edited for content

woke up late this morning, had a memorable dream last night. I was in a prison break and got hold of a machine gun. I was pinned down behind a concrete wall, but was getting some pop-up fire in. I saw my pal Dave was one of the guards, and tossed down my weapon, not wanting to hurt him. I lay down on my face, and put hands on my head. something happened, and we flash forwarded to an escape method… some sort of tunnel built into a soda machine. I was too big to make it through… I made sure Dave got out, and somehow my sweetie and Newt were there, and needed help escaping too. It spun off into some sort of vacation place…some sort of portal that allowed you to travel to a location stored on video. I ran off with my buddies to the Amazon, and then stole the machine so nobody could follow us. It turned out that the movie we hopped into was made in 1999, so we were three years in the past, give or take. I woke up amidst trying to call myself in the then to get myself to flee.

elephant talk – neat! thanks to for having me look into it. Fascinating stuff.

What’s the link between the moon and menstruation?

What’s the connection between the human menstrual cycle and the moon? Do cycles last exactly one lunar month for a reason, or is it just a coincidence?

It looks like it’s coincidence. In Science and the Paranormal (1983), astronomer George O. Abell writes, “The moon’s cycle of phases is 29.53 days, while the human female menstrual cycle averages 28 days (although it varies among women and from time to time with individual women); this is hardly even a good coincidence! The corresponding estrus cycles of some other mammals are 28 days for opossums, 11 days for guinea pigs, 16 to 17 days for sheep, 20 to 22 days for sows, 21 days for cows and mares, 24 to 26 days for macaque monkeys, 37 days for chimpanzees, and only 5 days for rats and mice. One could argue, I suppose, that the human female, being more intelligent and perhaps aware of her environment, adapted to a cycle close to that of the moon, while lower animals did not. But then the 28-day period for the opossum must be a coincidence, and if it is a coincidence for opossums, why not for humans?”

Then again, who knows? People have figured there was a connection between the lunar month and menstruation for as long as women have been getting the monthlies. Moon, month, and menstruation are all related etymologically. No less an authority than Charles Darwin believed that menstruation was linked to the moon’s influence on tidal rhythms, a legacy of our origin in the sea. The coincidence between the lunar and menstrual cycles is closer than George Abell would have us believe–studies have found the average menstrual period is 29 days and change. At least some critters’ biologies are linked to the lunar cycle; in the lemur, for example, estrus and sex tend to occur around the time of the full moon.

Efforts to turn up similar patterns in humans have had unimpressive results, however. Several researchers over the years have claimed to detect lunar rhythms in menstrual onset and such; others see nothing. Biologist Winnifred Cutler, in a 1980 paper, found that 40 percent of women in a random sample showed “a preponderance of menses onsets in the light half-cycle of the month” (the two weeks centered on the full moon). To me this suggests 60 percent of the women didn’t show any coincidence. If there really is a moon-menstruation link, it hasn’t been convincingly proven yet.

What's the link between the moon and menstruation?

What’s the connection between the human menstrual cycle and the moon? Do cycles last exactly one lunar month for a reason, or is it just a coincidence?

It looks like it’s coincidence. In Science and the Paranormal (1983), astronomer George O. Abell writes, “The moon’s cycle of phases is 29.53 days, while the human female menstrual cycle averages 28 days (although it varies among women and from time to time with individual women); this is hardly even a good coincidence! The corresponding estrus cycles of some other mammals are 28 days for opossums, 11 days for guinea pigs, 16 to 17 days for sheep, 20 to 22 days for sows, 21 days for cows and mares, 24 to 26 days for macaque monkeys, 37 days for chimpanzees, and only 5 days for rats and mice. One could argue, I suppose, that the human female, being more intelligent and perhaps aware of her environment, adapted to a cycle close to that of the moon, while lower animals did not. But then the 28-day period for the opossum must be a coincidence, and if it is a coincidence for opossums, why not for humans?”

Then again, who knows? People have figured there was a connection between the lunar month and menstruation for as long as women have been getting the monthlies. Moon, month, and menstruation are all related etymologically. No less an authority than Charles Darwin believed that menstruation was linked to the moon’s influence on tidal rhythms, a legacy of our origin in the sea. The coincidence between the lunar and menstrual cycles is closer than George Abell would have us believe–studies have found the average menstrual period is 29 days and change. At least some critters’ biologies are linked to the lunar cycle; in the lemur, for example, estrus and sex tend to occur around the time of the full moon.

Efforts to turn up similar patterns in humans have had unimpressive results, however. Several researchers over the years have claimed to detect lunar rhythms in menstrual onset and such; others see nothing. Biologist Winnifred Cutler, in a 1980 paper, found that 40 percent of women in a random sample showed “a preponderance of menses onsets in the light half-cycle of the month” (the two weeks centered on the full moon). To me this suggests 60 percent of the women didn’t show any coincidence. If there really is a moon-menstruation link, it hasn’t been convincingly proven yet.

welcome to the ghetto

I’m trying to decide if posting online test results are more annoying than seeing folks complain about online test results. both are generally non-content entries that causes my brain to flick off and skip the rest of the entry…. but I like to do them, m’self.

Another uprising is complaints about privacy in journals. this has been going on for years now (this first time for me being when a person I knew at the time outed another member of our gaming group… the silly thing is, I introduced her to livejournal)… if you don’t want folks to read what you have to say, the only way around it is not to write it. the internet is indexed fairly well, and with sites like http://web.archive.org , even deleting what you said later isn’t always an option.

This is the information age, folks. if you have a secret and publish it where other people can see it, be it online or the local laundry bulletin board… it stops being a secret. If you’re writing in public, there’s odds that someone will brush over it, sooner or later. Friend’s only and private posts are available. double-check that entry about enjoying broken glass in your rectum for privacy, if you don’t want your dad or younger sister discovering it.

As far as “well, how will I get readers / find good journals if all the spicy stuff is friend’s only” is concerned… I think that the best writers I’ve found have been through other friends or well-written observations left in public… Random is less than worthless, unless you want to find a 16 year old girl that’s having trouble in math class, with her boyfriend or is into cutting. The interests list is better, and one day, when the LJ-fairies decide to sprinkle pixie dust on the servers… we’ll have a decent location index among the other good features.

I write for myself, and filter a bit. some things, everyone can see, some are only things that lj-readers can get to, others are sweetheart only posts, and some are “my eyes only”.

In other Scotto news-

marine park is the worst online sales place I’ve ever dealt with… I ordered something online and they refused to ship it to my address (different than the billing address)… so I told them fine, cancel my order, and found my digital camera elsewhere. I get a statement back today, and they charged me for the camera! Never shipped, mind you. I called them this morning at 11am and was assured that I would be called back with a confirmation number. No reply until now. [5 hours later] I call back, and they have no record of any money being refunded. I ask again for a refund, and will wait until tomorrow morning to call them again. I got the name of the place via c-net and will be submitting a negative review of the store there shortly. The telephone folks were generally rude and uncooperative. Intolerable hold times, as well.

In other, other Scotto News… 3 hours until my peanut butter bread is ready. yum! I love bread machines! some fresh strawberry preserves on there will be my dinner.

The State of Disunion

“And the war on terrorism…”
What about the jobs, George?
“… and military spending…”
What about the jobs, George?
“… and we’re all good patriots…”
But what about the jobs?
*thunderous applause*

Color me unimpressed. It isn’t that I don’t support military spending, because I do. But the words I want to focus on are fiscal responsibility. We have states running deficits, high unemployment, giant corporate bankruptcies, the federal government in the red and… we’re going to start some kind of new US-wide volunteer organization? Wha? And we’re going to fund everyone’s pet project so we all get this warm and fuzzy feeling?

If we want to support some kind of large scale war, people have to be prepared to sacrifice more in their programs, not get more. Wars are not cheap. Wars are not just expenditures. Wars cost money, taxpayer money, my money. I support wars, but they must come at a cost, and we must be prepared to pay that cost. No amount of warm fuzzies is going to change the fiscal reality that the federal government is not terribly different than balancing a checkbook.

Bush is off in the thickets again. The entire State of the Union came off more like some kind of patriotic jingoism colored with a little bit of pre-campaign talk then as a serious speech on, well, the state of the Union. It wasn’t just a bad speech, it was embarassing — all applause and no substance. And when there was substance, it was bad substance. The war is all good and fine, but by summer the unemployment rate is supposed to hit 6.5%. No one is going to care much about killing bad guys when they can’t pay their rent. No one is going to be flying, not because they’re afraid, but because they simply cannot afford the tickets. That’s it.

I was not terribly pleased at the apparently erosion of state’s rights and the glad-handing of removing personal rights all in the name of “terror.” Nor was I thrilled with some of the vague handwaving at fixing Enron. “We’ll, uh, pass, uh, something so that, uh, there is more, uh, oversight over, uh, 401Ks. Oh yeah, did I mention investing your Social Security in the stock market?” Heaven save us from politicians and pretend statesmen.

Where ya been, Scotto?

Today was for the birds, literally. The only pics of interest I got by the lake were of seagulls circling overhead… hordes of them. A sweet little crane crossing the street, and a eh picture of a duck on the water. I sort of like the one of the lake rocks… the wind dies down, and the water was very clear. not my best photo-day, but some of these can be tweaked, I think.

I just meandered today. Walked to the lake near Sample road, and read my book in the sun, on the grass under a tree. High quality. 🙂

and, of course, The Newton picture of the day…orange kitty on a tan cardboard packing box. one of his fave places to be, so I’m loathe to open and unpack it. No need yet, so he has his space.

http://www.printroom.com/ViewAlbumPhoto.asp?userid=scottobear&album_id=51284&image_id=4

Bigger, and more pictures are available here.

Welcome to my wall scrawls.