Nuns who help needy face eviction in S.F.’s Tenderloin

In a dingy little Tenderloin kitchen, two French-speaking nuns have devoted the past eight years to feeding the homeless, with their only income being what they eke out from selling handmade pastries at farmers’ markets.

The sisters of the Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen sleep in a tiny room in the back and do nothing but sell their baked goods and feed the needy. But that’s about to change.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Nuns-who-help-needy-face-eviction-in-S-F-s-6815676.php

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Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. I am extending an invitation to anyone who would like to attend with the Gleesons, at St. Monica Catholic Church, in Edmond OK. Anyone at all can receive ashes and a blessing, whatever your faith. It was really powerful for me to participate in in the years before my conversion, even when I professed no creed at all. Anyway. I'm totally serious, let me know. Mass is at 7 PM.
Posted by Instagrate to WordPress

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Quine at 22 months. She has been "counting" lately, saying "one, two, three, four…" up to ten. She has also retained the words cheese, apple and ball, and she continues to drag us around by the finger to do her baby bidding. She has some possible receptive language as well, but it is so strongly situational or also tied to unique nonverbal cues that I'm not sure if she actually understands the words. But she is definitely communicating back and forth in her way. #autistiquine #autism #thinkdifferent
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For my grandmother: A receipt

I was young and stupid and didn’t really understand.

Grandma restated her philosophy, then she continued: “What if Jesus disguises himself as a poor man who asks you for help and you don’t help? What are you gonna’ say to him when your life ends and you stand there at the gates of Heaven?”

I hadn’t considered this. But on that day, in the mind of a ten-year-old, what she said made sense. It was far easier to help, I decided, than worry about making the Almighty mad and condemning myself to what could be a really miserable afterlife.

http://acluok.org/2016/02/for-my-grandmother-a-receipt/

Even in the Middle Ages, People Didn’t Think the Earth Was Flat

Not only do no serious, intellectually honest people currently believe the Earth is flat; the fact is this was never a widespread belief, at least in the way that you may have heard. Even astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson may have gotten things a bit wrong—sacrilege, I know—when he tweeted that B.o.B was “five centuries regressed in [his] reasoning.” In reality, knowledge that the Earth is spherical is much older than that, and hasn’t been seriously questioned by more than a few wingnuts in the last two millennia.

http://www.newsweek.com/even-middle-ages-people-didnt-think-earth-was-flat-420775?source=acsh.org

sickness gone? new glasses, maybe leave the house

I think, I think, the childern are all done with puking. I think. Clementine was the last one and it was 2 days ago. Still upset in diaper terms, but no further upchucking. Fingers crossed.

Which is good because I had to take apart the carseats, both of which got ralphed on, and wash them, dry them, then put them back together. Kind of a pain, but not as difficult as I thought it would be. It was a good opportunity to make sure they both were still at the right settings though. (They were.) The actual car has not been cleaned, really, just spot cleaned. I would say a lick and a promise, but, ew. However it is dry and reasonably sweet smelling, and I’ll lay down towels for the more squeamish of the lot. Because honestly we have to get out of the house or they will mutiny.

And in other news I finally ordered new spectacles for Gilbert and Faith, who have both complained abut their current frames being wonky. I spent the big bucks too, Gilbert’s cost almost seven entire dollars. Seriously, $6.95 for prescription glasses. How do they do that? And more importantly, why are the other seemingly identical construction plastic frames so much more? I bought two. Faith is somewhat more particular and chose classic black Wayfarer frames for the still cheap price of like $16 or so. There will be pictures of the two in their new face accessories in a week or so. I think Trixie needs glasses as well, need to get her an appointment.

So that’s the state of the household here. Back to normal, one hopes!

For More Than A Million Food Stamp Recipients, The Clock Is Now Ticking

SNAP benefits — formerly known as food stamps — have been tied to employment for two decades. Unless they are caring for children or unable to work, adults need to have a job to receive more than three months of benefits.
But after the recession began, that three-month cap was waived in many areas, as state and federal governments acknowledged that jobs were hard to come by.
Now, as the economy is improving, the time limits are being reimposed — by federal policy in some areas, by state legislators in others.

When we received food stamps, Sean was working and I think I was exempt because of the littles. So this wouldn’t have affected us. But the people who this will get are what I think of as “straddlers,” people who are always in danger of falling through the cracks. People without adequate transportation to look for a job, much less get to one regularly. People who don’t quite qualify as disabled, but are never picked by employers. People at high risk for being coerced into sex work. That kind of thing.

Donate to a food pantry in your area, folks.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/31/465059192/for-more-than-a-million-food-stamp-recipients-the-clock-is-now-ticking

Germany hands out guides at swimming baths after women were groped by migrants

image

It’s a mess. I didn’t really think about the vast cultural differences. I myopically assume that everyone has the same values as I do. I’m working on that.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3426142/Germany-hands-cartoon-etiquette-guides-swimming-baths-dozens-women-groped-migrants.html

Strong Link Found Between Dementia, Common Anticholinergic Drugs

There is a strong and possibly irreversible link between Alzheimer’s disease and many commonly used medications for insomnia, allergies, and depression, according to a large recent JAMA Internal Medicinestudy.

Three years of taking either daily Benadryl, Advil PM, Tylenol PM, or Motrin PM, for example, is associated with about a ten percentage point increase in the probability of experiencing dementia or Alzheimer’s compared to no use. This risk association is “significant,” Malaz Boustani, M.D., M.P.H., told Drug Discovery & Development.

That’s kinda scary.
http://app.dddmag.com/articles/2015/04/strong-link-found-between-dementia-common-anticholinergic-drugs