I wonder how many disputes has Facebook created among families and friends!
Given that I have now fallen out with two family members and two friends and I don't even use Facebook that much, I can't help wondering what is happening to everyone else's friendship status.
It is easy to gain friends but it is just as easy to loose them!
So should we come up with a code of ethic? Something like:
1) do not accept friendship from an old boyfriend/girlfriend of your sister/daughter/brother/son/mother/father etc. just because it was a good guy or girl
2) do not leave a confrontational or snide comment as a response to one of your friends of friends post (oh boy this is a tongue twister! In my case it managed to cause a Facebook Flaming)
3) do not accept friendship from relatives and friends of your husband/wives and friends in general without their permission
4) do not accept friendship from nannies or employees of your friends or relatives without their permission
5) do not upload pictures of your family, your friends, and your friends' children without their permission
6) do not post sensitive or private issues/content on your friends wall, write them a private e-mail instead
7) Exercise the freedom of speech politely and respectfully
8) Don't lie on you status updates, you will get caught
9) If you are married or in a relationship, don't flirt with an old high school friend
10) Don't call friends and family, or friends of friends and family with inappropriate names, it will most certainly cause offense
Well these are the first 10 but I think there is more!
What a fascinating phenomenon...
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
A dose of information, a dose of reason and a dose of moderation too in this world of vaccine SUPER SIZE ME!
At the pediatrician's office today, I read with interest the article published on Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/01/23/vaccine_phobia_is_letting_preventable_infectious_diseases_needlessly_threaten_our_children/
They had made many copies available for pick up.
I am not a pediatrician nor a medical doctor but I am a PhD and have a deep understanding of how our body works and responds to diseases.
I have enjoyed reading the article, it is pretty accurate, however, it is still not quite the full story.
Of course these type of diseases do not kill every child who contracts them, we always have the child with underlying conditions (e.g immunosuppression) or simply an unfortunate genetic make up (e.g. allergies, asthma). Truth be said, side effects and death from vaccination is much much less that the terrible side effects and death by each of these diseases.
So where does the real problem lie? The problem is not in the PANIC Virus, rather in the VACCINE MANIA this country has been experiencing for some time now. What has happened to fast food, it is now happening to vaccines: SUPER SIZE ME.
We now have 5 (penta-) in one and even 6 (hexa-) in one vaccines? Why does everything have to be an extreme? First and foremost these vaccines are not tested (no matter what anyone says, if you care to search deep in the medical and scientific literature, you will find that the performance of some of our currently used vaccines will be known to us in years to come! ). In addition, some multiple vaccine combinations have begun to contain even non obligatory vaccines as well. Is the public aware of this? Lets be honest these are definitively sneaked in!
The public is not informed properly, the leaflets we get from our pediatricians have zero useful information. To name one, fever is not a true "adverse effect"... we do not mention the real ones because of course we do not want to panic the masses, at the same time if we do not educate them, we can't complain when Jenny McCarthy assumes MMR caused her son's autism.
It should also be noted that we have different kind of vaccines (made from purified proteins, attenuated, live)...which one of those causes less overload and shock to the immune-system when multiple vaccine combinations are administered? Well let me tell you my children are not going near a multiple attenuated vaccine (MMR?!).
And so how can the public be educated if the scientific and medical staff has not appropriately conducted tests and evaluated risks on vaccines currently and commonly used ?
Lets say that a vaccine is used and it is successful for many years, disease incidence goes down and percentage of recorded side effects per patient stays the same ...eventually the vaccine side effects will be higher than the ones caused by the disease...and so people will start refusing vaccination!
Are we there?
I keep discussing this with my husband, who works in the field of infectious diseases and I keep getting the usual "no matter what, vaccination is ultimately better", better for who? I think he means better for the society as a whole...but I am a mother, so what about my child? Is this vaccination better for my child? Not necessarily and this is the true answer!
We (scientist and medics) do not know what are the benefit vs risks of these multiple vaccinations on small children.
So I simply ask why should a child be submitted to all of those vaccines at once?
I have always respectfully refused.
Is it necessary for a few hours old child, to be vaccinated with hepatitis B? And a few weeks later bombarded with multiple vaccines?
MODERATION, A LARGE DOSE OF MODERATION.
In my country the multiple vaccine are still hard to find and nobody got crazy about the thimerosal and the consequences of mercury levels in vaccination. The panic in America ensued only when they started administering multiple vaccines at once in babies so young! Then it occurred to them that perhaps they would be getting too close to the levels of acceptable mercury a child could get in one go! No shit dick tracy!
I am going to end it here by saying that education, reason and moderation are all needed not just a dose of reason!
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/01/23/vaccine_phobia_is_letting_preventable_infectious_diseases_needlessly_threaten_our_children/
They had made many copies available for pick up.
I am not a pediatrician nor a medical doctor but I am a PhD and have a deep understanding of how our body works and responds to diseases.
I have enjoyed reading the article, it is pretty accurate, however, it is still not quite the full story.
Of course these type of diseases do not kill every child who contracts them, we always have the child with underlying conditions (e.g immunosuppression) or simply an unfortunate genetic make up (e.g. allergies, asthma). Truth be said, side effects and death from vaccination is much much less that the terrible side effects and death by each of these diseases.
So where does the real problem lie? The problem is not in the PANIC Virus, rather in the VACCINE MANIA this country has been experiencing for some time now. What has happened to fast food, it is now happening to vaccines: SUPER SIZE ME.
We now have 5 (penta-) in one and even 6 (hexa-) in one vaccines? Why does everything have to be an extreme? First and foremost these vaccines are not tested (no matter what anyone says, if you care to search deep in the medical and scientific literature, you will find that the performance of some of our currently used vaccines will be known to us in years to come! ). In addition, some multiple vaccine combinations have begun to contain even non obligatory vaccines as well. Is the public aware of this? Lets be honest these are definitively sneaked in!
The public is not informed properly, the leaflets we get from our pediatricians have zero useful information. To name one, fever is not a true "adverse effect"... we do not mention the real ones because of course we do not want to panic the masses, at the same time if we do not educate them, we can't complain when Jenny McCarthy assumes MMR caused her son's autism.
It should also be noted that we have different kind of vaccines (made from purified proteins, attenuated, live)...which one of those causes less overload and shock to the immune-system when multiple vaccine combinations are administered? Well let me tell you my children are not going near a multiple attenuated vaccine (MMR?!).
And so how can the public be educated if the scientific and medical staff has not appropriately conducted tests and evaluated risks on vaccines currently and commonly used ?
Lets say that a vaccine is used and it is successful for many years, disease incidence goes down and percentage of recorded side effects per patient stays the same ...eventually the vaccine side effects will be higher than the ones caused by the disease...and so people will start refusing vaccination!
Are we there?
I keep discussing this with my husband, who works in the field of infectious diseases and I keep getting the usual "no matter what, vaccination is ultimately better", better for who? I think he means better for the society as a whole...but I am a mother, so what about my child? Is this vaccination better for my child? Not necessarily and this is the true answer!
We (scientist and medics) do not know what are the benefit vs risks of these multiple vaccinations on small children.
So I simply ask why should a child be submitted to all of those vaccines at once?
I have always respectfully refused.
Is it necessary for a few hours old child, to be vaccinated with hepatitis B? And a few weeks later bombarded with multiple vaccines?
MODERATION, A LARGE DOSE OF MODERATION.
In my country the multiple vaccine are still hard to find and nobody got crazy about the thimerosal and the consequences of mercury levels in vaccination. The panic in America ensued only when they started administering multiple vaccines at once in babies so young! Then it occurred to them that perhaps they would be getting too close to the levels of acceptable mercury a child could get in one go! No shit dick tracy!
I am going to end it here by saying that education, reason and moderation are all needed not just a dose of reason!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunny California...the glamor ...the glitz...
Hello fellow bloggers...
sorry for the absence but indeed I was soaking up the sun in California....and now I am back in Boston where everyone is cold and grey just like the weather.
I visited my local whole foods this morning and suddenly it did not feel as glamorous as the whole foods in Santa Monica or Studio city...I took my time and even smiled at the cashier while he was ringing up my groceries... he studied my facial expressions attentively...asking himself why was I smiling? and why on earth was i so happy ...when I realized my smile, still warm from the bright Californian sun, was not well received, a sense of doom came upon me!I Clearly in order to be accepted here i have to quickly return to being grumpy, often rude, unfriendly and always on hedge!
Still meeting my fellow actor friends for lunch in West Hollywood was fantastic, everyone so happy, everyone so joyous and full of life... and fashion fashion fashion.....
....I would even put up with leaving in the little boxes on the hillsides!
Oh well back into darkness...
sorry for the absence but indeed I was soaking up the sun in California....and now I am back in Boston where everyone is cold and grey just like the weather.
I visited my local whole foods this morning and suddenly it did not feel as glamorous as the whole foods in Santa Monica or Studio city...I took my time and even smiled at the cashier while he was ringing up my groceries... he studied my facial expressions attentively...asking himself why was I smiling? and why on earth was i so happy ...when I realized my smile, still warm from the bright Californian sun, was not well received, a sense of doom came upon me!I Clearly in order to be accepted here i have to quickly return to being grumpy, often rude, unfriendly and always on hedge!
Still meeting my fellow actor friends for lunch in West Hollywood was fantastic, everyone so happy, everyone so joyous and full of life... and fashion fashion fashion.....
....I would even put up with leaving in the little boxes on the hillsides!
Oh well back into darkness...
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Owen Wilson is back from the dead and Hollywood is having a baby!!
Something in the California waters?? Or is Hollywood sympathizing with the recent credit crunches and natural catastrophes?? Maybe it's still the Obama Baby Boom.
Victoria and Beckam, Kate Hudson, Jane Krakowski (30 Rock blondie), Natalie Portman, Neil Patrick....
and so many more...
Surrogates, egg donors, or simply old-fashioned shagging...a baby boom is on the horizon.
Even Owen Wilson went from dead to dad...
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20456549,00.html
recently the Italian tabloid "Il Sole 24 ore" claimed Owen Wilson died due to a snowboarding accident...not quite! But check out this facebook page in his honor :)!
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=184953514864974&comments&ref=mf
Well thumbs up for the bumps but watch out for the baby blues after the baby boom!!!
Victoria and Beckam, Kate Hudson, Jane Krakowski (30 Rock blondie), Natalie Portman, Neil Patrick....
and so many more...
Surrogates, egg donors, or simply old-fashioned shagging...a baby boom is on the horizon.
Even Owen Wilson went from dead to dad...
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20456549,00.html
recently the Italian tabloid "Il Sole 24 ore" claimed Owen Wilson died due to a snowboarding accident...not quite! But check out this facebook page in his honor :)!
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=184953514864974&comments&ref=mf
Well thumbs up for the bumps but watch out for the baby blues after the baby boom!!!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Giada De Laurentis who are you?
Seriously Italians do not know you!
Here is the interview that set me off
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20456256,00.html
After all I have been irritated by her demeanor for years so it was only a matter of time before she ended up On a Little Dash Of Sanity.
Where to start ...I am not sure what is worse, her embracing the role of "traditional wife" (and what exactly is that role?) or her being " Everyday Italian".
An entire blog could be dedicated to the repercussion of her statements in the interview above. What is a traditional wife? Have we not fought enough against these traditional roles?
So who are you? Apparently a role model, "a legend" and "obsession" for some. I can assure you there is very little everyday Italian in you and judging by the interview very little depth behind your character too!
On a more serious note we have to at least acknowledge her efforts in enhancing a very old culinary genre the "Italian American" cuisine. But that is not Italian, lets be clear about this.
Now it would have been nice if my new food blog was more developed so that readers could directly appreciate the differences between the Italian recipe proposed by me, and the same one bastardized by our everyday Giada. Unfortunately simplyandonlyitalian.blogspot.com is still at the very beginning ...after all I need time to be a traditional wife too:)!
Lets get back to Giada, so who is she in America? A Real Chef? A Pretty Face? A Role Model for how to be traditional and subservient? I suppose a traditional wife is better than a "traditional" men where 100% of the time traditional is a synonym for "backward"!
For now in Italy people that come across her name are left wondering if she is another porn star obtaining notoriety!
Here is the interview that set me off
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20456256,00.html
After all I have been irritated by her demeanor for years so it was only a matter of time before she ended up On a Little Dash Of Sanity.
Where to start ...I am not sure what is worse, her embracing the role of "traditional wife" (and what exactly is that role?) or her being " Everyday Italian".
An entire blog could be dedicated to the repercussion of her statements in the interview above. What is a traditional wife? Have we not fought enough against these traditional roles?
So who are you? Apparently a role model, "a legend" and "obsession" for some. I can assure you there is very little everyday Italian in you and judging by the interview very little depth behind your character too!
On a more serious note we have to at least acknowledge her efforts in enhancing a very old culinary genre the "Italian American" cuisine. But that is not Italian, lets be clear about this.
Now it would have been nice if my new food blog was more developed so that readers could directly appreciate the differences between the Italian recipe proposed by me, and the same one bastardized by our everyday Giada. Unfortunately simplyandonlyitalian.blogspot.com is still at the very beginning ...after all I need time to be a traditional wife too:)!
Lets get back to Giada, so who is she in America? A Real Chef? A Pretty Face? A Role Model for how to be traditional and subservient? I suppose a traditional wife is better than a "traditional" men where 100% of the time traditional is a synonym for "backward"!
For now in Italy people that come across her name are left wondering if she is another porn star obtaining notoriety!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Victoria and Beckam: boy or girl?
Well according to some reports "Aristotle used to say that what determines whether the baby is a boy or a girl is the ardor of the men during conception". If that is indeed the case one could explain the repeated success by Beckam!
All sorts of scientific explanation have been put forward for skewing the 50:50 ratio, diet, natural supplements, geographical position, seasonal trends, social and cultural reasons. All of those may indeed skew the outcome but what is certain is that if a female egg is fertilized by a a sperm carrying the Y chromosome then its a boy!
And so what about Posh and Beckam? To those of you trying to guess lets not forget modern reproductive technologies can also skew the outcome...
...I think its going to be a girl!!!!!
March 13 ...and indeed It's a girl...how predictable :) CONGRATS
All sorts of scientific explanation have been put forward for skewing the 50:50 ratio, diet, natural supplements, geographical position, seasonal trends, social and cultural reasons. All of those may indeed skew the outcome but what is certain is that if a female egg is fertilized by a a sperm carrying the Y chromosome then its a boy!
And so what about Posh and Beckam? To those of you trying to guess lets not forget modern reproductive technologies can also skew the outcome...
...I think its going to be a girl!!!!!
March 13 ...and indeed It's a girl...how predictable :) CONGRATS
Zucchini and Bacon
Check out my super food blog at:
http://simplyandonlyitalian.blogspot.com
It's the day for zucchini and bacon!
This recipe is fantastic: it is quick and delicious! It can be a quick family dinner or a dish for a special occasion either way its a winner! it is also very cheap and authentic:
Ingredients (4-5):
Pasta (penne, large shells or similar) PALFO TIP: Barilla, De Cecco or Colavita
Zucchini (4 to 5) small green zucchini/squash, PALFO TIP: do not buy the large squash/zucchini as they are full of water and don't cook well
Bacon (smoked 5 slices, cubed)
Extra virgin olive oil (PALFO rule: medium to large frying pan, cover the bottom and a little more), PALFO TIP: Bertolli is the best and cheapest on the market !
Cherry tomatoes (optional)
Fresh Basil
Cut zucchini Julienne style (lengthwise), place in medium to large frying pan with extra virgin olive oil and cubed bacon. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Do not have the heat to low or too high. After zucchini have mostly cooked, add cherry tomatoes and cook a few more minutes until all is cooked.
A little before zucchini are cooked, boil water for pasta, add salt to water (PALFO TIP: in the beginning just add some salt and then later taste pasta before it is done, and adjust as needed).
Cook pasta al dente (or as specified on package). Drain and mix with zucchini.
Add a few fresh leaves of basil and grated parmesan cheese
Enjoy!
http://simplyandonlyitalian.blogspot.com
It's the day for zucchini and bacon!
This recipe is fantastic: it is quick and delicious! It can be a quick family dinner or a dish for a special occasion either way its a winner! it is also very cheap and authentic:
Ingredients (4-5):
Pasta (penne, large shells or similar) PALFO TIP: Barilla, De Cecco or Colavita
Zucchini (4 to 5) small green zucchini/squash, PALFO TIP: do not buy the large squash/zucchini as they are full of water and don't cook well
Bacon (smoked 5 slices, cubed)
Extra virgin olive oil (PALFO rule: medium to large frying pan, cover the bottom and a little more), PALFO TIP: Bertolli is the best and cheapest on the market !
Cherry tomatoes (optional)
Fresh Basil
Cut zucchini Julienne style (lengthwise), place in medium to large frying pan with extra virgin olive oil and cubed bacon. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Do not have the heat to low or too high. After zucchini have mostly cooked, add cherry tomatoes and cook a few more minutes until all is cooked.
A little before zucchini are cooked, boil water for pasta, add salt to water (PALFO TIP: in the beginning just add some salt and then later taste pasta before it is done, and adjust as needed).
Cook pasta al dente (or as specified on package). Drain and mix with zucchini.
Add a few fresh leaves of basil and grated parmesan cheese
Enjoy!
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