Reflections by Kris

The non-profit organization DRAFT - Disability Rights Advocates for Technology - have been quietly donating Segways to veterans who have lost limbs or suffered other injuries that make mobility a challenge, if not an impossibility.  As of today, the total is 150.

Imagine how much energy, core strength and stamina it takes to walk on one artificial limb, let alone 2. The Segways are customized, giving our wounded warriors a sense of freedom of motion that most amputees don't get to experience. 

Leonard Timm, who founded DRAFT in 2005, calls the mission "Segs-4-Vets." 

"[The Segways] provide them with another mobility option that will increase their distance, and will give them a way to communicate with the world standing up," Timm said.

It is worth noting that Mr. Timm himself is a double amputee who uses a Segway designed with a seat for him. 

Indeed. If you've ever been in the company of someone in a wheelchair, it's a humbling experience as they see everything at waist level - eye contact is impossible.  So many people treat them as if they are invisible or worse - impaired in some way other than physically.  Frustration must exist in every effort they make to be seen and heard.

For the 150 vets who have received these specially outfitted Segways, it's a liberating experience:

U.S. Army Sgt. Jacque Keeslar lost both legs in Iraq nearly two years ago. To get around, he relies on a wheelchair and a pair of artificial legs, which help him walk in short bursts. 

"If I have to do a half mile or mile of walking, it just exhausts me," Keeslar said.

Now, thanks to a specially designed Segway, the battery-powered transporter, Keeslar says he can ditch his wheelchair and get around without people looking down on him.

There is an informal "Segway Support Group" that meets weekly at Walter Reed - to learn how to use them, to share tips and experiences - and to live life standing up.

Segway distributors are responsible for donating the $6,000 machines to DRAFT. As the machines are not approved for medical use, the company has stayed in the background of the project.

By the way, here's how the Segway works:

Lean forward. Start slowly.

Lean further. Go faster.

And then go almost anywhere.

That's what Army Specialist Josh Stein found out as he tried out his Segway. Spec. Stein lost both legs in Iraq - and believed that a life confined to a wheelchair was not in his future:

"Watch me do that. I will prove you wrong. I never give up on anything I do. It's one thing to know my limits," said Josh, 23. "It's another thing to say I don't want to do something because it's too hard."

Thanks to DRAFT and Segway - many more wounded warriors will "go almost anywhere".

Earier this week, the military junta of Myanmar refused American aid in the wake of the devastating cyclone to hit that country last weekend. We were ready to provide immediate assistance, as usual: 

The U.S. Navy has three ships as well as troops in the Gulf of Thailand, within an easy sail of Myanmar, as part of joint military exercises code-named Cobra Gold scheduled for May 8-21. Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore will also take part in the annual war games.

It was shocking to me that they would do that to their populace.  But I had, ironically, hoped their refusal of our aid was just because of how they felt about America; that they'd allow other countries and agencies to help them.

I was wrong.

Myanmar is refusing to allow any foreign aid to reach its shores.

Pressure was mounting on cyclone-devastated Myanmar Friday to allow access to an army of foreign relief workers as the country's isolationist military regime rejected expert help in delivering aid to victims at risk of disease and starvation.

The situation has prompted the United States to consider air-dropping aid to cyclone-affected regions without permission from the country's government.

Over 22,000 people have been confirmed dead in Myanmar. Top foreign envoys in the country indicate that toll could rise to more than 100,000, especially if aid isn't allowed in, now.

The image at left is an actual NASA Earth Observatory image of the cyclone that hit Myanmar - a country roughly the size of Texas and an estimated population of 56 million. Just look at the size of that storm - the military junta never warned its people that the storm was coming. It is estimated that an area roughly 2,000 square miles is now under water; nearly 6 million people lived in that area and quite frankly I'm surprised the death toll isn't higher.

Their military government is notorious for human rights violations that include using sexual atrocities as punishments and a means to control. They are an incredibly poor country that has suffered decades of government mismanagement. The income generated by their richest export - precious gems like rubies, sapphires and pearls - is kept by the junta for self-funding.

Apparently their government wishes to continue the abuses by denying their people access to basic needs like clean water and clean food. Even those who have already died pose a tremendous risk to survivors, as the country can't bury the dead fast enough - releasing toxins and deadly bacteria into the air. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that the junta membership isn't even in the country anymore; saving their own skins at the peril of their fellow countrymen.

The longer aid is delayed, the greater the risks for riots, theft and escalating tensions. The resulting death toll may well exceed that of the Tsunami in Indonesia in 2004. We've seen so much evil in the world in the past few years - but to me this is an evil of the worst kind. 

It's been one of those kinds of weeks - nothing but problems wrapped in a crisis at work. Crazy personal schedule as well. Not sleeping all that well. Too much to do and not enough time to do even half of it.  I'll be glad when it's Friday night.

Until then - I'm empty.

Our federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. Be careful how you spend it:

• Go to Wal-Mart and the money goes to China
• Put gas in your car and further enrich the Saudis
• Buy a new computer and India will get your money
• Fruit and vegetables from a grocery store will likely support Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala
• Get a new car and see your money go to Japan
• Purchase other mindless crap and watch it float off to Taiwan

So...the only patriotic thing we can do with our money to keep it in the USA is to buy beer!  Good ole fashioned domestic beer!

(This picture is of nothing but Anhueser-Busch beers, all made in the USA)

h/t to my mom

I grew up in a house with a Yankees/Red Sox rivalry.  My dad and brother were Yankees fans; me being the ever-contrary female choose to be a Red Sox fan, if only to annoy and irritate my brother (trust me, he deserved it).

But this is taking fan loyalty to a very deep and very horrifying level:

A woman accused of running down a man in her car after a Red Sox-Yankees argument in a bar never hit her brakes as she accelerated toward the small group he was in, a prosecutor said Monday. "She never braked, and she accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people," prosecutor Susan Morrell said of Ivonne Hernandez, who is charged with reckless second-degree murder in the death early Friday of Matthew Beaudoin, 29.

Taking place in Nashua, New Hampshire - true Red Sox country - Ms. Hernandez, herself a Nashua resident, entered Slade's bar loudly announcing she was a Yankess fan.  The usual verbal kerfuffle between Red Sox & Yankees fans ensued, with name calling being the worst of it. Until Ms. Hernandez decided she wanted to scare the group; as she gunned her car towards them, she claimed she assumed they'd get out of the way.

With a speeding car barreling at you, I'm sure shock and disbelief take over pretty fast, making your body go into slow motion.  Not so slow for Mr. Beaudoin; he had time to leap in front of one of his friends - saving her life while losing his own.

To answer the 2 questions I'm sure you are asking - Yes, Ms. Hernandez admitted she had been drinking (she refused to take a breathalyzer).  No, Mr. Beaudoin had not been drinking. Indeed, according to the bartender and DJ at the bar where this tragedy took place:

Beaudoin came to the bar regularly to socialize, sing karaoke and have fun. "He came to hang out. He didn't really drink much," she [Tanya Moran, bartender] said. Chris Lovett, a disc jockey at Slade's, told the New Hampshire Union Leader that Beaudoin kept to himself and "wasn't an instigator."

Matt Beaudoin worked as a poker dealer at one of New Hampshire's casinos. He was the typical nice guy, hanging out with his friends.  Rooting for his favorite baseball team. I'm sure Matt Beaudoin never thought the team he choose to be loyal to would cost him his life.

Ms. Hernandez has been charged with multiple felonies - including aggravated drunk driving - and as such is being held without bail.  In addition to whatever punishment the courts decide to pursue - and it's a guarantee it won't be enough - I hope she is tortured by nightmares of what she's done for the rest of her life.

As for Mr. Beaudoin's family, they donated his organs to save the lives of others.  And will have to find some way to ignore their own nightmares and try to get on with their lives.

If this applies to you - then yes! It certainly describes my day today...

The nightmare grows.

Lower Austria prosecutor Gerhard Sedlacek said: "The extra construction was aided by the people living in the cellar by moving earth. Some of the materials were so heavy that Fritzl was not able to move some of them and had to leave them in place."

That's right - as Josef Fritzl expanded his "family", he forced his prisoners to help expand their prison, including using over a half ton of concrete to reinforce the walls.

So in addition to repeatedly abusing his daughter thru her childhood, then repeatedly raping her as an adult, he forced her to construct her own torture chamber.  And it was a fairly elaborate set-up that he designed to imprison his daughter and his incestuous children:

Authorities also gave a detailed insight into the cellar. Eight individual doors separated the cellar from the house and three of them were in the 'security area' of the cellar alone. There were several different doors, including a sliding door, one of which was also electronically monitored.

8 doors?  We know that one of them weighed over 600 pounds - I wonder what the other 7 were like.  How total was their imprisonment - living in a space that was approximately 115 square feet.  Yes, you read that right - 7 people lived in a space roughly the size of the average bedroom. 

Even though it is clear Fritzl meticulously planned every detail of the lives of his captives...

His lawyer, Attorney Rudolf Mayer said he believed 73-year-old Josef Fritzl had a mental disorder, The Associated Press reported. Mayer said someone who was mentally ill "didn't choose" to do what police allege he did.  "I believe that the trigger was a mental disorder, because I can't imagine that someone has sex with his own daughter without having a mental disorder," Mayer said in an interview broadcast late Sunday.

"Didn't choose to do" what he's done?! You have got to be kidding me - it's not like this man kept them imprisoned for a few days...it's been 24 years since his own daughter saw sunlight. And the children he fathered with her never breathed fresh air or saw sunshine, in their entire lives. The only thing I agree with is the statement that only someone mentally ill would do what this monster did.  That said, I don't believe he should be allowed to get off with an insanity plea.  He needs to do hard time in a prison - just like the one he crafted for his own family.

Fritzl was such a prince - so tyrannical that his own sister-in-law spoke about the fact that his wife, Rosemarie, really didn't know about the prison in her own house, as she had been "trained" not to ask questions of her husband.

Yet, I don't find his wife to be blameless in this. Among his many talents, Fritzl was also convicted of rape in 1967 and served 18 months in jail. While he was married.  His wife stayed married to him in a...

...desperate attempt to keep their family together.

I wonder how she feels about that now?  In 1969, roughly the time he would have been released from jail, his daughter was turning 3 years of age; her own abuse at his hands began when she was 11.  Mrs. Fritzl had a daughter and allowed a convicted rapist back into her house.  How could she?  I supposed one could claim that she was an abused spouse - perhaps not physically but certainly thru the various tyrannies I'm sure he inflicted upon her. But there has to be a point at which your own personal safety takes a backseat to the safety of your own child.  The sexual abuse of her daughter began in 1977 - and continued for 7 years until the imprisonment of the daughter. How could the mother not know there was something going on? 

Authorities say the family has been introduced to each other for the first time, with the children and their mother receiving intense psychiatric therapy and medical attention. The oldest child, Kerstin, remains in a drug-induced coma in critical condition. Doctors still don't know what is wrong but aren't ruling out a blood disorder - which is a kind way of saying the very basis of Kerstin's birth could be endangering her life. Indeed, the lives of her siblings as well.

It seems this is a nightmare without end.  I read last week that the Austrian authorities are considering relocating the entire family and changing their names for them, to give them some measure of privacy. As for having a normal life - how can they do that now that the horrible truth has been revealed? How does a person go on from this.

I promise you this is not an animation.  Focus on any of the black dots in the center of the circles and the movement will stop.  Move your eyes away from the black dot and it will start again.

Freaky!

h/t to my wonderful nephew Jeff

The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that in which one has not laughed.

-nicolas chamfort

I love my backyard wildlife, as you know.  I am always astounded at the beauty that exists so peacefully in my own yard.  Most of the time I am in awe.  Then there are times when I just can't stop laughing - seeing wild Turkeys is one of those times.  They are not the most intelligent animals in the yard; they aren't graceful but rather plodding and predictable.  And pretty in their own monochromatic way.  They are not regular visitors, but when they do come they always follow the same path through the yard.

Their babies are truly adorable - in the photo above (taken in mid-summer 2006) they are about the size, and shape, of a football. On legs. Moving in random circles. With their tiny necks bobbing. You just can't imagine how silly and cute they are all at the same time. When you see them, you can't help but stop, watch and smile. Oh yes, at the very least smile - I tend to laugh out loud.

I've started using a new phrase - well it's not new in that sense, but it's new to me. It just popped out of my mouth today and I'm liking it the more I say it.

Live Your Life Out Loud.

Go ahead, say it - think about the words and sounds as you do.  It's such an affirmation isn't it. I do tend to live my life in an "out loud" fashion - like my family motto says "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time."  I live a full life - sometimes it feels too full but I don't complain.  I am blessed in ways I never dreamed were possible.  I am very fortunate to live a good life. 

Filled with love and laughter.  It's what it is truly all about.

You just can't make this stuff up.

Now what I want to know is - do they bloom? How are they cultivated - soil or some kind of growth hormone? Do you have a choice of color and bloom size? How long are the stems? What size vase is needed?

This was a real sign just outside of Indianapolis - it remained on display as you see it for about 2 hours, until someone told them the right way to display - Peonies.

h/t to my bombshell friend, Leann.