Letters to the Editor
bioinformatician
Published Letters: 7
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the cellphone controversy is cynical and wrong
[Read the article: Are you ready for "United 93"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I remember reading in the press at the time that passengers on United 93 used not cellphones but the credit-card driven phones that you find built into airplane seats to call their families. I think there were excerpts of conversations played on the news as well.
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from one american in sweden to another
[Read the article: I single-handedly conquered Sweden. Now what?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The letter from thomas michel made interesting points, among others, regarding the economics of moving back and how that changes with time. Not sure I agree with his conclusions though, what with the weak dollar, US trade and budget deficits, and weak pension system. It's true nobody's getting rich here in Sweden. Maybe living here can teach you how to enjoy a more modest lifestyle after you move back to the US though. Anyway, I'm guessing that the letter-writer, who is in biotech, may have more economic freedom than most.
NoWeepingWillow should chill out with the citizenship psychobabble. The author didn't give up US citizenship to get Swedish citizenship. He/she has dual citizenship. Shocking? Perhaps to some. But true and perfectly within our US citizens' rights.
I'm in a similar boat as the author. Stayed longer than planned, set down roots here, but may still yet move back to the States with my family. I completely affirm the author's impression of this lovely country, with all its social and winter-related drawbacks.
Hey, Cary gave good advice. Men om du stannar här får du ta kontakt med ännu fler amerikanska kompisar. Vi är många här och ge gärna stöd till varandra. Det gör det lättare att träffa andra svenskar också. Jag har själv byggt en fin kompiskrets av bl a amerikaner som stannat här och t ex byggt familjer. Det har räddat mig, speciellt på vintrarna. Kolla en blog som heter stavfel eller lcb här i uppsala t ex.
Besides, if you stay here with your new job you can keep taking advantage of the five weeks yearly vacation and many winter holidays we get to travel away and recharge somewhere warm over the winter.
All decisions imply roads not travelled. I say make life sweet where you are.
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Someone please ask Roy Blunt...
[Read the article: Blunt vows a freeze on global warming fight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]why, if there isn't "adequate information to do anything meaningful," he thinks the big Swiss reinsurance firm, Swiss Re, a big reinsurance firm, is going "carbon neutral" by selling their greenhouse gas emissions on carbon trading markets? The company apparently "says it is going carbon neutral partly to fight global warming, which damages its business by causing more extreme weather, and therefore more claims against its policies. But it also hopes to gain experience of a new type of risk which it can manage on behalf of its customers." ("Upset about offsets",The Economist, Aug 3rd, 2006). The Economist further reports that "various emissions-belchers have joined the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), which requires them to eliminate or offset 6% of their emissions by 2010" and allows its members to buy credits to offset their carbon emissions. "Its membership has grown from 23 firms at the end of 2003 to 210 now, including such corporate titans as Motorola, DuPont and Ford." If Big Business is taking climate change seriously, how can government justify hiding its head in the sand?
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Two good books for those who love people who are dying
[Read the article: Why won't my friends just shut up and let me die?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This letter spoke volumes to me. Everybody's gonna die eventually, you know!
Dear letter-writer, I hope you get the acceptance you are asking for.
If somebody you love (could be you) looks like they are nearing the last stop on the express line, a good guidebook with phrases in the local language can be helpful. Here are two books that have helped me, and maybe the most important thing I learned from them so far:
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche: let go and offer love without attachment.
Your Competent Child by Jesper Juul (actually about child-rearing): everybody needs to be seen for who they are.
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That sounded creepy
[Read the article: Why won't my friends just shut up and let me die?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My first title was "Two good books for friends and family of the dying"
I should have stuck with that one!
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Good Point
[Read the article: More on those lonely Chinese bachelors]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The best way to respond would be to raise the economic value of women to their families and societies.
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The greenest alternative of all... diaper free
[Read the article: Ask Pablo]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Diapers are one of those things we think we can't do without, but did for thousands of years before the industrialized era -- like baby wagons. Is it really progress to have kids in diapers until their four years old?
In rural China and Africa where people can't afford diapers, babies are reliably "trained" to use toilets by when they are one year old.... but it's not the babies that need training, it's the parents! Babies instinctively avoid peeing and pooping in their clothes, beds or when they are carried. What we do here in Western cultures is untrain the baby from their instincts so they lose all bladder and bowel control, only to then later have to retrain them with much struggle.
I know all this sounds crazy but it works! My son was diaper-free at nine months old. It's so nice not to have to clean him up constantly... so much cleaner! No nasty smells... sure it was work early on but it's worth it.
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org