The random thoughts & events in the life of an animal-loving, peace-loving vegetarian.
I can't promise to write regularly. And I can't promise that it will be interesting when I do.
Queenie,
the dog recently pictured on a Good Medicine cover was killed
at Wayne State University in the course of heart failure experiments. PCRM exposed those cruel and ongoing experiments and has been pushing for a better
approach to heart failure research.
On November 26, 2012, Wayne State retaliated
by suing PCRM, hoping to stop us from accessing public records that detailed its
experiments. The University aimed to bury any further information, arguing that
disclosures would be an “unwarranted invasion” of the “privacy” of the
university’s experimenters. Other experimental laboratories, most notably UC
Davis, have tried a similar tactic, in hopes that the public will remain in the
dark about what goes on behind the laboratory door. PCRM fought back, arguing that the public has
a clear-cut right to know what animals go through in research laboratories, how
government research funds are spent, and how research on heart failure—a
condition that affects a great many people—is being carried out.
PCRM’s senior counsel Leslie Rudloff flew to
Michigan for the hearing, which took place this morning. Ruling from the bench,
Judge Susan D. Borman rejected Wayne State’s arguments, explaining that Wayne
State’s basis for withholding public records went well beyond the Freedom of
Information Act’s allowed exemptions. The experiments that the public is paying
for—and that are continuing to kill dogs like Queenie—cannot be hidden from
view. With the court’s decision in our favor, it is now essential to throw the
light of public scrutiny on these experiments so they can come to an end.
~ This was taken directly from an announcement by PCRM
Let me begin by saying that I will only use initials from now on in my blog after a conversation with A last night. If you search the net for her name some of what comes up is family blog entries with her name in them. She and I feel similarly that we don't really want so much personal info so readily found by a simple Google search. Fortunately most of us have different initials, the exception being my husband and first born daughter, so he will now go by H.
Technically No-Rooz was last week; we celebrated Saturday as it was the first day we were all together. It began with a scrumptious breakfast at IHOP. C and K couldn't even wait to dig in for a family picture!! We had a nice southern waitress named Sheila (aren't all southern waitresses named Sheila?) who took good care of our every need.
I can't tell if C is looking at the Haft Sin table or his reflection in the mirror. If you go to the Haft-Sin link it will explain what's on the table and why.
I love K's outstretched hand as Baba hands out Eidee.
The giant is cheating by standing on his toes.
Our sabzi turned out really good this year.
Notice the beautiful cloth H's sister sent us. I love it.
The next tradition is referring to the poetry of Hafez for guidance on the answer to a question. H first rubs the pages while repeating a Farsi version of abracadabra then opens the book to the page with the answer. Click here if you'd like to try it.
I love listening to H read Persian poetry. It's so musical.
G receives his fortune via the reading of Hafez:
Apparently "doosh" means several things. In Farsi it means either in the past or shower, in French it means shower, and to me it means something else entirely. I had to quit taping because I needed to laugh.
A lady in the grocery store took one look at the girls and asked if they are twins. Really? Sisters, yes. Twins?
Nama with her blue-eyed bubsy.
With both sweet bubsies!
We met up with Ricardo at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant and brought him home to dye easter eggs. It's always good to see him.
I don't know if my sister remembers giving the girls this book, but the company who printed it put in our daughters' names as well as that of our cat (Rainbow) and the girls' town and school. It's a story about a smell monster who steals all the scents for himself. K LOVES it!
C gets in one more game (of Trouble) with his auntie A before heading back home.
Sadly both of my birthday balloons (sorry I don't have any pics of my birthday celebration - I was busy blowing out candles and opening presents) which were tied to C and K's wrists to take home were accidentally released into the wild. C was blaming K for letting them go and seriously cried at the loss, so this picture is for him. His balloon is still in our tree while K's took off on an adventure.
My birthday flowers in my owl vase. I named my vase after Wesley the Owl.
We had such a fun weekend. A is still here but leaves tomorrow to visit friends in DC and Hoboken. Can't wait till everyone comes back HOME.
Saeed did a good job remembering my birthday with a cake this year. This is what I found on the kitchen counter:
I blew out the candles, lifted off the cover, and ...
Apparently the fellow behind the counter wasn't the usual cake decorator and may, in fact, have been one of their "special" employees. Is that the politically correct term these days? Anyway, Saeed said he was very serious about his work and handed it over without any hesitation. Personally, I loved it. It has a lot of character!! Tasted good too.
Every time the kids come home I spend the previous weekend washing all their bedding so they have fresh clean beds to fall into. I get lot of help from the upstairs kitties. Here I am trying to pull off Shirin's bed sheets.
It's hard to imagine I'll be coming here every day instead of 200 S. Herlong. I think we'll be on the third floor. At least I'll get some exercise with those stairs. This is the view from the front; the back looks out at I-77. It looks so much bigger driving by on the interstate. So far all we've done is picked out chair/wallpaper from samples. It would seem like such a fantasy if I hadn't see the Fort Mill and Steele Creek offices go up. I can actually imagine working in there!
Chappu loves Frosty. He is big, burly, and sometimes a bit prickly, but she follows him around and licks his head when he lets her. He has learned to tolerate her affections and truth be told, I think he likes it.
Local Cardiologist Touts Plant-Based Diet for Optimal Heart Health
by Melanie Kilgore-Hill Posted: Monday, February 4, 2013 1:56 pm
Dr. David Huneycutt.
In a recent study by the American Heart Association,2.3 percent of
Tennesseans reported having ideal cardiovascular health and 11.2 percent reported having poor cardiovascular health – each worse than the U.S. average. While chess pie, sweet tea and deep fried you-name-it have made the American South a culinary Utopia, our arteries are paying the price.
David Huneycutt, MD, FACC, a cardiovascular disease specialist at
TriStar Centennial Heart & Vascular Center, encourages patients to
adopt a natural, noticeably un-Southern approach to trimming
inches and cutting cholesterol. Time and again, Huneycutt has seen
patients achieve dramatic results by adopting a whole food plant-based
diet. A whole food plant-based diet contains plenty of
fruits, veggies and unprocessed grains. Drastic? Absolutely. But for
patients at high risk for heart disease, drastic diagnoses call for
drastic solutions.
Why Plant-based Diets Work
“There is typically some resistance to any dietary advice, and we
still tend to want the typical western diet that’s gotten us in
trouble,” said Huneycutt, who follows the diet himself. He tells
patients to let food be their medicine instead of relying solely on
pills to manage their problem.
This change in diet is especially important after someone survives a
cardiac event. The less clogged or hardened the arteries, the less
stress on the heart while it is recovering and regaining strength. Heart
survivors successfully adopting this lifestyle change are often able to
manage cholesterol and blood pressure with reduction in daily
medication and regain their pre-heart attack strength.
The science is simple. Saturated fats and cholesterol found in
animal products and vegetable oils increase cholesterol and often are
high in sodium. Cutting fat intake to a very low level is difficult if
not impossible when calorically dense foods are in the picture.
Concerned about fat? No worries. Huneycutt says the typical whole food
plant diet averages a fat intake of 10 to 15 percent – essential fatty
acids found naturally in grains and beans.
“The roller coaster of the American diet we’ve been riding for 20
years says you can still eat the same toxic, fatty foods, just do it
less and control portion size,” Huneycutt said. “That is extremely
challenging, because it’s not aggressive enough, and it’s hard to just
cut back on some of these foods. With a plant based diet there’s no need
to control portion size.”
