Life as an Extreme Sport

For the softest hair, use hamster extract

Oliver has Hurler Syndrome, leaving him unable to break down deadly toxins in his body. Oliver also has hamster extract. The hamster extract appears to counteract some of the worst side effects of Hurler’s Syndrome, and as an added bonus? Makes his hair softer, too.

Of course, the Daily Mail’s take on the story brings to mind vast legions of hamsters being milked for their extract in some sort of dystopic hamster version of The Matrix. A quick trip to Google brings a slightly less science fiction, more science fact account of the treatment, which involves enzymes taken from genetically modified Chinese hamsters, given via slow IV drip once a week. The enzymes appear to mimic those Oliver is missing, cleaning up the toxins, helping him grow, and giving him much-needed energy.

Me, I’m just slightly disappointed there will be no hamster Neo.

(With thanks to birthday girl Laurie for the tip!)

-Kelly Hills

Originally posted at the American Journal of Bioethics Editors Blog.

validation

I’ve been slowly cleaning and organizing my office the past week or so, spending half an hour in the morning and another 30 minutes or so at night just filing and rearranging so that things are intuitively easier to find. This morning I came across my letters of recommendation for graduate school, so let myself have a read – hee! It’s such awesome validation to see what people think about you. I’m so shiny in these letters – and maybe scariest of all, I’m starting to believe at least some of it.

Nice ego boost to start the day with.

surprise surprise, look what doesn’t work

The delay in posting this comes from it being originally written for another blog; this might get taken down if the technical issues going on are resolved, and posting starts up again in earnest.

In a new study mandated by Congress, who’s reviewing yearly federal funding for abstinence only sex education programs this summer, everyone gets to find out what those of us who’ve taught comprehensive sex education have known for years: abstinence only sex education is not effective. As a matter of fact, exactly the same number of kids who go through abstinence-only courses decide to have sex as those who get the comprehensive sex education courses – about half. Nor did going through the abstinence only coursework delay having sex; they all started having sex about age 15.

So some folks are going to say, if it’s 50/50, about the same, what’s the problem? Why not promote abstinence only education, since it’s no more effective than comprehensive sex education?

While recent reviews of the abstinence only courses suggest that they’ve dropped their more inflammatory statements, such as Choosing The Best’s comment that the final stages of condom usage are to immediately wash the genitals with soap and water and either rubbing alcohol or a diluted solution of lysol, or several programs claims that it’s not at all uncommon to see women with genital warts the size of fists, they still base their curricula on fear, shame, inaccurate medical information, exclusionary language that leaves out anyone who doesn’t identify as heteronormative, often ignore anatomy and puberty, focuses only on heterosexual, vaginal intercourse, and utilize either outdated, misleading, or worst-case scenarios when they do discuss sexually transmitted infections (which is only done in fear tactic manners).

For me, that’s a pretty good laundry list of reasons to avoid abstinence only education. Add to that vague language that leaves teens thinking that abstinence means “no pens to vagina intercourse” and everything else is fine, without knowing how to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections that can occur during oral or anal sex (as these are topics are often simply not at all covered), and I cannot understand why anyone believes these courses to be a good idea.

Abstinence is definitely a part of a comprehensive sex education program; I fully agree with SIECUS (the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a great resource on all things sex-related, including detailed reviews of the problems with abstinence only courses, and recommendations for how to get comprehensive courses in your community), who says that students “deserve comprehensive sexuality education that provides unbiased, accurate information about sexuality and relationships including vital information on such important topics as STDs, HIV, and pregnancy prevention.” We should be arming our children with the knowledge, self-confidence and ability to make the best decision for themselves – and the only way you can make the best decision possible is to have all the accurate information there is.

silly kitty, books are for people

It’s been absolutely gorgeous here in Albany – spring seems to be upon us, and the weather the past four days has been sheer heaven. Today, I took advantage of some free time and energy before bed to swap the sheets on my bed, retiring my lovely dragonfly flannels for something a bit lighter. (Granted, I have no idea where the pillowcases are for the lighter sheet set, but one step at a time.) After making the bed, with just sheet and duvet, I tossed the book I’m reading down and wandered out to finish watching Iron Chef America, grab a water bottle, and come back to read for a bit before falling asleep.

This is what I came back to. Silly kitty! Books are for people! He was quite unhappy to move, a stalemate that lasted until I said “fuck it” and laid down on top of him. Even then, it took a few minutes before he decided he really didn’t want to function as a pillow for me, and he reluctantly moved to my feet.

And apropos of nothing save it’s just too cute, have a picture of my penguin humidifier. Because everyone knows penguins are just the cutest things ever. Save my cat, in the middle of my bed, lying on a book and looking pleased as punch.