Tech Advice Needed: Twitchy Mouse

This is driving me batty.

This computer (i-Mac) has been moved twice in the last 9 months. First time, fine. This time, weird. The mouse seems to have become super sensitive. Like, I breathe on it and my screen divides into howevermany windows are open and the background goes dark.

Do I need a new mouse? Is this a symptom of something else horrible about to happen?

signed,
TechnoDolt

'Soaring' Fetal Ultrasounds: Fetus Fetishist Wet Dream or Nightmare? (edited to remove childish redirects)

Fetal ultrasounds 'soaring':

The number of pregnant women having four or more ultrasounds during their pregnancies has nearly tripled in a decade, according to a study from McMaster University.

From 1996 to 2006 the number of pregnant women in Ontario who had four or more ultrasounds climbed from 8,500 to 25,000.

In that same period, the number of births dropped.

The study included data from 1.4 million singleton pregnancies that occurred between 1996 and 2006.

In that period, there were 3.57 million ultrasounds conducted, said lead investigator Dr. John You, assistant professor of Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University. The study was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

You said the study relied on data from OHIP billing claims, which did not include any confidential information, so investigators do not know the reason for the increase.

But he said some believe there’s an “entertainment value” to ultrasounds, especially in the 3-D format.

Current guidelines recommend only two ultrasounds for uncomplicated pregnancies.

From the above link:

A single ultrasound costs about $65. Nearly 3.6 million scans were done in Ontario over the 10-year study period, totalling an estimated $232 million.

"We're not arguing at all that ultrasounds are being overused in complicated, high-risk situations where there's pretty clear benefit from it," You said. "But, we're seeing lots of people getting four, five, six ultrasounds" for uncomplicated pregnancies.

Some studies have suggested possible links between frequent ultrasounds and smaller birth size, or babies more likely to be left-handed, which isn't in itself a problem but researchers have wondered what effect frequent scans might be having on the fetal brain. But You stressed the links are "soft" and not at all proven.

"As far as we know, ultrasounds really are quite safe," he said. "But since we don't know 100 per cent for sure, there's little reason to do additional ultrasounds if there's not much that can be gained from it."

Fetal ultrasounds are viewed by the fetus fetishists as a great boon to their cause. (Except when they aren't, of course.) All over the Excited States, incrementalist anti-abortion zealots promote and pass laws to force women who want an abortion to view their own innards in the hopes that they will bond with the murky blob.

But ultrasound technology is advancing. Which is good from the point of view of detecting anomalies and defects, but bad from the point of view of 'entertainment' ultrasounds. The US FDA warned about multiple ultrasounds and the more intensive 3D version years ago. And recently Connecticut banned 'non-medical' or entertainment fetal ultrasounds.

We at DJ! (and previously at Birth Pangs) have pondered the fetus fetishists enthusiasm for ultrasound. Well, OK, yeah, they're fetishists so they want to look at the objects of their (weird) desire. But at the same time, ultrasound is not without risk, and since they're all about the fetus, how can they square the sanctity of the fetus with the risks incurred by their desire to watch it squirming around?

Here is Canada's numero uno fetus fetishist reacting to the McMaster study.

Women want their ultrasounds to see their babies. And while seeing the baby can be entertaining, I find the word "entertainment" trivializes the experience. Isn't there a better word? I'm not keen on "bonding" either-- the fetus isn't fully experiencing your presence.

Something smells about the issue of ultrasounds. Health Canada advises against keepsake ultrasounds, but they're very routine. I had seven in my last pregnancy (many for specific medical reasons).

Seven? Heavens. . .

And here HER commenters take her out the woodshed for her poor research on the issue.

To wit:

A 2006 study found that sustained exposure of mouse embryos to ultrasound waves caused a small but statistically significant number of neurons to fail to acquire their proper position during neuronal migration. It is highly unlikely that this result speaks directly to risks of fetal ultrasound as practiced in competent and responsible medical centers. There is no scientific evidence of an association between prenatal ultrasound exposure and autism, but there are very little data on human fetal exposure during diagnostic ultrasound, and the lack of recent epidemiological research and human data in the field has been called "appalling".

And:

The cause of autism has been pinned on everything from "emotionally remote" mothers (since discredited) to vaccines, genetics, immunological disorders, environmental toxins and maternal infections. Today most researchers theorize that autism is caused by a complex interplay of genetics and environmental triggers. A far simpler possibility worthy of investigation is the pervasive use of prenatal ultrasound, which can cause potentially dangerous thermal effects.

Oh heck, go look at the results of googling 'autism fetal ultrasound' yourself. The query netted over 500,000 hits.

Autism, like fetal ultrasounding, is also 'soaring' with many fingers pointed, none definitively.

Obviously, there needs to be more and better research.

In the meantime, wouldn't prudent pregnant women go with what is medically advised?

Edited March 10, 2010 to remove fetal pr0n redirects.

Priest enslaved girl he claimed was his orphaned niece.

Raoul Deveau was a Catholic parish priest, a predator and a pedophile.

It is claimed by two victims in Nova Scotia - there are likely more - that Deveau preyed on them with impunity and that Church officials and possibly others in positions of authority knew what he did yet let him continue.

Deveau told Linda Deschamp to call him "uncle" because parishioners and teachers asked him about the relationship; Deveau claimed that she was his orphaned niece. In fact she was a child neglected by her family; he gradually enslaved her by sexually abusing her and forcing her into servitude. She cleaned house and prepared meals for him for over 10 years. Deschamp was 12 years old when Deveau first approached her.

"This is so wrong. You're tired of hiding the secrets. They need to come out and people need to be made aware of that," Deschamp told CBC.

Deschamp said her large family was poor, so she was sent to work for and then live with Raoul Deveau, a parish priest in Shelburne. He died in 1982. She remembers him as a jovial person, a "community god" who seemed genuine about helping
parishioners. She trusted him.

"At first it was consoling and it was, 'poor girl,'" Deschamp said. "It kind of gradually built up — offering me food while I was there, and when you're hungry that looks pretty good as a child. And then it was clothing. And then of course there were trade-offs after that."

Deschamp said the abuse by the man she was forced to call uncle lasted for nine years. She ended up moving with Deveau to another parish. "He had me so dependent on him," she said. "He owned me 100 per cent."

From here. More information here.

Institutional collusion between the Catholic Church and local authorities, with regard to the physical, emotional and sexual abuse of children, also occured elsewhere Canada. Hundreds of orphaned or abandoned children suffered like those in Ireland did, in the province of Québec.

Bruno Roy died last night; he was instrumental in leading the adult survivors (Duplessis' orphans) in a civil suit that held the government as well as the Catholic Church accountable for the harm that was done.

Lying Liars' Latest Stunt: Fake Clinic Escorts

No shit. From Feministing:

The blogger at Everysaturdaymorning, a pro-choice clinic escort in Louisville, KY, has posted pictures and video of the latest disgusting tactic from the antis outside their clinic: wearing fake escort vests.

Escorts wear bright orange vests that say things like "Pro-Choice Clinic Escort" in an attempt to clearly identify ourselves to patients. Even so, the space outside a clinic where anti-choicers have gathered can be incredibly confusing for patients, those accompanying them, and even passers by on the street. Some protesters simply stand off to the side and pray. I don't like the atmosphere of shame they create, but it's the antis we call chasers or sidewalk stalkers who cause the biggest problems. They will do almost anything to harass people going in and out of a reproductive health clinic, which is why pro-choice escorts are necessary - we're not protesters, we're just trying to make it possible for women to access abortion and other medical care. Interactions happen so quickly, and the milieu outside a clinic can be so confusing for someone who didn't expect to be harassed by ideologues on her way to the doctor, that we already have to work hard to make it clear who works with the clinic and who is trying to get in a patient's way.

Yes, the vests these antis are wearing say "Life Escort." Which, I am sure, is not an attempt to accurately identify themselves. They know what a baffling mess they create, and they know the word "Life" is unlikely to be read until after they've forced a patient to listen to them, if at all.

Go see the photos and video here.

I didn't watch the video but there's a transcript at Feministing. The stalker starts off with 'We don't know you but we love you'.

I've seen other vids of the circus these anti-abortion harassers create. People yelling in gooey baby voices: 'Mummy, don't kill me! Mummy, I love you.'

I remember vividly how I felt entering once a clinic and once a hospital -- jangled, worried, nervous. There were no sidewalk harassers then. No one shouting bullshit at me. No one trying to shove lying pamphlets at me. I had absolutely no fear of anyone I knew recognizing me. And I was perfectly clear in my mind that what I was doing was right.

Imagine being young, ignorant, in a conservative place, scared of being recognized, and being forced to run such a gauntlet.

Imagine further that the woman knows something of the lying liars' tactics should she be identified, like receiving red-paint smeared children's birthday cards every year for fucking years.

I so admire clinic escorts, the real ones. Calm, dedicated, kind people who put up with this crap over and over and over. Truly loving people who only care about the woman they're shielding.

I could not do it. I would lose my temper and paste one of harassers. And the lying liars would go batshit over 'pro-abortion violence'.

Love. *ptui* These assholes know nothing about it.

Not in My House

Holy Moly! I was just at a decidedly feminist blog when an ad for $arah Palin popped up.

No feminist would click on such a thing, but its very presence is a sharp slap in the face.

I don't know much about how such advertising works, but it is my understanding that a siteowner has little, if any, control over what sort of ads appear. We at DAMMIT JANET would be appalled if we exposed our readers to the Quitbull's mug -- unless accompanied by some serious snark of course -- let alone contributed in any manner, however miniscule, to her campaign.

And that's why DAMMIT JANET will remain ad free.

Once more, with feeling.

Over at Canadian Cynic, C.C. writes about Stevie Spiteful's prevarication, obfuscation and confabulation. In other words: The PM Lies!

Thus the time has come to revive a great product DJ! first launched in 2008: The Do-It-Yourself-Harper-Voodoo-Doll.

This is an effigy. Make it as minuscule as its subject deserves or as bloated as your penetrative tool of choice allows.

Go wild with pseudo-Stevie.

Act responsibly in expressing your anger against his ReformaTory government. Choose forms of expression that will be nails in the coffin of Stevie's political career. His loathsome reign has diminished Canada, but it hasn't destroyed the spirit of the Canadian people. Yet.

Go read: Canadian Cynic: They lie because it works. & Your Conservative Party of Canada: Incoherence in action.

The Church Lady Is Reincarnated.

Or perhaps vivid Florida Congressman Alan Grayson is channeling her spirit. Grayson, during an appearance on MSNBC, blasted the former Republican vice president for having attacked President Barack Obama's handling of defending the U.S. from terrorist attacks. Cheney's attacks, Grayson argued, were only a tactic to gin up sales for his memoir, which is expected to be released this year. "I wonder who's doing the introduction to his book?" Grayson said. "Maybe it's Mephistopheles; maybe it's Satan." From here.

Wow. Could it be Satan who wrote the foreword to Dick Cheney's memoirs?



The Church Lady reminds me of someone. Could it be ...

Seeing / Hearing / Comprehending Nothing.

After reading Canadian Cynic: The irony is just crippling we suggest that Sandy Cruxiform - indeed, any and all species of blogging Con jobs - slap this picture on to to their sites, as a warning to readers who stumble upon their site, a visual reminder of the flips and spins and reversals and contradictions and sheer stupidity that constantly besiege them in these most perplexing times.

Because not all of them are capable of memorizing the PMO speaking points in order to be an effective Attack Parrot™© like John Baird and his fellow ReformaTories.

“Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.”

That statement comes from Don Schmierer, an evangelist anti-gay militant who now claims that he and his fellow US fundamentalist crusaders were "duped" by Ugandan officials who invited them to express their views last year. Their teachings about “curing” homosexuality - which have been widely discredited in the US, were presented in Kampala over three days to audiences of thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers, politicians and legislators.

The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, [...] and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior. One month after the conference, a previously unknown Ugandan politician, who boasts of having evangelical friends in the American government, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatens to hang homosexuals, and, as a result, has put Uganda on a collision course with Western nations.

Donor countries, including the United States, are demanding that Uganda’s government drop the proposed law, saying it violates human rights, though Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity (who previously tried to ban miniskirts) recently said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.”

The Ugandan government, facing the prospect of losing millions in foreign aid, is now indicating that it will back down, slightly, and change the death penalty provision to life in prison for some homosexuals. [...]

The three Americans who spoke at the conference [...] are now trying to distance themselves from the bill. “I feel duped,” Mr. Schmierer said, arguing that he had been invited to speak on “parenting skills” for families with gay children. He acknowledged telling audiences how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals, but he said he had no idea some Ugandans were contemplating the death penalty for homosexuality.

“That’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said. “Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.” Mr. Lively and Mr. Brundidge have made similar remarks in interviews or statements issued by their organizations. But the Ugandan organizers of the conference admit helping draft the bill, and Mr. Lively has acknowledged meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to discuss it. He even wrote on his blog in March that someone had likened their campaign to “a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda.” Later, when confronted with criticism, Mr. Lively said he was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh.

From here. Scott Lively "was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh" - what the hell did he expect his hateful, biased, screed would produce? A "nuclear bomb" is not an instrument of peace - some might call it religious terrorism.

The discourse these three homophobic hatemongers gave was an incitement to violence against gay men, lesbians and transgendered people. And now they claim no responsibility for the response their privileged audience members had, and the actions they took.

Remember, these theocrats have an agenda, and in spite of their lying protestations to the contrary, they are positioning themselves to influence legislation and elected officials in Canada also.