6587 Religious notes, Super Mommy and Evil robo-lights

[scottobear]

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Religious revelations about work.

Rhode Island is an Ex-Scientologist who still believes in the doctrine she got while in the organization, and is the standard "Christian-lite". Believes that the position of the planets causes assorted unusual human behavior.

ADP is a conservative Christian, who believes that Astrology is a form of Idolatry, and that none of her three daughters will ever get into any real trouble, simply because they're regular churchgoers.

CS claims to be a complete Atheist, and I have no reason to doubt that's what he believes.

Bean-Counter and LD are Reformed Jews, both are very laid back, not broadcasting of faith, but did take Passover off.

MM is a liberal Muslim. (Still conservative enough to have her husband chosen for her, once she completes university.)

I don't know where VS or the Big Kahuna stand. I suspect the fairly secular non-churchgoing standard, but you never know. I imagine it'll be interesting no matter what I find out.

What people believe is a part of who they are...that's why folks who claim one thing, yet believe another come across as fairly heinous to me, I think. Paying lip service to play a form of debate game, be part of a clique, or toady to another has such a vulgar feel. I'm not saying that anyone in the workplace is disingenuous at all... just rolling with thoughts. and those thought will have to be continued later in writing, for I have to launch.

Until later, dear journal.

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Mexican woman performs own Cesarean to save baby

A woman in Mexico gave birth to a healthy baby boy after performing a Cesarean section on herself with a kitchen knife, doctors said Tuesday.

The unidentified 40-year-old woman, who lived in a rural area without electricity, running water or sanitation and was an eight-hour drive from the nearest hospital, performed the operation when she could not deliver the baby naturally.

She had lost a previous baby due to labor complications.

"She took three small glasses of hard liquor and, using a kitchen knife, sliced her abdomen in three attempts ... and delivered a male infant that breathed immediately and cried," said Dr R.F. Valle, of the Dr. Manuel Velasco Suarez Hospital in San Pablo, Mexico.


Valle recounted the event in a report in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.


Before losing consciousness, the woman told one of her children to call a local nurse for help. After the nurse stitched the wound with a sewing needle and cotton thread, the mother and baby were transferred and treated by Valle and his colleagues at the nearest hospital.


"This case represents an unusual and extraordinary decision by a women in labor who, unable to deliver herself spontaneously, and with no medical help or resources, decided to perform a Cesarean section upon herself," Valle said.

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Interesting idea... I wonder if it'll cause accidents?

Stoplight to punish suburban speeders
Pleasanton finds a way to slow impatient drivers

Pleasanton is about to turn the fast into the furious.

In a move unprecedented in the Bay Area, the city's traffic engineers have created a traffic signal with attitude. It senses when a speeder is approaching and metes out swift punishment.

It doesn't write a ticket. It immediately turns from green to yellow to red.

Residents and commute-jockeys said Tuesday that the light, which the city plans to unveil today on Vineyard Avenue at the intersection of Montevino Drive, is either an inspired leap into the future or a blatant example of government overzealousness.

"It's kind of big-brotherish, but sometimes it's the price we pay for safety," said JoAnne Brewer, 49, who walked her golden retriever past the new signal Tuesday morning and predicted it would be a success.

"I'm not much of a speeder myself," Brewer added. "It's my husband that it will catch."

Drivers on the two-lane Vineyard, as they approach Montevino, will see an electronic sign that gives the speed limit -- 40 mph heading west and 35 mph going east -- then flashes their actual speed.

A camera about 350 feet from the intersection measures speed and tells the light whether to do its business. Traffic engineers plan to give drivers a few miles per hour of wiggle room. But once speeding is detected, the red light will turn on for at least 10 seconds -- or 30 seconds-plus if cross traffic is waiting.

It's all a little too much for Ken Pattee, a 52-year-old construction inspector from Livermore who sometimes rides his Harley-Davidson down Vineyard Avenue. He said he doesn't feel good about the electronic eye.

"It's depriving you of another one of your liberties -- going fast," Pattee said. "If they implement it everywhere, there will be nothing but red lights. Nobody does the speed limit."

Except Pattee, that is.

"I do the speed limit," he said. "That's my story, and I'm sticking with it."

The signal is a sign of the times. The Bay Area is increasingly consumed with its traffic woes, as seen in a recent fight over neighborhood traffic barriers that divided Palo Alto residents.

Top political issue

Pleasanton has become a capital of traffic hand-wringing, with a spot between Interstates 580 and 680 that invites cutting commuters. Traffic is easily the No. 1 political issue in the city, informing nearly every decision. The Police Department even allows citizens to borrow radar guns to document speeders near their homes and send out warning letters to offenders.

The punitive nature of the signal on Vineyard appears to have the united support of neighbors and the Police Department, which hasn't seen an unusual number of accidents on the route but envisions a low-cost way to make people feel safe.

The intersection sits near large stucco and brick homes with manicured landscaping. The route, connecting downtown Pleasanton to the Ruby Hill gated community and Highway 84 in Livermore, is not the country road it used to be, and it attracts a healthy stream of regional commuters.

Many neighbors are so peeved with the popularity of the road that they didn't want a traffic signal at all at Montevino because it would allow traffic to flow better than the stop sign it replaced. At least the stop signs made speeding impossible and persuaded some commuters to steer clear, neighbors said.

Pleasanton public works director Rob Wilson said the city has no plans to build more of the signals. But police Lt. Mark Senkle, who heads traffic enforcement, said, "If it works, I'd like to see it done in a few other areas in town. I don't anticipate problems, but the truth is, we just don't know. No one's done this."

Thousand Oaks light

At least one other place in California has put together a traffic signal that is deputized against speeders. The Ventura County city of Thousand Oaks installed one in 2000 that Pleasanton traffic chief Jeff Knowles, who used to work in Thousand Oaks, has been watching closely.

"The people who were concerned about speed are pleased with it, but you'll hear a different story from some of the users of the road," said Thousand Oaks senior civil engineer Jim Mashiko.

Thousand Oaks has discovered a few hiccups, Mashiko said. Pedestrians, for example, must be given the green on all four crosswalks in the intersection at the same time, so they are not confused by a sudden yellow and red aimed at a speeder.

In addition, red rage could become an issue as drivers can be guilty by association if a speeder is just in front of them, just behind them or moving simultaneously in the opposite direction.

Pleasanton plans to address at least one of those issues: the opposite- direction speeder. The Pleasanton signal will allow a red light to shine in just one direction, letting the light stay green for the nonspeeding driver in the opposite direction. In such cases, any cross traffic will continue receiving the red light.

Comments

[littleheaven.livejournal.com]

I had read the article about the Mexican woman's c-section this morning and I was totally blown away. I can't imagine it- especially seeing as how I am about ready to have a baby myself!

[wickenden.livejournal.com]

religion ...
it's such an interesting isue -- how people inhabit their belief. I'm very interesting in the academics who study the culture of their own religion. How those academics straddle the attitudes of apology and critique while attempting to describe religious culture.

Such a position is often considered a violence to the religious culture if not done in apology, so one wonders how they deal with this very issue (an anthropologist intent on critiquing a culture isn't likely to get much help from the adherents).

Anyway, just a reflection of that issue -- people approaching religion from angles other than pure devotion.

d.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

That's true.. there are some plaes so sensitive... most folk dislike having what they believe referred to as mythology or "not the one true way" I'm impressed frequently by both the similarities and the differences in each culture... especially ones rooted in roughly the same geographical location.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Here's to a safe, guided birth, with no self-operations!!

[juliabee.livejournal.com]

When I worked in a small office, it was interesting to learn what each person's religious beliefs were. Interestingly enough, in large offices I've worked in, it's been rare for me to hear about it for more than about 3 people.

"none of her three daughters will ever get into any real trouble, simply because they're regular churchgoers."

that's some naivety for ya. :/

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figure the odds are that at least one in three will hit some sort of hubbub.

That's the interesting thing about small offices... everyone knows a bit more about everyone else.