Month: November 2006

We are all small people, and we have made our gods small. The Christian thinks Christ belongs to him. The Hindus think Rama and Krishna belong only to them, and the Muslim thinks Allah belongs to Islam. And so on. But this isn’t correct. Once, when Gandhi was asked, “What is your religion?” he said, “Well, I am a Hindu, I am a Muslim, I am a Christian, I am a Sikh — I follow the basic principles of all religions.

There’s a scene in the movie Gandhi that one of my preachers mentioned a couple weeks ago in her sermon. A reporter asked Gandhi him why he had never become a Christian. He answered, “If I had ever met one, I would have become one.”

So, the questions, at the beginning of the Christian period of Advent, are:

1. Why do you identify with your particular religion (or lack thereof), and particular form of that religion? (Christian Baptist, Orthodox Jew, Sunni Muslim, etc.) Was it a function of upbringing, or was it a choice made later?

2. What do you think of other major religions? Are they interesting, but not the real deal, or are they each a different path to enlightenment?

I became a Presbyterian six years ago, but grew up as a member of the A.M.E. Zion church, before my theological walk through the wilderness, where I was exposed to everything from Baha’ism to Unitarianism to various forms of Christianity, before settling in as a Methodist again. I feel as though there’s a lot to be said for the (non-fundamentalist) visions of many religions.

This is a story I read about on the Business Librarians’ listserv. It was confirmed by a friend at the EPA, who notes:
“We will lose a great number of reports that are only available as paper copies, and I have no idea what they plan to do with the books. Supposedly we have electronic access to journals (which is great when it works), but many of the ones I have needed aren’t the ones to which we subscribe. Sigh.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is frantically dispersing its library collections to preempt Congressional intervention, according to internal emails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Contrary to promises by EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock that all of the former library materials will be made available electronically, vast troves of unique technical reports and analyses will remain indefinitely inaccessible.
Meanwhile, many materials formerly held by the Office of Prevention, Pollution and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) Library, in EPA’s Washington D.C. Headquarters, were directed to be thrown into trash bins, according to reports received by PEER. This month, EPA closed the OPPTS Library, its only specialized library for research on health effects and properties of toxic chemicals and pesticides, without notice to either the public or affected scientists.

See the order to destroy (“recycle”) OPPTS library materials (PDF)

Read the letter posted by an anonymous employee rebutting EPA claims (PDF)

View the email about inaccessibility of EPA contractor documents (PDF)

Look at the email from the manager of the OPTTS Library (PDF)

Peruse email outlining concerns about how library restoration may be “futile” (PDF)

Examine the appropriations sign-on letter from Senators Boxer and Lautenberg (PDF)

Trace the unfolding developments in EPA’s drive to shutter its libraries

Source: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)

Oh, in case you were wondering, Marcus Peacock comes to EPA from OMB.

“PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch [noted] EPA studies show the cuts will actually lose money due to additional professional staff time that will have to be spent tracking down research materials now assembled by the libraries… In a mass letter of protest signed this June by representatives for 10,000 EPA scientists and researchers, more than half the total agency workforce, employees contend that the library plan is designed to “suppress information on environmental and public health-related topics.”

1980- With my girlfriend at the time and her son, but clearly at a point prior to breaking up, which happened four days later. That girlfriend used to, and probably still does, remember JFK in her blessing; the assassination was 43 years ago today.

1983- With with what turned out to be a short-term girlfriend, awkward first meeting of her family in the Bronx. We broke up about five weeks later.

1988- Don’t specifically remember, but I do recall getting a phone call telling me that my friend Nancy was dying of cancer; she passed on New Year’s Day, 1989.

1994- Awkward first meeting of the girlfriend’s family. At least we didn’t break up until a year and a half later. (And we got back together – that was with Carol.)

1996- Invited to Thanksgiving dinner a few days earlier, then at the last minute, the offer was withdrawn, for reasons I never understood. I sat home, sulked, and ate Chinese takeout. The only year since 1973 I’ve watched both NFL games in their entirety, which is NOT necessarily a good thing.

It’s not that every Thanksgiving was a bad experience. 1982 at the home of my previously-mentioned friend Nancy with other “orphans”, 1987 with an Alice’s Restaurant number of folks in Oneonta, a couple years in a row with friends Steber and Jean from church in the early 1990s.

This is how Lydia looked after her bout with peanuts. We were thisclose to taking her to the ER, but with the advice of our doctor, who was thankfully on call, we held off. Fortunately, she got better relatively quickly. Lydia’s Uncle Dan found some websites and some relevant content regarding peanut (and tree nut) allergies.

Fortunately, and surprisingly, Lydia is not allergic to tree nuts, but this is good to know.
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After my last mention of allergies, I got this message:

Hello, I was doing some research on peanut allergies and came across your blog. My name is Stephanie. I have a 2 year old daughter, Sophia, with a peanut allergy. We live in Fort Plain NY. It about 40 minutes west of Schenectady. I’d love to set up a playdate for the two girls- it’d be great if Sophia had a friend her own age with peanut allergy as well. (I know this sounds weird- since its on the internet- but its genuine:) Hope to hear from you!!