How to Play the Little Library Game2018-12-23T09:33:00-06:002018-12-23T09:33:00-06:00/post/little-library-game <p>There is a game I play with my children when we’re in the car, and it is called <strong><em>Little Library</em></strong>. Depending on where you live or are traveling, this may or may not be an engaging game for you and your own offspring. Most of the time I’m in Iowa City, Iowa<sup id="fnref:iowalit"><a href="#fn:iowalit" class="footnote">1</a></sup>, which is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Literature">UNESCO City of Literature</a>, and we may have a disproportionate number of Little Libraries<sup id="fnref:wtflittlelibrary"><a href="#fn:wtflittlelibrary" class="footnote">2</a></sup> per household.</p> <p>It’s a pretty simple game and I’ve got a 3 year-old and 6 year-old that I am perpetually playing it with. The general gist of the game is that when you see a Little Library you simply say “Little Library”, and you’re playing already.</p> <h2 id="the-rules-of-little-library">The Rules of Little Library</h2> <p>The game has two stages, and the second stage is an optional way to break ties or otherwise make it more competitive.</p> <h3 id="stage-1">Stage 1</h3> <p>As you are traveling around town, when you see a Little Library, players say “Little Library” and they are awarded one point.</p> <p>You cannot get a point for a Little Library if the little library is behind you. Only if it is still ahead of you or when you’re alongside the little library can you get a point.</p> <p>You may say “<strong><em>Little Library!</em></strong>” as soon as you see a Little Library, but some more competive players like my daughter are quite fond of waiting until the last possible second to say “Little Library” if nobody else in the car has noticed it and called it out yet<sup id="fnref:sneak"><a href="#fn:sneak" class="footnote">3</a></sup>.</p> <p>Everyone can get a point for spotting a little library in Stage 1.</p> <h3 id="stage-2">Stage 2</h3> <p>Optional way to raise the stakes is by transitioning to Stage 2.</p> <p>In Stage 2, the first person to call out a Little Library is the only person that can get a point for it. This eliminates the sneak factor but rewards the players that spot the Little Library before anyone else. It’s a good way to end a tie-breaker or mix it up a bit.</p> <h2 id="other-variations">Other Variations</h2> <p>There are other possible variations on this game by adopting rules from similar games. My mother’s family has a game they play called <em>Zip Horse</em> which is like <em>Little Library</em> but with horses, obviously, and the color of the horse determines the points it was worth to the spotter. One interesting rule of <em>Zip Horse</em> is that if you drive past a cemetary, everyone on that side of the car loses their points. I have been reluctant to adopt a somewhat creepy spooky ruleset for Little Library, however.</p> <hr /> <p>I hope you enjoy Little Library! (<em>little library!</em>) and feel free to let me know if you play it with your own family next time you go for a drive, and if you have any suggestions to improve the game. Please consider that this game should be approachable for young children and not too complicated or upsetting.</p> <hr /> <div class="footnotes"> <ol> <li id="fn:iowalit"> <p><a href="http://www.iowacityofliterature.org">Iowa City of Literature</a> <a href="#fnref:iowalit" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> <li id="fn:wtflittlelibrary"> <p>wtf is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Free_Library">Little Library</a>? <a href="#fnref:wtflittlelibrary" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> <li id="fn:sneak"> <p>She consistently pulls ahead of her brother and I by employing this tactic. A typical morning commute dropping off kids in the morning ends with Prue having 3-4 points and Calvin and I with 1 or 2. <a href="#fnref:sneak" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> </ol> </div> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/post/little-library-game/" rel="nofollow">How to Play the Little Library Game</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> Little Library!Pretty-Pro Grilled Cheese2017-01-30T00:00:00-06:002017-01-30T00:00:00-06:00/post/grilled-cheese <p class="notice--warning"><strong>Aw, jeeze</strong> I was recently told that what I think is an amazing perfect combination of cheeses is merely the essential fondue cheese combination. This was understandably devastating to me, but I leave this post here only to serve as a warning the next time I think I have come up with anything. 🤣</p> <p>This is yet another of my many generous gifts to the world. You’ve earned it.</p> <h2 id="grilled-cheese-sandwiches">Grilled Cheese Sandwiches</h2> <h3 id="ingredients">Ingredients</h3> <ul> <li>A really crusty loaf of a sandwich bread, two slices, cut to no less than 0.5 inches (I aim for 3/4 in.)</li> <li>Whole leaf basil</li> <li>Butter</li> <li>Powdered cayenne pepper</li> <li>Gruyere (a rich tangy unpasteurized Swiss)</li> <li>Emmentaler (savory but mild, also Swiss)</li> <li>Sliced tomato if you’re into that sort of thing</li> </ul> <h2 id="instructions">Instructions</h2> <ul> <li>Heat your griddle or pan to medium/medium-high heat.</li> <li>Butter one side of each slice of bread, and gently dust the butter with cayenne pepper powder. If you’re way into cayenne, go bananas.</li> <li>Flip one slice in, butter-side down.</li> <li>Layer thin slices of emmentaler side by side on the slice of bread.</li> <li>Place one or two pieces of whole leaf basil on the cheese.</li> <li>Layer thin slices of gruyere on top of basil.</li> <li>Lay the other slice of bread butter-side up.</li> </ul> <h3 id="heat">Heat</h3> <ul> <li>observe how toasted the bread is in relation to the cheese melt.</li> <li>You want to avoid scorching the bread so don’t rush this, you will be rewarded for patience by perfectly grilled bread and melted cheese.</li> <li>Flip the sandwich when you get a flash of the cayenne smoldering – you’re dangerously close to scorching the bread and butter.</li> <li>Flip when it happens again until cheese is melted together and bread is toasted and has a rust-colored crispy finish. Well done!</li> </ul> <h2 id="finishing-touches">Finishing Touches</h2> <ul> <li>Open this delicious gooey carapace and lay some sliced tomato in there.</li> </ul> <p>I never like cooking the tomato in, and vastly prefer the texture of a chilled tomato giving way under each bite.</p> <h1 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h1> <p>This is the finest grilled cheese I have ever made. I have tried other cheeses and vastly prefer the complementary nature of these two cheeses.</p> <p>Enjoy with my compliments, and think of me fondly.</p> <p>Unless you are lactose intolerant, in which case this has gone horribly wrong and I am very sorry.</p> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/post/grilled-cheese/" rel="nofollow">Pretty-Pro Grilled Cheese</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> Comfort FooditiesFujifilm X100F Resource Page2017-01-25T00:00:00-06:002017-10-07T10:55:41-05:00/res/fujifilm-x100f-resources <p>This is another <em>moderately well-curated list</em> of resources for the Fujifilm X100F camera. You may also be interested in my <a href="https://incumbent.org/pages/fujifilm-x100s-resources/index.html">similar page for the Fujifilm X100S</a>.</p> <figure> <img src="/assets/images/resources/x100f-front-and-back-black.png" /> <figcaption>the Fujifilm X100F in black</figcaption> </figure> <aside class="sidebar__right"> <nav class="toc"> <header><h4 class="nav__title"><i class="fa fa-file-text"></i> On This Page</h4></header> <ul class="toc__menu" id="markdown-toc"> <li><a href="#direct-from-the-manufacturer" id="markdown-toc-direct-from-the-manufacturer">Direct from the manufacturer</a> <ul> <li><a href="#fujifilm-x100f-support--updates" id="markdown-toc-fujifilm-x100f-support--updates">Fujifilm X100F Support & Updates</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#tips-and-tricks" id="markdown-toc-tips-and-tricks">Tips and Tricks</a> <ul> <li><a href="#using-the-camera" id="markdown-toc-using-the-camera">Using the camera</a></li> <li><a href="#post-processing-and-software" id="markdown-toc-post-processing-and-software">Post-Processing and Software</a> <ul> <li><a href="#my-tools" id="markdown-toc-my-tools">My tools</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#reviews" id="markdown-toc-reviews">Reviews</a> <ul> <li><a href="#end-user-reviews-and-comments-from-professionals-hobbyists-and-amateurs" id="markdown-toc-end-user-reviews-and-comments-from-professionals-hobbyists-and-amateurs">End-User Reviews and Comments from Professionals, Hobbyists and Amateurs</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav> </aside> <h1 id="direct-from-the-manufacturer">Direct from the manufacturer</h1> <h2 id="fujifilm-x100f-support--updates">Fujifilm X100F Support & Updates</h2> <ul> <li>:camera: <a href="http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x100f/" title="End-all be-all">Fujifilm USA X100F homepage</a></li> <li>:camera: <a href="http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x100f/support/index.html" title="Firmware updates, bundled software">Fujifilm USA X100F Support Site</a></li> <li>:camera: <a href="http://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x100f/">PDF download of the manual</a> Hurray! The manual dropped the day before global release.</li> </ul> <h1 id="tips-and-tricks">Tips and Tricks</h1> <p class="notice"><i class="fa fa-info-circle"></i><br /> Induce your own lightbulb moment with these illuminating tips and tricks.</p> <h2 id="using-the-camera">Using the camera</h2> <ul> <li>It’s a lot like the X100S and the X100T but with much better autofocus and higher resolution images.</li> <li>The ACROS film mode is stunning, I’m using RAW+JPEG and usually using ACROS or Chrome and actually using the JPEG files it generates more than the RAW files.</li> <li>ISO dial is welcome.</li> <li> <p>There will no doubt be several books written for this cameras, as there are many fantastic books and guides for it’s predecessors.</p> </li> <li>Thomas Fitzgerald wrote post about <a href="http://blog.thomasfitzgeraldphotography.com/blog/2017/10/how-i-shoot-with-my-x-pro-2">How he shoots with his X-Pro2</a> and a lot of his notes on how he adjusts exposure and calls out the way the EVF can be misleading are relevant to the X100F.</li> </ul> <h2 id="post-processing-and-software">Post-Processing and Software</h2> <h3 id="my-tools">My tools</h3> <p>I intend to document my workflow at some point soon, especially how I use redundant rot-proof storage and off-site archiving. This short list is just what I use personally and have had a lot of fun with.</p> <ul> <li>Adobe’s handling of the X-Trans sensors is usually considered pretty good but by no means the best.</li> <li>Adobe has supported the X-Trans III for a while in Adobe Camera Raw thanks to the X-Pro2 and X-T2 before it. <ul> <li>I use Lightroom CC because it’s very inexpensive and I love my presets and workflow. It isn’t the greatest friend to Fuji RAF files however.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Adobe Lightroom CC does support the X100F’s lossless compressed RAW format. You will need to make sure you don’t have any updates waiting or you’ll see broken files in Lightroom.</li> <li>There is a very promising option from the creator of Iridient Developer called The Iridient X-Transformer, and as of this date the <a href="http://www.iridientdigital.com/products/xtransformer.html">current release is 1.0 beta 2</a>. <ul> <li>It’s Windows-only so I’m not in a hurry to test it yet and I don’t have an X-Trans III camera anyway. The results people are posting from this new RAW handler are impressive, however. They are sufficiently good that I will probably adopt it into my import workflow even as I continue using Lightroom.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>As I’ve mentioned, the JPEGs are really great. In fact, the vast majority of images I’ve published online so far from this camera are almost always JPEGs out of the camera with minimal adjustment except for contrast or pushing blacks.</p> <p>You can see some examples in my <a href="https://ephemeral.be/albums/philadelphia/">Early March in Philadelphia, 2017</a> album set. I’m quite taken with this camera.</p> <h1 id="reviews">Reviews</h1> <h2 id="end-user-reviews-and-comments-from-professionals-hobbyists-and-amateurs">End-User Reviews and Comments from Professionals, Hobbyists and Amateurs</h2> <blockquote> <p>“Personally, I love this camera and think the bump in resolution makes the series all the more appetizing. Having such excellent image quality in such a small camera is definitely a nice perk. Also, if you’re a Fujifilm shooter and have either an X-T2 or an X-Pro2 with a 23mm lens, you may want to consider getting one of these as your 23mm focal length—it covers a focal length while at the same time makes an amazing travel camera or just a general take-anywhere camera.”</p> <p><cite>Adrian Murray for <a href="https://petapixel.com/2017/01/20/2-months-fujifilm-x100f/">PetaPixel — 2 Months with the Fujifilm X100F</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>“But for me, the biggest selling point of the X100F is really how versatile it is. I have not found myself in a situation where I could not take the image that I had imagined in my head with just the X100 and the 2 conversion lenses.”</p> <p><cite>Jonas Rask in <a href="https://jonasraskphotography.com/2017/01/19/the-fujifilm-x100f-review-fantastic-fourth/">The Fujifilm X100F Review – Fantastic Fourth</a></cite> (Great family, nature, and street photography samples included.)</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>“Since the introduction of the X100, each successor has brought changes and improvements that photographers asked for. The 100F is not revolutionary but rather an evolutionary camera and that’s a good thing. With a new sensor, large EVF/OVF, improved and unified (with the rest of the X-series) operations (and battery) and the same, excellent 23mm F2 lens, the X100F is in my view a flagship X-series camera.” “While I enjoy shooting with the X-Pro2 and X-T2, the 100F interconnects with and bridges my visual intuition, inner seeing and creativity with the mechanics of the photographic process the way no other camera can, so for me it is <strong><em>the ultimate seeing machine.</em></strong>”</p> <p><cite>Olaf Sztaba on his olafphotoblog — <a href="https://olafphotoblog.com/2017/01/19/the-ultimate-seeing-machine-the-fujifilm-x100f-review/">The Ultimate Seeing Machine</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>“We’re at an important juncture: the young, scrappy and dishevelled system is now mature.”</p> <p><cite>Patrick la Roque — <a href="http://www.laroquephoto.com/blog/2017/1/10/x100f-dawning-of-the-age">Dawning of the Age</a></cite> and seriously check out his galleries and sets with this camera, they’re amazing.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>“I’ve purposefully picked a selection of images here that show a wide range of ISO values; from 200 to 10,000. I’m also more than happy to shoot at ƒ2 on the Fuji X100F, and I still love the way the 23mm lens renders even at ƒ2.”</p> <p><cite>Kevin Mullins — <a href="http://f16.click/personal-photography/fuji-x100f-snaps.html">Personal Snaps with the X100F</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <p>see also:</p> <blockquote> <p>“Across the whole aperture range, the sensor has an amazing dynamic range and whether you shoot RAW or JPEG, you will get amazing colour depth and tonal range.”</p> <p>“The great news for Fuji X100F shooters is that the sensor now allows us to shoot at 12,800 ISO as standard. This is a stop more than the 6,400 of the X100T and the noise reduction algorithm in the camera is greatly improved.”</p> <p><cite>Kevin Mullins — <a href="http://f16.click/gear/fujifilm-x100f-review.html">the Fujifilm X100F Review</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <hr /> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/res/fujifilm-x100f-resources/" rel="nofollow">Fujifilm X100F Resource Page</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> This is a moderately well-curated list of resources for the Fujifilm X100F camera.ENFP’s correlation to Enneatype2017-01-24T00:00:00-06:002017-01-24T00:00:00-06:00/post/enneatyped <p>While reading about myself <sup id="fnref:ENFP"><a href="#fn:ENFP" class="footnote">1</a></sup> on Wikipedia again, I noticed the following at the bottom:</p> <h2 id="correlation-with-enneatype">Correlation with Enneatype</h2> <p>(Barron & Wagele 1994) report that the most common Enneatypes for ENFPs are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality#Twos">Helpers (Twos)</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality#Sevens">Enthusiasts (Sevens)</a>.</p> <p>I’ve read a little here and there about Enneatypes but couldn’t help but notice: holy shit, yes.</p> <p>Of the two, <em>Helper</em> seems much more like me than <em>Enthusiast</em> even though I share some traits with that Enneatype (the planning and gluttony). <em>Helper</em> (and the stress/security modifiers when stressed or secure) breaks down like this:</p> <table> <thead> <tr> <th style="text-align: center">Type</th> <th style="text-align: left">Characteristic role</th> <th style="text-align: left">Ego fixation</th> <th style="text-align: left">Holy idea</th> <th style="text-align: left">Basic fear</th> <th style="text-align: left">Basic desire</th> <th style="text-align: left">Temptation</th> <th style="text-align: left">Vice or Passion</th> <th style="text-align: center">Virtue</th> <th style="text-align: center">Stress</th> <th>Security</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center">2</td> <td style="text-align: left">Helper</td> <td style="text-align: left">Flattery (Ingratiation)</td> <td style="text-align: left">Freedom, Will</td> <td style="text-align: left">Being unloved</td> <td style="text-align: left">To feel love</td> <td style="text-align: left">Deny own needs, manipulation</td> <td style="text-align: left">Pride</td> <td style="text-align: center">Humility</td> <td style="text-align: center">8</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align: center">4</td> <td style="text-align: left">Individualist</td> <td style="text-align: left">Melancholy (Fantasizing)</td> <td style="text-align: left">Origin</td> <td style="text-align: left">Having no identity or significance</td> <td style="text-align: left">To be uniquely themselves</td> <td style="text-align: left">To overuse imagination in search of self</td> <td style="text-align: left">Envy</td> <td style="text-align: center">Equanimity (Emotional Balance)</td> <td style="text-align: center">6</td> <td>3</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align: center">8</td> <td style="text-align: left">Challenger</td> <td style="text-align: left">Vengeance (Objectification)</td> <td style="text-align: left">Truth</td> <td style="text-align: left">Being harmed, controlled, violated</td> <td style="text-align: left">Self-protection</td> <td style="text-align: left">Thinking they are completely self-sufficient</td> <td style="text-align: left">Lust (Forcefulness)</td> <td style="text-align: center">Innocence</td> <td style="text-align: center">5</td> <td>2</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>It’s absolutely accurate. I also have an idea about that alleged <em>Innocence</em> virtue when I’m stressed. I have been especially wary of getting cozy with that <em>Challenger</em> aspect when I’m stressed without even knowing that’s what I was doing. Be gone, <em>Challenger</em>. And now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be overusing my imagination while thinking about my sadness (because <em>Individualist</em>).</p> <hr /> <div class="footnotes"> <ol> <li id="fn:ENFP"> <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENFP">Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perception</a> <a href="#fnref:ENFP" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> </ol> </div> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/post/enneatyped/" rel="nofollow">ENFP's correlation to Enneatype</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> The most common Enneatypes for ENFPs are Helper and Enthusiast.So You’ve Got a Cool Kid2016-06-16T00:00:00-05:002016-06-16T00:00:00-05:00/coolkids/so-youve-got-a-cool-kid <div class="notice--warning"> <h4>Beware: Falling Serifs</h4> <p><i>This is incomplete but I wanted to get a draft out there to apply pressure on myself to have it not be incomplete. If this leaves you in a lurch, ping me on my <a href="/contact">contact form</a>, and I'll try to help you out.</i></p> <p><i>What follows is an <b>in-progress</b> field guide for parents that have their newborn undergoing hypothermia treatment due to an HIE or related event.</i></p> </div> <aside class="sidebar__right"> <nav class="toc"> <header><h4 class="nav__title"><i class="fa fa-file-text"></i> On This Page</h4></header> <ul class="toc__menu" id="markdown-toc"> <li><a href="#introduction-or-wtf" id="markdown-toc-introduction-or-wtf">Introduction (or: WTF!?)</a> <ul> <li><a href="#you-are-freaking-out-and-thats-ok" id="markdown-toc-you-are-freaking-out-and-thats-ok">You are freaking out, and that’s OK</a> <ul> <li><a href="#something-went-wrong" id="markdown-toc-something-went-wrong">Something Went Wrong</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#what-theyre-doing" id="markdown-toc-what-theyre-doing">What they’re doing</a></li> <li><a href="#why-theyre-doing-it" id="markdown-toc-why-theyre-doing-it">Why they’re doing it</a> <ul> <li><a href="#blood-tests-and-oxygen-levels" id="markdown-toc-blood-tests-and-oxygen-levels">Blood tests and oxygen levels</a> <ul> <li><a href="#ng-tube" id="markdown-toc-ng-tube">NG tube</a> <ul> <li><a href="#breastfeeding" id="markdown-toc-breastfeeding">Breastfeeding</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#things-to-start-recording-and-tracking" id="markdown-toc-things-to-start-recording-and-tracking">Things to start recording and tracking</a> <ul> <li><a href="#what-to-expect-for-72-hours" id="markdown-toc-what-to-expect-for-72-hours">What to expect for 72 hours</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#nicu" id="markdown-toc-nicu">NICU</a> <ul> <li><a href="#the-nurses" id="markdown-toc-the-nurses">The Nurses</a> <ul> <li><a href="#you-will-hear-many-opinions-and-diagnostic-data" id="markdown-toc-you-will-hear-many-opinions-and-diagnostic-data">You will hear many opinions and diagnostic data</a></li> <li><a href="#what-they-said-and-who-said-it" id="markdown-toc-what-they-said-and-who-said-it">What they said and who said it</a> <ul> <li><a href="#questions-to-ask-doctors" id="markdown-toc-questions-to-ask-doctors">Questions to ask doctors</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#is-everything-going-to-be-ok" id="markdown-toc-is-everything-going-to-be-ok">Is everything going to be OK?</a> <ul> <li><a href="#possible-outcomes" id="markdown-toc-possible-outcomes">Possible Outcomes</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#todo" id="markdown-toc-todo">Todo:</a> <ul> <li><a href="#what-to-do-instead-of-totally-freaking-out" id="markdown-toc-what-to-do-instead-of-totally-freaking-out">What to do instead of totally freaking out</a></li> <li><a href="#get-supported" id="markdown-toc-get-supported">Get Supported</a> <ul> <li><a href="#free-your-mind-up-for-immediate-things" id="markdown-toc-free-your-mind-up-for-immediate-things">Free your mind up for immediate things</a></li> <li><a href="#what-to-worry-about" id="markdown-toc-what-to-worry-about">What to worry about</a></li> <li><a href="#what-to-not-worry-about" id="markdown-toc-what-to-not-worry-about">What to not worry about</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#warming" id="markdown-toc-warming">Warming</a> <ul> <li><a href="#landmarks-for-warming-up" id="markdown-toc-landmarks-for-warming-up">Landmarks for warming up</a></li> <li><a href="#neurological-exams-and-mri" id="markdown-toc-neurological-exams-and-mri">Neurological exams and MRI</a> <ul> <li><a href="#big-grains-of-salt" id="markdown-toc-big-grains-of-salt">Big grains of salt</a> <ul> <li><a href="#follow-through" id="markdown-toc-follow-through">Follow-through</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav> </aside> <h1 id="introduction-or-wtf">Introduction (or: WTF!?)</h1> <p>This is going to assume that very recently your newborn was put into the NICU, and that the medical staff are following <em>hypothermia protocols</em>. During birth something went wrong, and now you’ve heard a lot of terminology and met a dozen new doctors you didn’t expect to ever meet and it feels like the ground just fell out from under you and every time you are nearly back on your feet, it all goes sideways again.</p> <p>I’ve been there. It’s a special kind of hell and I can’t give any medical advice or tell you everything is going to be fine; but what I <em>can</em> do is hold a flashlight for you and aim it at the things I had to learn about shortly after 4am on July 27, 2015. I’m not an expert or a doctor, I’ve just had to find my way in the midst of the chaos you’ve discovered for yourself.</p> <p>Because I’m not a doctor a lot of what follows will be largely anecdotal and consist of my experience in a University Research Hospital in the United States. The therapy and protocols discussed in this guide have been used there for a few years and the staff all the way on down the line is familiar with it and has considerable expertise. When doing research on my own to further understand what was going on, the resources and studies I found were very difficult to wrap my head around at times, and anything I write about them here is very much a distilled and simplified version, and the inferences and conclusions I come to may well be entirely unscientific. <strong>I’m an engineer, not a scientist.</strong></p> <h2 id="you-are-freaking-out-and-thats-ok">You are freaking out, and that’s OK</h2> <p>This whole experience is going to push your emotional boundaries and make you confront a lot of things you are afraid of. I know in the midst of it all it doesn’t matter that other people have been through similar experiences, but it helps you later. Promise.</p> <h3 id="something-went-wrong">Something Went Wrong</h3> <p>An HIE is <em>hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy</em>, which is sometimes called <em>Perinatal asphyxia</em> as well (especially in older literature prior to the last decade). It is a diagnosis given when there is laboratory and clinical evidence of brain injury due to asphyxia<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote">1</a></sup>.</p> <p>There are several ways this can occur, but ultimately this means that your baby wasn’t getting enough oxygen for a certain amount of time. There are several causes for this ranging in severity, but the result that got us here was probably resuscitation and other intervening measures to ensure your baby was able to breathe properly and get oxygen.</p> <p>There are some checks and tests that doctors perform to assess the overall health of babies upon birth. They evaluate physical responses and movement, observation of color changes in skin, reactions to stimuli like bright lights and reflexive responses. Based on those observations and classifications they suspected an <em>HIE</em>, which probably resulted in laboratory tests that confirm their suspicions.</p> <p>Those lab tests involve sampling blood from the umbilical cord and your newborn, and calculating the various deficits in the chemical composition of the blood such as the <em>ph level</em>, which they may often refer to as <em>blood gases</em>. When the ph level of the blood is abnormal, high school chemistry tells us that’s because it’s more <em>basic</em> or more <em>acidic</em>. This gives more clues for the medical team to act on.</p> <div class="notice--warning"> <h4>Expertise Warning</h4> <p>I have no experience with Severe.</p> </div> <p>There are three-to-four severity classifications of HIE events that are commonly used. Most research I read uses three, but some prefer a more well-defined group between Mild and Moderate.</p> <ul> <li>Mild <ul> <li>Mild/Moderate</li> </ul> </li> <li>Moderate</li> <li>Severe</li> </ul> <h1 id="what-theyre-doing">What they’re doing</h1> <p>They’re using <strong>hypothermia treatment protocols</strong> to lower the temperature of your newborn’s brain. This is the most advanced and effective treatment available to you to potentially mitigate further complications.</p> <p>They are going to keep the body temperature of your newborn to around 33°C. They will probably be using a cooling mat or a cap surrounding the head.</p> <figure> <a href="/assets/images/coolkids/coolkids-calvin-mat.jpg" class="fancybox" rel="gallery"> <img src="/assets/images/coolkids/coolkids-calvin-mat.jpg" alt="" /></a> <figcaption>Regular around-the-clock monitoring and observation during this treatment.</figcaption> </figure> <p>Possible seizure activity is being monitored with an <em>EEG</em>, which results in a spiderweb of little wires all over the place. They correlate this activity with other collected data and observation by medical staff.</p> <p>Since babies don’t like to be cold, they can get really wound up over it. Your newborn may also be intubated or require other assistance which involves more tubes and machines that also are very stressful and frustrating for babies. Because of this, they may administer a sedative to calm the baby down and this makes them sleep a lot and be a little sluggish. There will be periods of time where they get all cranky and as long as that’s when something babies get cranky about, like needing to be changed, it’s a positive sign.</p> <p>You wouldn’t want a bunch of nonsense glued to your head while you sat in a wet pair of shorts either.</p> <p>It’s likely that once the warming protocol begins they’ll start to figure out if the infant needs sedation anymore, or if they can administer lower doses. It takes a little while to be fully clear of it so your baby may seem a little checked out most of the time especially in hypo, so don’t let it steer you away from positive thinking. Think of it as <em>cryo-sleep</em>.</p> <figure> <a href="/assets/images/coolkids/coolkids-liz-calvin-color.jpg" class="fancybox" rel="gallery"> <img src="/assets/images/coolkids/coolkids-liz-calvin-color.jpg" alt="" /></a> <figcaption>Liz and Calvin in the UIHC NICU.</figcaption> </figure> <h1 id="why-theyre-doing-it">Why they’re doing it</h1> <p>Because if they don’t, horrible things will continue to happen. There are a range of conditions that can result of an HIE ranging in severity. They aren’t directly correlated to the severity of the HIE event but do somewhat correlate with the response to hypothermia treatment and how the brain reacts during the first 72 hours and the warming period of the protocols.</p> <p><strong>In cases of likely brain injury, scientists have found that inducing hypothermia within six hours of birth improves outcomes.</strong> When deprived of oxygen, the body begins looking for energy wherever it is available. It will detonate those cells and release that energy to be used elsewhere. In terms of concentration of cells and pure mass, the brains of infants are the largest source of potential energy so that’s where the the best source of this energy is, and at the same time, it’s the most dangerous place to get it.</p> <p>Those cells then degrade and release cellular instructions to the surrounding cells as they die, (<em>“they will need more energy soon, so go ahead and start blowing up!”</em>) and <strong>this process can be halted and altered by lowering the body temperature</strong>:</p> <blockquote> <p>“Clinical and experimental studies have demonstrated that neuronal death occurs in two phases following a reversible hypoxic-ischaemic global insult.” “Therefore, a therapeutic ’window of opportunity’ exists in the interval following resuscitation of the asphyxiated newborn before the secondary phase of impaired energy metabolism and injury.” — (Gluckman 1992; Lorek 1994; Penrice 1996)<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote">2</a></sup></p> </blockquote> <p>Essentially, they’re chilling your newborn to protect the brain and give it another start. The goal is to allow the brain to reboot and restore before the secondary degradation of cells is underway. <strong>It’s why you read about sledding or ice-fishing accidents where people are getting pulled out of the river after being trapped under ice, and miraculously recovering.</strong></p> <figure> <a href="/assets/images/coolkids/calvin-in-hypo.jpg" class="fancybox" rel="gallery"> <img src="/assets/images/coolkids/calvin-in-hypo.jpg" alt="" /></a> <figcaption>Ice, ice baby.</figcaption> </figure> <h2 id="blood-tests-and-oxygen-levels">Blood tests and oxygen levels</h2> <p>Medical staff will regularly measure levels of the aforementioned blood gases because they’re worried about lactic alkalosis and other complications. This information helps them determine likely outcomes and interventions to do an end-run around anything on the horizon. They’re already ahead of the curve by doing the hypothermia treatment so they have a good window to fully assess likely outcomes.</p> <h3 id="ng-tube">NG tube</h3> <p>There is probably a tiny tube in the nose, to allow food and medicine to be delivered to the stomach, and to remove contents from the stomach easily. This procedure is called Nasogastric Intubation and is referred to as an <em>NG tube</em>.</p> <p>Early on, they feed nutrients and fats via an IV and gradually start switching them to NG, even though NG is there to facilitate it later.</p> <h4 id="breastfeeding">Breastfeeding</h4> <p>If you intend to breastfeed, it is a good idea to be pumping as soon as you can. The nurses in NICU can deliver your milk via the NG tube when available. Eventually you’ll be able to give it a try through less medical means. It will be amazing.</p> <h1 id="things-to-start-recording-and-tracking">Things to start recording and tracking</h1> <p>Aside from the obviously New Baby Measurements of weight and length, you may want to keep a timeline of everything as best you can. This includes numerics like what the blood ph levels are, the cord blood ph, oxygen levels; and if you hear a time or number or an <em>APGAR</em> score, make a note of it and record the date and time you heard it. This was helpful for me to know how things were trending later, but may be meaningless for you. If you like to track metrics, these are your metrics.</p> <p>If you don’t remember what they were at birth and you want that information, you can ask for it. I was furiously scribbling down everything that was said after Calvin was resuscitated. As the ph normalized throughout hypo, I found those digits reassuring.</p> <h2 id="what-to-expect-for-72-hours">What to expect for 72 hours</h2> <p>Could be busy, could be quiet. The less seizure activity recorded and observed the better. Stay in touch with the NICU and they’ll keep you apprised of the situation and anything they overheard or were instructed by the doctors.</p> <p>If you have questions about any of it, make a note of them and try to catch the teams on rounds in the morning, and you’ll get looped in on the specifics as much as you want.</p> <p>In our case, Calvin had one brief moment that may have been a seizure, but it wasn’t sustained and lasted seconds rather than minutes. The more severe this activity is, the more complicated the prognosis will be.</p> <h1 id="nicu">NICU</h1> <p>The NICU is where you’ll likely camp out and/or treat as the center of your universe for the time being.</p> <h2 id="the-nurses">The Nurses</h2> <p><strong>The NICU nurses are your most important ally.</strong> They love babies and they apparently don’t mind crazy parents that can’t sleep. Speaking of which, if you’re at home in bed and can’t sleep; call the NICU and ask for the nurse assigned to your newborn. They’ll tell you everything that has happened since you last called or visited.</p> <h3 id="you-will-hear-many-opinions-and-diagnostic-data">You will hear many opinions and diagnostic data</h3> <p>While your baby is being observed and assessed by medical staff, doctors and nurses will make comments about responsiveness of their patient, or things that are medically interesting to them. <em>Don’t panic</em> over this sort of thing, but <em>make a note</em> of anything you want to know about later. Let them do their thing and be available to answer their questions if they have any.</p> <p>Please be aware that they will be managing your expectations heavily, and if you start asking questions like “Is my baby going to be OK”, you are asking a very loaded question that they can’t answer. They want to tell you that — that is their best case scenario, after all. But they don’t know the answer to that question. Asking different questions helps and doesn’t put them in a very awkward positions; “Is my baby going to be OK?” is impossible to answer, but “Is my baby’s condition improving?” is better. I went so far as to ask “Are you optimistic” a few times knowing it was close to impossible to answer, but I was desperate for something reassuring at times.</p> <p>Ask what you want to ask, but don’t be disappointed or fear the worst when you didn’t ask a question they could answer the way you had hoped.</p> <h3 id="what-they-said-and-who-said-it">What they said and who said it</h3> <p>My notes often had margins like <em>NEURO</em> for Neurologist, <em>NEO</em> for Neonatologist, and <em>RN</em> for nurses.</p> <p>It helps to sort out each team in your notes because they’re all on the same team but have different focus and what one finds interesting another may find mundane. This was another thing very helpful for me to have access to in subsequent discussions with other groups, especially when they may not be on the same page. I couldn’t keep track of all the names, and I’ll confess that I have some notes attributed to <em>Dr. Jolly</em> who was a very friendly and kind-hearted Neonatologist; and I also may have had others attributed to <em>Dr. Doom</em>, the Neurologist.</p> <h4 id="questions-to-ask-doctors">Questions to ask doctors</h4> <p>You can ask anything you want but do remember that they’ll be managing your expectations. I read a lot into non-verbal cues because of that. I asked if the treatment was working as intended and if they were still following the proposed protocol for hypothermia. Later I’d ask about feeding schedules and vitals and refresh my notes on the results they would tell me.</p> <h1 id="is-everything-going-to-be-ok">Is everything going to be OK?</h1> <p>Hard to imagine it could be, isn’t it? I want to remind you right off the bat that you’re doing the one thing that has the best chance of improving the long-term health and wellness of your newborn. It’s hard to discern the percentages from the studies because the specifics of each case may be different — it’s hard to imagine a situation where two births are completely identical and there are too many factors that influence the outcome in any situation, much less a complicated birth like yours.</p> <p>It is also important to know that medical researchers and doctors rarely conduct tests like an MRI on routine births. I don’t know that cord blood ph is analyzed as a matter of course either unless the medical staff suspects there is an issue there, so if you go looking for raw data in medical trials and studies, be careful with comparing your situation to others if you don’t have the medical research background that can account for this sort of thing without being so close to it!</p> <p>Reading through all the data I would find myself soothed one moment and in a state of panic the next. One of the trials I was reading about was halted mid-way through, and when I followed that thread for a while to find out why, the study in question was stopped because the results they were getting were so positive that they had questions about the ethics in continuing to treat newborns any other way. When reading about outcomes at 3 months, and so on, one of the columns in the chart was <em>death</em>. After the initial shock of this wore off I chased down that dark alley to find that in all the cases from that study where the newborn died it was due to ending life support. I can’t imagine what that would be like, and any parent that has been told their newborn has suffered a <em>Severe</em> HIE will need more support and guidance than I can possibly provide.</p> <h2 id="possible-outcomes">Possible Outcomes</h2> <p>This is the rough stuff. The likely outcomes for your newborn include a perfectly routine typical childhood and adult life with no complications due to this incident. The other outcomes include learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, mental and cognitive impairments, and other disabilities.</p> <p>You should know right now that you won’t know definitively for a few years. This can easily escalate into over-analyzing every behavior or milestone. Calvin is a really laid-back kid, almost a year old at this point. He’s generally very agreeable and happy and pretty content compared to his older sister! There are times I wonder if his behavior and beginnings of his <em>personality</em> are symptoms or indications of something more sinister. I have to bat those distractions away or they’ll eat me alive, and it’s much more gratifying to love the little monkey and not wonder why he’s so happy to see me.</p> <hr /> <h1 id="todo">Todo:</h1> <h2 id="what-to-do-instead-of-totally-freaking-out">What to do instead of totally freaking out</h2> <ul> <li>Establish communications channels for family/friends/colleagues</li> <li>Maintain routines for other children in your household</li> <li>Make sure you are hydrated and resting</li> </ul> <h2 id="get-supported">Get Supported</h2> <p>Make sure emotionally you are supported and that your obligations and perceived obligations to others are addressed</p> <ul> <li>Accept help</li> <li>Contact colleagues and friends <ul> <li>Ask for stories about positive outcomes from scary births</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="free-your-mind-up-for-immediate-things">Free your mind up for immediate things</h3> <p>You’ve got a lot on your plate.</p> <h3 id="what-to-worry-about">What to worry about</h3> <p>tbd</p> <h3 id="what-to-not-worry-about">What to not worry about</h3> <p>tbd</p> <h2 id="warming">Warming</h2> <p>tbd</p> <h3 id="landmarks-for-warming-up">Landmarks for warming up</h3> <p>tbd</p> <h3 id="neurological-exams-and-mri">Neurological exams and MRI</h3> <p>tbd</p> <h4 id="big-grains-of-salt">Big grains of salt</h4> <p>tbd</p> <h6 id="follow-through">Follow-through</h6> <p>tbd</p> <hr /> <div class="footnotes"> <ol> <li id="fn:1"> <p>A condition arising when the body is deprived of oxygen, causing unconsciousness or death; suffocation. <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> <li id="fn:2"> <p><a href="http://apps.who.int/rhl/reviews/CD003311.pdf" title="Cooling for newborns with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (Review)">Cooling for newborns with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (Review) (PDF)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> </ol> </div> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/coolkids/index.html" rel="nofollow">So You've Got a Cool Kid</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> An in-progress field guide for parents that have their newborn undergoing hypothermia treatment due to an HIE or related event.Seconds2016-01-25T00:00:00-06:002016-01-25T00:00:00-06:00/post/seconds <h2 id="olneyville-providence-ri-2009">Olneyville, Providence, RI, 2009</h2> <h3 id="i-found-it-very-difficult-to-make-sense-of-the-situation-i-was-in">I found it very difficult to make sense of the situation I was in.</h3> <p>I was woken up by a strange noise. My brain, in a cold start on a hot summer night, took a few moments to understand what was happening. The screen from our bedroom window was on the floor. There were unfamiliar noises coming from the living room.</p> <p>I tried to breathe and listen to the darkness, slowly and quietly, while opening the bedside vault. I dialed <code class="highlighter-rouge">911</code> on my phone, hit <code class="highlighter-rouge">Send</code>, and padded my way toward the living room as quietly as I could, making my way down the hallway toward what I hoped was a wild animal or even an intoxicated neighbor needing to be reoriented.</p> <p>Our loft apartment in Olneyville was on the ground floor, and had beautiful large windows that opened horizontally, like the flaps on an airplane wing. Our home had polished concrete floors and the highest ceilings I’ve ever seen. That night, my voice seemed impossibly loud in spite of my efforts, and echoed across the ceiling as I aimed my Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol at the head of the silhouette fumbling with my windows.</p> <p>It was a misshapen and ghoulish shadow irregularly lit by passing cars and hidden by window-blinds. It froze for what seemed like an eternity when I calmly chambered a round<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote">1</a></sup> and announced my intention to shoot the back of its head out into the courtyard if it set one foot inside my home.</p> <h3 id="i-had-been-told-often-enough-that-when-seconds-count-the-police-are-mere-minutes-away">I had been told often enough that when seconds count, the Police are mere minutes away.</h3> <p>My phone call to <code class="highlighter-rouge">911</code> was instantly handed off to an area dispatch unit based on my calling area. I hadn’t actually said much to the operator up to this point, but I wanted them to be able to hear what was happening. I had set the phone down next to me on my cat’s carpeted tower behind the sofa, and I heard dispatch reacting to my revelation that I was armed and threatening force. This was a significant piece of information for the Providence Police. The man on the phone sounded suddenly frantic, like this wasn’t something he had ever encountered before. I imagined him flipping pages in a procedure guide, trying to find the right thing to say to me.</p> <p>So there I was. The portrayal of the rugged, noble, freedom-loving libertarian protecting his homestead is usually more inspiring than the reality of me, standing in my living room in a t-shirt and underwear. The <code class="highlighter-rouge">911</code> dispatcher repeating “sir? sir?” into the empty room and me aiming a pistol, ready to fire. It was at that moment that I had a sudden resentment for the entire situation from an unexpected part of my mind–I wasn’t upset about the person breaking into my apartment, I was angry with the <strong><em>middle-of-the-fucking-night immediate decision forced on me:</em></strong> I may kill someone, on purpose.</p> <p>Will I be able to look them in the eye? Their family? Is this the right thing to do? Are they even armed? How many people are out there? It was something I always thought I would have time to think about, or would be able to ascertain easily in the moment. It was certainly not something that I ever thought I’d need to figure out in seconds and live with before the sun comes up.</p> <h3 id="over-the-years-ive-been-told-to-always-that-the-best-response-was-to-quickly-react-to-protect-myself-my-family">Over the years I’ve been told to always that the best response was to quickly react to protect myself, my family.</h3> <p>I’ve been told that I have the right to use deadly force to protect myself and my household from violence, and that it’s <em>“better to be judged by twelve than carried by six,”</em> and that anyone who shoots an intruder is <em>doing the world a favor</em> by ending a life that would never be missed. <strong><em>I also heard, and believe, that opting not to shoot the intruder increases the odds of myself or a member of my household being shot with my own weapon.</em></strong></p> <p>I’d already announced that I would shoot, <em>but I started to negotiate with myself</em>. I decided if they came into the apartment, and clearly saw me aiming a gun at them and didn’t move, I’d hold them at gunpoint until the police arrived. If they saw I was armed and talking to the police, and they made a move toward me, I would feel confident pulling the trigger. I even drew an imaginary line through the 12-foot square of our loft we had designated <em>The Dining Room</em>.</p> <p>The other thing I had to think about was what was behind the intruder. There was a courtyard with a high wall and a locking gate, which they must have climbed over to get here. Across the way were offices that weren’t very likely to have people in them at this hour, so in the unlikely event that I missed my target–at thirty feet with no distractions and my marksmanship this wasn’t likely a problem–the chance of injuring someone else in the path was minimal. <strong>It was one of the best possible scenarios for using deadly force: a clear path beyond the target, a short distance, and on my home turf if something went wrong.</strong> Police dispatch was eavesdropping and recording my call for my upcoming trial for manslaughter or attempted murder or perhaps the civil suit brought against me by my intruder’s family in their grief, the sad tragedy of their family member being shot by a trigger-happy cowboy being too much to bear without some compensation or punishment beyond what I knew I would carry with me for the rest of my life on this planet.</p> <p><em>So I was angry.</em> I was <strong><em>angry</em></strong> that I had these absurd anxious thoughts, <em>these imaginary lines and limits</em> on how far I would be pushed in my own home before I felt justified to kill someone. <strong>That I was calculating the chances of a missed shot ricocheting off the brick and landing in someone’s head upstairs.</strong> I was <em>angry</em> that I was glad they were still outside the apartment and not standing in my living room, where a missed shot would penetrate the wall behind them and risk cruising into the head or heart of one of the nice neighbors on my floor, who were not nearly as annoying as the argumentative angry-sexing alcoholics upstairs.</p> <h3 id="finally-time-snapped-back-into-place">Finally time snapped back into place.</h3> <p>The intruding shadow’s limbs pulled back from the window, and I thought I heard them run off. I assumed they scaled the wall and ran down the street or into an alley, but I didn’t want to risk sticking my head out the window to get hit with a tire iron. I picked up the phone again, promptly described myself to the dispatcher. I ejected the magazine from my pistol and cleared the chamber as I had done countless times before at a firing range. I had successfully rendered the simple machine impotent.</p> <p>The sound of silence in the room loudly broke with the sound of one round of Gold Dot 9mm hollow point spinning like a lazy quarter, rolling away from my bare feet on the polished floor.</p> <p>I was <strong><em>relieved</em></strong>. Not that it was over, and not that the police would soon be there–I was relieved that I didn’t shoot someone. And I was truly ashamed that I’d thought I was ready to do precisely that before being in this situation, because I was naive and didn’t expect it to be so complicated.</p> <p>Years later I still don’t know if I’m any more prepared for it, and I don’t believe it’s something I can ever know unless I am in that tragic situation again. The circumstances would be different, so there is no way to have a consistent frame of reference or perspective and all of my attempts to do so are exercises in futility.</p> <h3 id="i-woke-my-wife">I woke my wife</h3> <p>I had let my wife<sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote">2</a></sup> sleep through this entire ordeal. She didn’t wake in the beginning and she was in the safest room in our home: the most removed and near an emergency exit. In hindsight it was still the best decision to make because if things had gone differently, I wouldn’t have wanted her to see it and relive it the way I would have to. Part of me is afraid that she’d never be able to look at me the same way again if she witnessed me kill another human being while standing in my underwear like Tony Soprano walking down the driveway to pick up the morning newspaper.</p> <h3 id="the-police-arrived">The police arrived.</h3> <p>They were professional, courteous, and thorough. They had a suspect in mind but I couldn’t provide an identification so I wasn’t much help. They dusted the windowsills for prints the following day, after it rained. I have no idea if they ever apprehended a suspect or if they’re still popping out windows all over Olneyville. The suspect allegedly climbed into a business through a chimney and robbed the joint, which indicated to me that they believed my intruder was a teenager.</p> <h3 id="seconds">Seconds</h3> <p>I believe the Second Amendment was written to ensure states or cities would be permitted to maintain a trained militia. I don’t believe it was written to ensure random citizens could stockpile weapons. <strong>I don’t believe the Second Amendment is immutable and I believe that even if the intent of the authors of that document was to allow any random citizen to stockpile weapons that the vast majority of citizens have no interest in owning weapons and that we are likely in precisely the situation they would have wanted to avoid:</strong> a select minority of armed n’er-do-wells living with a defenseless populace. We aren’t Switzerland; we have no compulsory training and mandate to maintain our well-regulated militia. We aren’t even a nation like Israel with mandatory military service.</p> <p>We are instead a nation of disinterested voters, content to let loud-mouthed and scared self-appointed mercenaries of freedom dictate how to best protect the country’s interests and promote the general welfare. By the numbers, Americans don’t support the NRA’s refusal to engage in anything that could possibly alter consumer access to guns, yet we don’t act on that and remove their politicians they financially support out of office. Our unwillingness or inability to tell them they’re not acting on our behalf only further fuels their suspicion that liberty hinges on the stooped shoulders of their customers as our nation’s last line of defense against whatever tyranny they’ve bravely been fighting on your behalf.<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote">3</a></sup></p> <p>I am unwilling to put myself and my own ideology first if it is in opposition to protecting my country. I also believe the status quo is completely unacceptable and I firmly believe that the firearm lobby has been holding a gun to the head of every member of Congress and successfully rebranded their marketing materials as patriotism. It is a travesty, truly, that their hostage-taking is essentially unchallenged, and that even while a considerable number of their own membership is advocating for stricter controls on access to guns they set their crosshairs on opposition candidates and make their rebranded patriotism the sole issue, execute another prisoner, and then have the audacity to demand Americans pay even more.</p> <p>I still own a firearm. I think I’m like most gun owners in this country and that my care and conscience are not unusual. I think it’s well past time for all of us to stop watching this circle the drain into absurdity day after day and start acting like we are part of a society that looks out for each other.</p> <p>Expecting more from ourselves and each other may mean we have to go through a more rigorous screening process for purchases. It may mean allowing research into gun violence with public money and it may mean a few gun dealers that cannot comply with conducting background checks and keeping proper documentation go out of business. It may mean that a lobbying organization can no longer sustain itself in the face of a public that doesn’t want their product without their constant drum banging.</p> <p>If all those things come to pass, I still don’t see the problem. We’d be doing the world a favor.</p> <hr /> <div class="footnotes"> <ol> <li id="fn:1"> <p>Leaving me with seven more chances. <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> <li id="fn:3"> <p>No longer my wife, as of January 17, 2018. <a href="#fnref:3" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> <li id="fn:2"> <p>Recent news dictates this may be health insurance, federal land grazing laws, or women. <a href="#fnref:2" class="reversefootnote">↩</a></p> </li> </ol> </div> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/post/seconds/" rel="nofollow">Seconds</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> The portrayal of the rugged, noble, freedom-loving libertarian protecting his homestead is usually more inspiring than the reality of me, standing in my living room in a t-shirt and underwear.Weep Not for the Detached Garage2016-01-07T00:00:00-06:002016-01-07T00:00:00-06:00/post/weep-not <p>Sometimes I see a look of disappointment when someone notices the detached garage at my family’s new home.</p> <p>What they undoubtedly are unaware of is that ever since I was a young man in Junior High, the unexpected whir of a garage door opening has about a 70% chance of inducing a panic attack that requires an exercise of meditation and rapidly talking myself down, or swalling benzos, to remove the onset of anxiety that can end up knocking the wind out of me.</p> <p>The short version is that there was a high probability that the garage door rolling up beneath my feet meant that my mother’s husband had come home. Anyone in the house at that moment would noticeably bristle and prepare themselves. And now, 20 years later, that feeling of dread and waves of stress from anxiously analyzing the long list of things he could be angry about echos in my emotional muscle memory. His arrival could result in anything from being grounded for a week to far more dire consequences for myself or my mother because of something I didn’t do to his satisfaction as <em>Lord Dickbag, Knight of the Lazyboy.</em></p> <p>It has always tweaked my spouse that I wanted to know when I should expect her home. It tweaked me, too, and slowly I began putting it together that my brain vastly prefers looking forward to the whir and grind of a garage door, rather than having it spontaneously lurch to life.</p> <p>G-d bless the souls of the architects and builders of my home; the design decisions they made are not only aeshetically appreciated, but they will give me time to heal through those wounds without a constant and grinding reminder of something I once feared. My new home is safe and filled with love. That detached garage ensures that I will never have that association of their arrival with tension and anxiety by distant proxy. I hear nothing but footsteps and laughter and I know I am reunited with the people I love.</p> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/post/weep-not/" rel="nofollow">Weep Not for the Detached Garage</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> Sometimes I see a look of disappointment when someone notices the detached garage at my family’s new home.Calvin Sawyer’s Birth Announcement2015-10-08T00:00:00-05:002015-10-08T00:00:00-05:00/post/calvin-is-cool <h1 id="whew">Whew</h1> <p>Our son Calvin was born on July 27, 2015. We had some serious complications with mother and baby and in the period of Liz going into labor and in the midst of all this I had essentially been completely off the grid for the most part and prepared a little announcement for my colleagues and friends to illustrate the situation and give as much information as I could at the time.</p> <p>You can view the <a href="https://slate.adobe.com/a/aeZxO/">prepared-on-my-iPad-in-Adobe-Slate announcement</a> and I have sworn a solemn oath to prepare a brief series of articles for other parents that find themselves in the midst of a similar birth because when it comes to HIE and hypothermia treatment, there is a lot of information written for scientists but not a lot for parents! I have been working on a few drafts time permitting and hope to start publishing them soon. Having this notice up here will hopefully encourage me to ensure I get it published sooner rather than later.</p> <h2 id="current-mood-cautiously-optimistic">Current Mood: Cautiously Optimistic</h2> <p>We don’t have all the answers yet on what to expect, but we are very encouraged by Calvin’s development and personality. Subsequent check-ups with neurologists and doctors will gradually reveal more and more and it’s hard to not agonize over every little thing we observe or worry about as signs we need to interpret or should find medically interesting. There are a lot of things to be really encouraged by and positive about, so we try to focus on all of those things and snuggle the little fox maybe a little extra hard. Prudence loves being a big sister, which is always a source of delight.</p> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/post/calvin-is-cool/" rel="nofollow">Calvin Sawyer's Birth Announcement</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> The announcement I sent to colleagues, and a promise made for other parents of children undergoing hypothermia treatment.Bags for Bags2015-06-07T00:00:00-05:002015-06-07T00:00:00-05:00/post/bags-for-bags <aside class="sidebar__right"> <nav class="toc"> <header><h4 class="nav__title"><i class="fa fa-file-text"></i> On This Page</h4></header> <ul class="toc__menu" id="markdown-toc"> <li><a href="#odds-and-ends" id="markdown-toc-odds-and-ends">Odds and Ends</a> <ul> <li><a href="#pouches" id="markdown-toc-pouches">Pouches</a> <ul> <li><a href="#waterfield-designs" id="markdown-toc-waterfield-designs">WaterField Designs</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#dry-bags--stuff-sacks" id="markdown-toc-dry-bags--stuff-sacks">Dry Bags & Stuff Sacks</a></li> <li><a href="#other-carry" id="markdown-toc-other-carry">Other Carry</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav> </aside> <p>While writing about the Chrome Barrage recently, I mentioned having pouches for odds and ends is very helpful so that you can find what you’re looking for in an expansive damn-near-bottomless bag.</p> <h1 id="odds-and-ends">Odds and Ends</h1> <p>Many messenger bags are designed to provide one huge space for things you carry and maybe some smaller organization pockets here and there, but it’s almost impossible to find one that offers either enough organization without assistance and when you can do it better there isn’t that much of a need for it. Sometimes you find satisfaction in changed expectations.</p> <h2 id="pouches">Pouches</h2> <h3 id="waterfield-designs">WaterField Designs</h3> <p>WaterField makes the very finest laptop sleeve cases and they also make great pouches for carrying just about anything in your bags. That’s why they’re getting their own section in this list.</p> <div id="content" class="page-content"> <figure class="half"> <a class="image-popup-vertical-fit" href="/assets/images/c/carry-waterfield-cableguy.jpg" title="Waterfield Ballstic (old version) Cable Guy"> <img src="/assets/images/c/carry-waterfield-cableguy.jpg" alt="Waterfield Ballistic (old version) Cable Guy" /></a> <a class="image-popup-vertical-fit" href="/assets/images/c/carry-waterfield-gear-pouch-630x350.jpg" title="Waterfield Ballistic Gear Pouch (Old Version)"> <img src="/assets/images/c/carry-waterfield-gear-pouch-630x350.jpg" alt="Waterfield Ballistic Gear Pouch (Old Version)" /></a> <figcaption>Waterfield's pouches.</figcaption> </figure> </div> <ul> <li>One small <a href="http://www.sfbags.com/products/gearpouch/gearpouch.htm">Gear Pouch</a> <ul> <li><em>Pens, pencils, pillbox, lip balm and tissues</em></li> </ul> </li> <li>One medium <a href="http://www.sfbags.com/products/gearpouch/gearpouch.htm">Gear Pouch</a> <ul> <li><em>Dental floss, bandages, a small roller of my custom-blended cologne, anti-bacterial towelettes, batteries, over-the-counter medicines</em></li> </ul> </li> <li>One small <a href="http://www.sfbags.com/products/ipodpouch/ipodgearpouch.htm">iPod Gear Pouch</a> <ul> <li><em>iPod Classic with a lot of music, podcasts, some favorite episodes of my favorite TV shows, a couple of movies, and every single episode of Shaun the Sheep ever made</em></li> <li><em>Folding on-ear headphones, wrapped-up in-ear headphones that I find awkward and painful for extended use</em></li> </ul> </li> <li>One medium <a href="http://www.sfbags.com/products/cableguy/cableguy.htm">Cableguy</a> <ul> <li><em>Camera shutter release cable</em></li> <li><em>A/V connection kit for Dock Connector devices like my iPad and iPod</em></li> <li><em>Small multi-tool, set of lockpicks</em></li> <li><em>Retractable USB Extension with USB, Micro, Mini USB adapters</em></li> <li><em>Lightning-to-DockConnector gizmo</em></li> <li><em>Dock Connector SD card reader to get photos to my iPad</em></li> <li><em>a Square for accepting monies on my iPhone or iPad</em></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h2 id="dry-bags--stuff-sacks">Dry Bags & Stuff Sacks</h2> <p>Something wet and you don’t want to get other things wet? Something dry and you want to keep it that way? Packing for a weekend trip and want to stuff as much as possible into as little space as possible? I have a couple of these I use pretty often for just such occasions.</p> <ul> <li>Cascade Designs <a href="http://www.cascadedesigns.com/e-case/eseries/eseries-13/product">eSeries 13</a> SealLock™ pouch <ul> <li><em>Postage stamps & postcards</em></li> <li><em>Scraps of paper, notes, 3x5 cards</em></li> <li><em>my Comment Cards, Apology Notes and other stationary</em></li> <li><em>sometimes my Midori Traveler's Notebook (Passport size)</em></li> <li><em>can keep my iPhone safe from harm should the need arise</em></li> </ul> </li> <li>Sea to Summit <a href="http://www.seatosummit.com/products/display/170">Ultra-sil Drybag (small)</a> <ul> <li><em>Smaller drybag, rolls up very compact, into a buckle that you can use as a handle. I keep my camera's Gariz felt bag inside of it when I'm on a boat.</em></li> </ul> </li> <li>Sea to Summit <a href="http://www.seatosummit.com/products/display/35">Stuff Sack</a> <ul> <li><em>Diapering supplies and a spare set of clothes for my daughter most of the time, with plenty of room to spare. I fold it over itself and shove it into the bottom of my bag and find ways to use it as a bumper or pad for my back in some cases.</em></li> <li><em>I can fit nearly three days of clothing for myself in there if I'm careful about it.</em></li> </ul> </li> <li>When I am going swimming and don't want my clothes or towel to get funky, I have a Sea to Summit <a href="http://www.rei.com/product/830046/sea-to-summit-ultra-mesh-stuff-sack">mesh stuff sack</a> that works great.</li> </ul> <h2 id="other-carry">Other Carry</h2> <ul> <li>In a rare moment of frugality I keep my iPad in a bubbled mailing envelope made by 3M that I bought at CVS for a dollar or something. A little roomy but works well.</li> <li><a href="http://www.cocooninnovations.com/grid.php">Cocoon Grid-It</a> <ul> <li><em>I don't use this very often at all because it isn't as useful as you'd think it would be. The irregular things it's perfect for are better kept in a pouch in my experience. It also weighs more than it should, and you run out of usable room quickly. I don't recommend it at all.</em></li> </ul> </li> <li>When I am going swimming and don't want my clothes or towel to get funky, I have a <a href="http://www.rei.com/product/830046/sea-to-summit-ultra-mesh-stuff-sack">mesh stuff sack</a> that works great.</li> </ul> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/post/bags-for-bags/" rel="nofollow">Bags for Bags</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> Pouches, bags, sacks, and other nested carry.Zenok Leather Notebook Cover2015-05-10T00:00:00-05:002015-10-01T00:00:00-05:00/post/zenok-leather-notebook-cover <p>I like being able to write notes in a small notebook, but I like to use different notebooks for different things, and yet I want them all close together for reference. Small paper notebooks from Moleskine and Field Notes aren’t exactly built for durability, so now what?</p> <p>I’ve tried several options, even went into the smaller passport-sized <a href="http://www.midori-japan.co.jp/tr/english/about.html">Midori</a> for a while which was nice but I didn’t like having to stick to Midori-sized notebooks because they’re not common in my area. The full-size Midori is really a beautiful notebook and the format of the notebooks is awesome. They have a loyal fan base and I totally understand why, but at the same time I don’t have the same reliance on a notebook that the devotees have and I like being able to carry in a jacket or back pocket.</p> <p>In between those two sizes are the almost 3x5 inch options like the Moleskine Cahier notebooks, and those are readily available and also have paper I like to write on, so that format seems to make more sense for me. The problem still remained though, where these pocket notebooks aren’t easily organized on the go, and I’ve been searching around on Etsy and elsewhere for options and have tried a couple before my recent find, which was something that caught my eye and didn’t cost a lot either, from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/zenokleather">Zenok Leather</a>.</p> <div id="content" class="page-content"> <figure> <a class="image-popup-vertical-fit" href="/assets/images/images/post/2015-05-etsy-cover/03-closed-fast.jpg" title="Zenok Leather"> <img src="/assets/images/post/2015-05-etsy-cover/03-closed-fast.jpg" alt="" /></a> <figcaption>Zenok Leather</figcaption> </figure> </div> <p><a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/zenokleather">Zenok Leather</a> makes several notebook covers, mine is very simple with minimal flair which means it’s thin, flexible, and has guide cords for holding 4 notebooks, but anyone that has used notebooks like this also knows you can get a little creative and find ways to attach more. I’ve also tossed in my Midori’s sleeve organizer which has a ziplock-style enclosure and a pocket for business cards. The leather feels excellent, the color options are great and so far the dye has been true and hasn’t bled or leeched onto the notebooks, which was a complaint I had with the last cover I tried.</p> <p>I love having a way to keep the notebook from flopping open and this cover has a great design with small indentations in the cover that permit the stretch-cord and bumper to get a snug fit. A simple but elegant way to keep things from sliding around too much and no fussing with an extra-long strap that requires knowledge of macramé or a merit badge.</p> <p>I don’t often go for a monogram but it was included with my purchase so figured a little personalization was an indulgance I’d allow myself.</p> <div id="content" class="page-content"> <figure> <a class="image-popup-vertical-fit" href="/assets/images/post/2015-05-etsy-cover/01-opened-sq.jpg" title="Zenok Cover - Opened Up"> <img src="/assets/images/post/2015-05-etsy-cover/01-opened-sq.jpg" alt="Zenok Cover - Opened Up" /></a> <figcaption>Zenok Cover - Opened Up</figcaption> </figure> </div> <p>Without a clip you can’t reliably keep any notebook like this open to a page while lying flat, but I do like that the cover itself doesn’t get in the way of these things. Usually I end up either taking a snapshot with my phone or scanning the paper when I need to refer back to something and want to be able to find it reliably. I flag places of interest with little stickers but more often than not I use paper as a way to think rather than a place to keep things I want to work on — I’m just too paranoid about losing or damaging paper and I find it hard to reference unless I have fewer than half a dozen things to keep track of.</p> <p>I sketch, make lists, and really find it is a great way to prime the brain pump and get things moving. There is a lot to be said for the psychology of paper and the way our brain often treats the act of writing and drawing on something you can handle, I guess ultimately what I’m getting at is that I am hopeful that I’m able to get many of those benefits without the maintainance and upkeep to ensure it’s effective. Regardless, I find it pleasurable, and that’s usually all the reason I need for anything.</p> <div id="content" class="page-content"> <figure> <a class="image-popup-vertical-fit" href="/assets/images/post/2015-05-etsy-cover/02-paper-p.jpg" title="A thank-you on hand-made paper."> <img src="/assets/images/post/2015-05-etsy-cover/02-paper-p.jpg" alt="A thank-you on hand-made paper." /></a> <figcaption>A thank-you on hand-made paper.</figcaption> </figure> </div> <p>Whenever I buy something and get a hand-written note, it endears me to the seller forever. The fact that this was on hand-made paper that my daughter claimed as her own didn’t hurt either. I’ve already made a note to investigate making some for ourselves for crafting at home, so that’s yet another reason to be delighted.</p> <p>I’ve made quite a few small purchases like this on Etsy and I’ve been impressed with all of them, but this one just just felt like I should share it with the world because it scratched the itch so well.</p> <p>My specific cover is called the <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/229514608/midori-passport-size-cahier-pocket-size">Midori Passport Size Cahier Pocket Size</a> and you can select Midori Passport or Cahier/Field Notes from that listing to suit your desired notebooks. There is a version that also includes a place to put some cards in the cover and I don’t know if that changes the profile of the cover enough that it would feel too bulky — it looks to me like it would be acceptable for me but wasn’t something I felt like I needed anyway. For me having pockets and folds is usually just going to ensure I fill it with crap I don’t need anyway!</p> <p>Thanks for finding this interesting enough to reach the bottom. This may mean you’re similarly struggling to find the right way to carry your notes with you — if you haven’t been considering the hand-made route from an Etsy seller, there are a lot of great options waiting for you and I bet you’ll be struggling to pick one for yourself soon.</p> <p><a href="https://incumbent.org/post/zenok-leather-notebook-cover/" rel="nofollow">Zenok Leather Notebook Cover</a> was originally published by <a href="https://incumbent.org/about/" rel="nofollow"></a> on <a href="https://incumbent.org" rel="nofollow">incumbent</a></p> The search for a notebook cover has lead me to Zenok Leather on Etsy.