Musical Monday: Mourning a Glory

This weekend I received devastating news that a former teammate, friend, and wonderful person passed away in a tragic hot air balloon accident in Caroline County, Virginia.

You might have heard it on the news, I saw stories about it almost everywhere I turned online from local news sources to the MSN homepage, even BBC world news. It was such a shocking and tragic incident. To find out that a former teammate, who had JUST organized last month's alumni meet, who made me a poster just as lovely and with as much thought at the ones she made the 4 year seniors, even though I had only been on the team 3 months, was killed in such a horrific and sudden and unpredictable way was earth-shaking.

In the abstract I know that she's gone but in processing reality, I don't think it's fully hit yet. Work is tough today but what a reminder to cherish every moment and to tell the people that you admire why they are so special to you. There's more I want to write but for now this is all I can get through.

Natalie are are a dear and dearly missed. Your megawatt smile had a brilliance that shone through your eyes to welcome anyone and your passion for live and for loving others stands above most anyone else I know.

Here's a song that expresses some of what I'm feeling.  I didn't want to get too sad or morbid posting a bunch so this is the extent of Musical Monday:

Yellowcard: View from Heaven

Say "What!?" Wednesday TwelveEighteenThirteen

So I usually keep it pretty fun/detached/non-serious here in my Bitzy corner of the blogosphere.  After all, this is supposed to be something I enjoy and it's easier to enjoy things that are happy.

But this week I came across a collection of essays I couldn't ignore and feel compelled to share with you here on what is one of the biggest humanitarian crises in recent times.

 

 

The Washington Post compiled eighteen strikingly powerful photo essays with images of the tragedy playing out in Syria. The accompanying stories are well-written and offer a context for the pictures but the photographs themselves tell such a compelling tale. It's truly and interactive multi-media experience with videos and infographics as well.

I'll give you a moment to take it all in:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/syrian-refugees/story/refuge/

Eh, so there's not much to follow that with that won't seem thin or cheap.

I dislike posting such a downer during this Christmas season, but sometimes the things we need to see are hard to see. I don not think there is any easy solution forward in Syria and much smarter people than I are trying to formulate some sort of policy that will help more than harm the innocent civilians caught up in the conflict. And I know that I will go on to my holiday dinner tonight and this will pass from my mind as I enjoy good food and company. And when I do remember it, I will feel guilty for forgetting. But in the meantime, and every new moment I remember it, I can pray.

And in praying I can hope that the future of Syria will be better than the present.

"Say What!?" Wednesday TwelveFourThirteen

Say What Wednesday: week three

Let's dive right in:

U.S. drops 2,000 mice on Guam — by parachute — to kill snakes

Washington Times

U.S. helicopters descended upon Guam on Sunday with cargo meant to kill, although this $8 million mission was unlike most others — 2,000 mice on cardboard parachutes were released into the forest surrounding Andersen Air Force Base as bait for brown tree snakes.

Guam’s population of brown tree snakes hovers around 2 million, with a density of 13,000 per square mile in some areas, CNBC said. However, the snakes are sensitive to Tylenol — 80 milligrams of acetaminophen can kill them. That’s where the mice come in.

The 2,000 rodents that were parachuted into the canopy were all pumped with the painkiller; when the snakes take a big enough bite, they die. Data-transmitting radios embedded within the mice help scientists gauge how well their program is working.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/3/us-drops-2000-mice-guam-parachute-kill-snakes/#ixzz2mbyQ3dnp
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Now, at first I thought, "Woah, COOL!" Then I read some of the comments which used simple math to break down the cost that even if all the mice get eaten by snakes (and not cats, to which tylenol consumption  is also fatal) and there's a 100% success rate it would still cost $4,000 per snake... and there'd still be 1.98 million snakes left on the island... maybe not the most cost effective or well thought through plan.

But it' still neat to picture the mice parachuting from helicopters... I imagine them with little mice helmets too =)

So unfortunately I ran out of time yesterday, which is why Say "What!?" Wednesday is out on Thursday this week and why I only have one news item instead of three. Sorry bout that. Christmas and its various time-consuming related activities have started taking over my life... but I'm not complaining =)

"Say What!?" Wednesday ElevenTwentyThirteen

Welcome to the first iteration of "Say What!?" Wednesday where I blog about random facts, news, topics happening in the world right now (or maybe old news that I'm fascinated be in particular this week), that made me say "What!?" followed by a brief sound-off of my thoughts/opinion/reaction.

So Away We Go:

First Up: Pregorexia: yup that's a thing. A little birdie (Twitter) told me so:

'Pregorexia': Extreme dieting while pregnant. http://t.co/uc0Nm4pKOc
— CNN (@CNN) November 20, 2013

According to the article:
"Pregorexia is not a formally recognized medial diagnosis. It is a term coined by the media, public and doctors in recent years to describe the eating disorder behaviors experienced by women while pregnant, which could include intense dieting and exercise, but also binging and purging.

While there are no known statistics on just how many pregnant women experience pregorexia, it is estimated that about 30% of American women don't gain enough weight during pregnancy, according to Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, the chief medical officer at the Eating Recovery Center in Denver, Colorado."

While I know the opposite approach to pregnancy, where a women eats whatever she wants (read: a lot of unhealthy food) because she is pregnant can lead to health concerns, I really think that when a woman's own body image issues put a life at risk, it's time to check in with ourselves as women and society as a whole. What do we believe "healthy" or "beautiful" look like, and do the two have to be mutually exclusive? Whether its photoshopped Victoria's Secret Models, every magazine cover in America (AIRBRUSHED), or our fellow women coworkers and friends, the images we allow ourselves to believe are normal and beautiful can be vastly different from what is actually healthy.  If anyone can figure out how to reconcile the two, let me know!

Next:

Typhoon Haiyan Relief, Great to See Support But How Effective Can That Support Be?

From a #Haiyan Twitter Search:

Avril Lavigne ‏@AvrilLavigne1h

Millions have been affected by Typhoon #Haiyan. Help survivors w/ @mercycorps & I’ll match your donation this week: http://bit.ly/17j0uWy 

•  
 

Expand

Intl Rescue Comm IRC ‏@theIRC1h

To help support the IRC's #Haiyan response, text REBUILD to 25383 to donate $10. Terms: http://mgive.org/t 

Followed by Za'atari Camp

Expand

1. BBC News (World) ‏@BBCWorld12h

   IN PICTURES: A week in Philippine city of Tacloban, devastated by Typhoon #Haiyan http://bbc.in/1jlygN4  pic.twitter.com/39T16gfoqz

    Retweeted 243 times

    Expand

   

1. USA for UNHCR ‏@UNRefugeeAgency1h

   Watch: a new video from UNHCR's team in #Tacloban city, one of the areas hardest hit by #Haiyan http://owl.li/r0AZ9 

I think it's great that celebrities are matching donations and that it's as easy as a text message to donate to the clean-up, humanitarian, and relief efforts. However, the realist/cynic in me wonders just how much money actually results in effective aid.  One of the biggest issues with this particular situation is that immediately following the storm a lot of aid couldn't reach those in need because of the utter devastation wreaked upon the infrastructure by the typhoon, as well as the geographic challenges of the Phillipines itself. Much of the initial aid piled up at airports undeliverable until ways could be cleared. It's unfortunate that even the best intentions couldn't save lives immediately following the typhoon but hopefully those who have survived thus far can benefit from the aid soon.
Lastly:
Instead of the Porcelain Throne, Let's Call it the Golden Throne?

According to BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25013393)
"A stash of 24 gold bars worth more than $1.1m has been discovered in the toilet compartment of a commercial plane in eastern India."

"As gold import duties have risen in an effort to curb domestic demand, the incentive to smuggle gold has risen.

The plane on which the 1kg (2.2lb) gold bars were found on Tuesday had reportedly come from Bangkok, local media reported, before making stops in India.

"The cleaning staff of the airport were going though their routine duties and found two bags in the toilets of the plane," airport director BP Mishra told AFP news agency.

The gold has been valued at between 70m and 90m rupees (up to $1.4m or £890,000)."

This makes me wonder if $1.4 million would be enough of an incentive to start checking the toilets (or as Jay-Z and Kanye might say "watch the Throne") on my next flight. Unfortunately, it would be a fruitless search unless I can find a reason to fly to India. Maybe I can talk with my boss... just kidding.

Let me know your thoughts (either on the articles, reactions to my opinions, or something you'd be interested in reading about next week) in the comments or on twitter @itzbizr