and they were still there......the bag of frozen tilapia that my mother bought when the prison down the road had its annual shrimp and fish sale........when she told me she had bought both shrimp and tilapia....she didn't mention that the shrimp came whole and unwashed....direct from the ponds......and the fish came just as God made them......only dead....i was so unsure whether the shrimps were dead that i rinsed them well int he sink and plunged them into boiling water....think lobster scene from annie hall........ and then pulled off the tenticles and heads after they had cooled.......it was grosser at the time that it sounds now....if that is possible......but the fish.....i could not begin to dress them as is necessary for consumption......and so i stashed the bag in the freezer......in hopes that a fishmonger will show up to do the deed?........and that begs the question............how can i be a consumer of piscean flesh if i am unwilling to do the gutting/scaling/boning necessary prior to slapping the fillets on the grill?.......and that is a dialogue dealing only with fish......what about pork/beef/chicken.........i have witnessed the butchering of all of the above foodstuffs......such is the lot of a child of the rural midwest.......i have vivid memories of my dad taking my brother and i fishing in grandpa crown's pond....for sunfish and bluegills.....and my dad dressed the few fishes we managed to catch...in my grandma's side yard in the vicinity of the cats feeding area..an old pie plate....(the dogs ate in the front yard on a flat stone)......and there was no drama about the procedure......just a lot of quick moves with a sharp knife.......i suppose if my family were starving i could manage to do what it takes.......but with numerous other supper options on ice........i could go several days before having to deal with those forzen fish....and by that time i would have had the chance to shop again.......so......should i really call myself a shrimptarian.....in that i have been able to stomach the transition from pond to plate?.....plenty of food for thought............
daughters vs sons......
ok, so i stopped at the library to check out my weekly quota of books, books on cd, and movies in both vhs and dvd format.........and chanced to get to talk to georgia, the supernice mamma of meghan......who asked after the middle child's college experience.....and her jaw dropped when i admitted to the single phone call......and though i added quickly that he has emailed a few times...there was silence amidst the shock and awe.......she helped the recovery to the awkward moment by offering....'i saw candy this week....and she says that she doesn't hear from (her boy) either.....she has to ask his friends to find out if he is o.k.'......seems that the phone calls home from iowa have tapered off......from several times a day to only once....once a day!!!!!!!so that is what???......30/1 phone call ratio between daughters and sons......omg.......young male college students....if you chance to read this entry today....i challenge you to pick up the phone and call your mother and tell her how much you miss her................
Thursday, September 29, 2005
random....
ok, so i have come to enjoy searching out wikipedia.org.......and clicking on random article..........the following was the second article to come up......the piece on osaka airport was not especially interesting....
Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one apart from the intended recipient knows of the existence of the message; this is in contrast to cryptography, where the existence of the message itself is not disguised, but the meaning is obscured. "Steganography" is a Greek word and means covered or hidden writing. Its origins can be traced back to 440 BC. Herodotus mentions two examples of Steganography in The Histories of Herodotus[1]. Demeratus sent a warning about a forthcoming attacks to Xerxes by writing it on a wooden panel and covering it in wax. The second example is Histaeus who shaved the head of his most trusted slave and tattooed a message on his head. After his hair had grown the message was hidden. The purpose was to instigate a revolt against the Persians. Later, Johannes Trithemius's book Steganographia is a treatise on cryptography and steganography disguised as a book on black magic.
Generally a steganographic message will appear to be something else: a picture, an article, a shopping list, or some other "cover" message. Recent trends include steganographic coding inside of a transport layer such an MP3 file or a protocol such as UDP.
Steganographic messages are often first encrypted by some traditional means, and then a covertext is modified in some way to contain the encrypted message, resulting in stegotext. For example, the letter size, spacing, typeface, or other characteristics of a covertext can be manipulated to carry the hidden message; only the recipient (who must know the technique used) can recover the message and then decrypt it. Francis Bacon is known to have suggested such a technique to hide messages.
Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one apart from the intended recipient knows of the existence of the message; this is in contrast to cryptography, where the existence of the message itself is not disguised, but the meaning is obscured. "Steganography" is a Greek word and means covered or hidden writing. Its origins can be traced back to 440 BC. Herodotus mentions two examples of Steganography in The Histories of Herodotus[1]. Demeratus sent a warning about a forthcoming attacks to Xerxes by writing it on a wooden panel and covering it in wax. The second example is Histaeus who shaved the head of his most trusted slave and tattooed a message on his head. After his hair had grown the message was hidden. The purpose was to instigate a revolt against the Persians. Later, Johannes Trithemius's book Steganographia is a treatise on cryptography and steganography disguised as a book on black magic.
Generally a steganographic message will appear to be something else: a picture, an article, a shopping list, or some other "cover" message. Recent trends include steganographic coding inside of a transport layer such an MP3 file or a protocol such as UDP.
Steganographic messages are often first encrypted by some traditional means, and then a covertext is modified in some way to contain the encrypted message, resulting in stegotext. For example, the letter size, spacing, typeface, or other characteristics of a covertext can be manipulated to carry the hidden message; only the recipient (who must know the technique used) can recover the message and then decrypt it. Francis Bacon is known to have suggested such a technique to hide messages.
vaughn
ok, so michael vaughn was killed off on the series premier of my favorite show alias....and while several new characters were introduced.......and jennifer/sydney's pregnancy was written into the plot line....i am saddened that the producers/directors/writers have taken this path.....i would not be so twisted as to say that these people are my friends....but i do get wrapped up in the drama that they create for my pleasure on a weekly basis......and as a recurring diversion with seasons 1-3 on dvd....... and now sydney's baby will have no father....omg.......this is just too much......and i cannot wait til next thursday to find out what happens next...........
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
the perffect mile.....
ok, so it was the book club plus sam this evening...and sam (the last of the morgan runners) is the most likely of the crowd assembled to actually break the mile record.....and we got to talking about not just landy, and santee, and bannister...but about steven prefontaine....and mary decker slaney and zola budd.....and all of the could have/should have/runners of yore....including mark nenow who peaked after he graduated from u.k.......and mostly we chatted about runners who couldhave/shouldhave/wouldhave....and it came to a larger and more global chat about advantage....whether chemical or physical or psycholical.......as in matching singlet and shorts......as opposed to e.p.o. blood doping.......and we agreed that we are basically resigned to major advantage taking over.......so far from folks like bannister who ran a sub 4.0 minute mile while still in medical school...for the thrill rather than the payoff.......
quoting candide...
ok, so i received a thought-provoking quotation via electronic mail this day.......maybe i need to read candide, in the original language.....to take my mind off of other, less mundane things....
"Man is bound to live either in convulsions of misery or in the lethargy of
boredom.” - Martin in Voltaire's Candide.
"Man is bound to live either in convulsions of misery or in the lethargy of
boredom.” - Martin in Voltaire's Candide.
where was expedia.com when fema needed it?....
ok, so this was posted on wonkette today.....
Lest you think that Tom DeLay is the only sinkhole of cash operating on the Potomac, let us briefly redirect your attention to the chronic condition of inept money bloat afflicting our oold friends at FEMA. The WaPo's Jonathan Weisman reports that the crony holding pen that gave us Michael "I'm No Superhero; I'm Not Even a Competent Horse Inspector or Lawyer" Brown has floated a grotesque sweetheart deal with Carnival Cruise Lines, to the tune of $236 million. What FEMA gets for all that scratch is three cruise ships, totalling 10,000 berths, for the next six months. Well, they're at least providing desperately needed emergency shelter for flood evacuees, right? Well, you see, the thing is, those ships . . . . now bob more than half empty in the Mississippi River and Mobile Bay. The six-month contract — staunchly defended by Carnival but castigated by politicians from both parties — has come to exemplify the cost of haste that followed Katrina's strike and FEMA's lack of preparation.
To critics, the price is exorbitant. If the ships were at capacity, with 7,116 evacuees, for six months, the price per evacuee would total $1,275 a week, according to calculations by aides to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). A seven-day western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston can be had for $599 a person — and that would include entertainment and the cost of actually making the ship move.
Yeah, but $599 gets you who? The Ozark Mountain Daredevils? Tiffany? Evacuees on this special cruise package get the unsurpassed entertainment of knowing they're center stage in the slow yet steady implosion of Bush-era Republicanism. Priceless. --
Lest you think that Tom DeLay is the only sinkhole of cash operating on the Potomac, let us briefly redirect your attention to the chronic condition of inept money bloat afflicting our oold friends at FEMA. The WaPo's Jonathan Weisman reports that the crony holding pen that gave us Michael "I'm No Superhero; I'm Not Even a Competent Horse Inspector or Lawyer" Brown has floated a grotesque sweetheart deal with Carnival Cruise Lines, to the tune of $236 million. What FEMA gets for all that scratch is three cruise ships, totalling 10,000 berths, for the next six months. Well, they're at least providing desperately needed emergency shelter for flood evacuees, right? Well, you see, the thing is, those ships . . . . now bob more than half empty in the Mississippi River and Mobile Bay. The six-month contract — staunchly defended by Carnival but castigated by politicians from both parties — has come to exemplify the cost of haste that followed Katrina's strike and FEMA's lack of preparation.
To critics, the price is exorbitant. If the ships were at capacity, with 7,116 evacuees, for six months, the price per evacuee would total $1,275 a week, according to calculations by aides to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). A seven-day western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston can be had for $599 a person — and that would include entertainment and the cost of actually making the ship move.
Yeah, but $599 gets you who? The Ozark Mountain Daredevils? Tiffany? Evacuees on this special cruise package get the unsurpassed entertainment of knowing they're center stage in the slow yet steady implosion of Bush-era Republicanism. Priceless. --
even more dylan...
ok so this sad song proves to me that dylan can be capable of meaning something when he writes songs.....
sara.....written in 1976 after dylan's wife left him......
I laid on a dune, I looked at the sky,
When the children were babies and played on the beach.
You came up behind me, I saw you go by,
You were always so close and still within reach.
Sara, Sara,
Whatever made you want to change your mind?
Sara, Sara,
So easy to look at, so hard to define.
I can still see them playin' with their pails in the sand,
They run to the water their buckets to fill.
I can still see the shells fallin' out of their hands
As they follow each other back up the hill.
Sara, Sara,
Sweet virgin angel, sweet love of my life,
Sara, Sara,
Radiant jewel, mystical wife.
Sleepin' in the woods by a fire in the night,
Drinkin' white rum in a Portugal bar,
Them playin' leapfrog and hearin' about Snow White,
You in the marketplace in Savanna-la-Mar.
Sara, Sara,
It's all so clear, I could never forget,
Sara, Sara,
Lovin' you is the one thing I'll never regret.
I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells,
I'd taken the cure and had just gotten through,
Stayin' up for days in the Chelsea Hotel,
Writin' "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" for you.
Sara, Sara,
Wherever we travel we're never apart.
Sara, oh Sara,
Beautiful lady, so dear to my heart.
How did I meet you? I don't know.
A messenger sent me in a tropical storm.
You were there in the winter, moonlight on the snow
And on Lily Pond Lane when the weather was warm.
Sara, oh Sara,
Scorpio Sphinx in a calico dress,
Sara, Sara,
You must forgive me my unworthiness.
Now the beach is deserted except for some kelp
And a piece of an old ship that lies on the shore.
You always responded when I needed your help,
You gimme a map and a key to your door.
Sara, oh Sara,
Glamorous nymph with an arrow and bow,
Sara, oh Sara,
Don't ever leave me, don't ever go.
sara.....written in 1976 after dylan's wife left him......
I laid on a dune, I looked at the sky,
When the children were babies and played on the beach.
You came up behind me, I saw you go by,
You were always so close and still within reach.
Sara, Sara,
Whatever made you want to change your mind?
Sara, Sara,
So easy to look at, so hard to define.
I can still see them playin' with their pails in the sand,
They run to the water their buckets to fill.
I can still see the shells fallin' out of their hands
As they follow each other back up the hill.
Sara, Sara,
Sweet virgin angel, sweet love of my life,
Sara, Sara,
Radiant jewel, mystical wife.
Sleepin' in the woods by a fire in the night,
Drinkin' white rum in a Portugal bar,
Them playin' leapfrog and hearin' about Snow White,
You in the marketplace in Savanna-la-Mar.
Sara, Sara,
It's all so clear, I could never forget,
Sara, Sara,
Lovin' you is the one thing I'll never regret.
I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells,
I'd taken the cure and had just gotten through,
Stayin' up for days in the Chelsea Hotel,
Writin' "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" for you.
Sara, Sara,
Wherever we travel we're never apart.
Sara, oh Sara,
Beautiful lady, so dear to my heart.
How did I meet you? I don't know.
A messenger sent me in a tropical storm.
You were there in the winter, moonlight on the snow
And on Lily Pond Lane when the weather was warm.
Sara, oh Sara,
Scorpio Sphinx in a calico dress,
Sara, Sara,
You must forgive me my unworthiness.
Now the beach is deserted except for some kelp
And a piece of an old ship that lies on the shore.
You always responded when I needed your help,
You gimme a map and a key to your door.
Sara, oh Sara,
Glamorous nymph with an arrow and bow,
Sara, oh Sara,
Don't ever leave me, don't ever go.
from garrison keillor.....
ok, so i don't always take the time to read writer's almanac......this morning's on-line issue contained the following....
Today is a big day in the history of the English language. On this day, in 1066, William the Conqueror of Normandy arrived on British soil. Having defeated the British in the Battle of Hastings and on Christmas day he was crowned the King in Westminster Abby.
At the time the British were speaking a combination of Saxon and Old Norse. The Normans, of course, spoke French, and over time the languages blended. To the Saxon word "house" came the Norman word "mansion." To the Saxon word "cow" came the Norman word "beef" and so on.
So the English language now contains more than a million words, one of the most diverse languages on earth. Cyril Connelly wrote, "The English language is like a broad river ... being polluted by a string of refuse-barges tipping out their muck." But Walt Whitman said, "The English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all."
Today is a big day in the history of the English language. On this day, in 1066, William the Conqueror of Normandy arrived on British soil. Having defeated the British in the Battle of Hastings and on Christmas day he was crowned the King in Westminster Abby.
At the time the British were speaking a combination of Saxon and Old Norse. The Normans, of course, spoke French, and over time the languages blended. To the Saxon word "house" came the Norman word "mansion." To the Saxon word "cow" came the Norman word "beef" and so on.
So the English language now contains more than a million words, one of the most diverse languages on earth. Cyril Connelly wrote, "The English language is like a broad river ... being polluted by a string of refuse-barges tipping out their muck." But Walt Whitman said, "The English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all."
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
more dylan.....
ok, so i also forgot to mention the following dylan classics......it's all over now, baby blue, tamborine man, it ain't me babe, i dreamed i saw st. augenstine, highway 61 revisited, just like a woman, a simple twist of fate, and tangled up in blue........i may think of more before the night is over.......the documentary ended abruptly with dylan's motorcycle wreck, an accident which happened not logn after his cataclysmic appearance at newport folk festival and a european tour....whereupon fans booed his metal music and screamed accusations that he had sold out from his folk roots....and turned his back from his topical (protest) format....the filmed sequences of dylan at press conferences were amusing.....with reporters asking him insipid questions about what his songs meant.....at one point...dylan asked the querrying reporter what the songs meant to him.....and the guy replied that he heard any of his songs......it was only his job to ask questions not to know answers.......the same could be said for dylan.....it was not his job to know answers......i felt especially sad for joan baez.....who recalled the disapointment she felt when dylan declined to get involved in the vietnam war protests.......dylan had sung a duet with her during the march on washington for civil rights....something about a shipcoming in.......the documentary was unclear whether they sang before or after mlk's i have a dream speech....i had not known of dylan's presence at that event........dylan went on to make music with a backup band.... like a rolling stone was one of the first in this format....hard to conceive of crowds booing such a catchy, witty, and deeply serious song about...well....according to bob in the documentary...he never meant his songs to mean anything.....he said that his words mean different things to him now than they meant then.....and therefore have no eternal meaning......hmmm......so i suppose it is right and good that i take from his lyrics what i want to take from them.......and disregard the rest.......wait.....that was a simon and garfunkle lyric....not dylan....sorry....all of these rock poets can run together at some point......
aussies......
ok, so i may, or may not have mentioned that several weeks ago my spouse and i hosted an overnight stay for a pair of aussies who were biking across america.....a couple about our age who met whilst working in the northwestern australia mining district......who semi-retired to a life of house-sitting on the eastern coast........they finished their trek......and rather than rushing back home from the atlantic seaboard.....felt compelled to travel instead to louisiana to help with post-katrina work....and so we received an email today from these fine folks who have been working relief for nearly 3 weeks now......a couple of aussie missionaries, if you will........who really have no commitments until christmas....when they have agreed to housesit for couple who will be spending the holidays in england.........what a wonderful life.........i should mention that this pair have not 2 pounds of body fat between them......
potential plot line.......
ok, so last night. before my spouse returned home from his family weekend...i chanced to enter the room of my middle child......to stow away some things that could be his...could be because when one has more than one child anything could be anybodys until proven otherwise...but i digress........when i turned on the light the first thing i noticed was the outside door.....ajar about 2 inches.....omg.......how could this be......we had been in there last tuesday...when we went through his french book shelf overthephone.....so that we could overnight livres en francais from the class he had added..........but since he left for school the room has reverted to shrine status.....nobody goes in without a specific purpose.......and nobody has fessed up to opening the door.......nobody....as in the other 2 persons who are left in this dwindling household........and this begs the question......is somebody secretly living in my basement........yeah, i know that there isn't anybody living in my basement.....but it would make an interesting novel plot, eh?.......a friend of your child has dropped out of school....and doesn't want anybody to know......so he has figured out how to co-exist in your home.....without you suspecting........not living, per se....but at least a place to sleep and have shelter from the elements.......i haven't worked out where this person would park his/her vehicle............it would be more intriguing if it were a female rather than a male......the entrance to this basement room....is not so much secluded as it is away from most ears......and there is hardly any real use for such a secret living space.....as there are 2 completely empty weekend lake houses on our circle.......i do like this thread........don't know where it would/should end up yet........but at least this is something to keep my mind off of food............
omg
ok, so i read about this on wonkette....and followed the link to reasoned audacity (aren't blog names wonderful?.......)
from reasoned audacity-
A mother took her 13-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old friend on an overnight shopping trip. While at a mall in White Plains, New York, they "ran into" Gilberto Gonzalez, who is 19, and Michael Berger, who is 18.
I can't quite imagine what happened in that interaction at the mall because the next part of the story is inconceivable: the two men met the mother and the two girls at a room in the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For sex. With the girls. With the mother's collusion. She provided the beer.
The two men had sex with the 13 and 14-year-old girls while the mother was in the room!
That's an outrage. But it gets worse.
The men are now being prosecuted for rape. That's good.
The mother is being prosecuted for second-degree rape. Maybe good.
But the judge says he is going to sentence the woman to six months in jail and 10 years probation, if she convinces him "that she understands the seriousness of the crime."
Six months in jail? Six months in jail? For pimping out your daughter? And a friend?
The judge is the one who doesn't understand the seriousness of this crime.
His name is Judge Rory Bellantoni, 9th Judicial District, Westchester County, New York.
from reasoned audacity-
A mother took her 13-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old friend on an overnight shopping trip. While at a mall in White Plains, New York, they "ran into" Gilberto Gonzalez, who is 19, and Michael Berger, who is 18.
I can't quite imagine what happened in that interaction at the mall because the next part of the story is inconceivable: the two men met the mother and the two girls at a room in the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For sex. With the girls. With the mother's collusion. She provided the beer.
The two men had sex with the 13 and 14-year-old girls while the mother was in the room!
That's an outrage. But it gets worse.
The men are now being prosecuted for rape. That's good.
The mother is being prosecuted for second-degree rape. Maybe good.
But the judge says he is going to sentence the woman to six months in jail and 10 years probation, if she convinces him "that she understands the seriousness of the crime."
Six months in jail? Six months in jail? For pimping out your daughter? And a friend?
The judge is the one who doesn't understand the seriousness of this crime.
His name is Judge Rory Bellantoni, 9th Judicial District, Westchester County, New York.
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