rants and ramblings of utter randomness

I've probably done this before--at least I started to, don't know if I finished it. Anyway, here 'tis:

15 books meme:

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

I'm counting a series as a book if it's all one story.


1. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
2. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.
3. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.
4. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen.
5. Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy.
6. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
7. Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values by Michael Adams.
8. The Stand by Stephen King.
9. The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub.
10.The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
11.Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven.
12.American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
13.His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.
14.The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper.
15.The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin.

I left out a LOT, because dude. Only fifteen books?

kukupello (and others on my flist from Finland) might be interested to know that as of 1997, Finland has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world, with 3.9 out of 1000 infant deaths in the first year of life.

The others in the top five are:

2.Singapore (4.0)
3. Japan (4.0)
4.Sweden(4.2)
5.Switzerland (5.0)



mr_t00by, you might want to tell your friends in Munich that Germany ranks ninth with 5.1 out of 1000.

Anyone want to guess where the UK, Canada and the US are on the list?
( Click here after you guess )

More stats:

The infant mortality rate for black infants was twice that for white infants from 1998-2000. Poverty and lower levels of education are cited here as a couple of reasons, but I don't see a citation of source for that info.

Hispanic infants have a lower IMR than whites. It's speculated by some that this is due to the fact that Hispanic women are more likely to use midwives (in Texas in 1986, when midwives attended 5,832 births for mostly Hispanic women, the IMR for the midwives was 3.6 per 1000, compared to the doctor's rate of 9 (Stats from ALACE CBE training manual, quoted from Friends of Homebirth Newsletter).


I'm getting SO much information out of this course, and I'm just finishing the reading on the first module.


Oh, and book rec for anyone who either is or whose partner or loved one is thinking about becoming pregnant, is pregnant, or is either a birth professional or might like to be one. Also for anyone, anyone at all who doesn't think that birth is a feminist issue (and a lot of those who dont, surprisingly are women!.

Birth As an American Rite of Passage by Robbie Davis-Floyd

I read parts of the first edition of this book back when I was first starting to investigate All Things Midwife (for a profession, not for myself). I actually didn't read much of it, although it was sitting on my shelf for years. Now I have to buy it again, because I no longer have it, and just reading one part of it that's reprinted in my training manual makes me want to start reading it again right this second (it should be here tomorrow or Thursday at the least). Fortunately, it's one of my required reading books for the course. The books on this list sound so very good, I don't think it's going to be a chore at all to read them. Elizabeth says that what I'm learning with ALACE should dovetail quite nicely with her midwifery course. Speaking of which, I should be able to send off the deposit for THAT programme tomorrow!

Things are going well. Except for not being packed, not having clean clothes, not having pre-trip shopping done yet, not having a set schedule for Mary and Caleb to (alternately) feed my cats/fish. I'm gonna have to force myself to do most of that tomorrow. Ah, my dear friend Procrastination, I can always count on you!