fear

Apparently, last Friday night FBI agents visited several synagogues and told people to lock their doors during services. I am curious whether they also visited mosques and churches during worship services. I haven't heard of this happening at synagogues Saturday morning, by the way, and for many congregations that would be the larger gathering.

It reminds me of last September. As the high holy days and the anniversary of 9/11 both approached, a few people asked me how I could possibly consider going to services and being a target. Excuse me while I decline to panic. If we refuse to go on with our lives and do the things that are important, which for me include worshipping in my community, then the terrorists and fear-mongers will have won. And if a synagogue has ushers who greet people as they come in, I personally think that's a better compromise than locking the doors. There is a continuum from "reckless" to "paranoid", and the correct point is somewhere in the middle.

And while we're talking about extreme responses to fear... the folks at FEMA have apparently suggested that Americans stock up on plastic sheeting and duct tape, so we can seal ourselves into our houses in the event of a chemical attack. Here's a wonderful response (link provided by chite).

kitty update

I talked to the vet Monday about Erik's calcium problem (if in fact he has one). The urine analysis came back basically normal, though calcium levels were slightly elevated there too, meaning there could be a kidney problem. ("Some crystalization" is how she described it -- but not as much as she expected, she said.) The next thing to check, she says, involves another blood test, to look specifically for (consults notes) "calcium oxylate". If that comes back abnormal, then he probably has a hyper-parathyroid condition and that's treatable with drugs. If that comes back normal, then there's a possible kidney problem and a different (more expensive) test to investigate.

I asked if we could just jump to the more expensive, conclusive test and be done, but that wouldn't tell us if there's a parathyroid problem and it wouldn't be good to ignore that if he does have a problem. Oh well.

The vet is also suspicious that it might turn out that Erik just has high calcium levels and nothing's really wrong. She bases this suspicion on the fact that two years ago (first data we have) his blood-calcium level was 12.8 (something) and this time it was 13.1 -- a slight rise, but not a big one and he hasn't been sick in the meantime. (Except, I pointed out, he's been losing weight. And the cats I know who have had kidney failure have also lost significant weight. But she's not convinced that's relevant here.) Normal blood-calcium level is 8.2 to 10.8, she said.

I feel confident that the vet is doing her best to try to explain things to me, and that she's showing more concern than I'm used to from vets, but I still feel like I'm not completely getting this. I think I need to spend more time with Veterinary Partner, but I also need to ask her to write down the names of the tests she's doing and the measures she's looking for.

I have an appointment for Monday evening for her to draw more blood. (I asked if she could draw enough for both tests and set some of it aside, rather than making me come in again if we don't like the results of the first test, but she doesn't know if blood can be held that long.)

short takes

Yesterday's mail brought a lovely magnet from browngirl based on the Kipling poem "Helen All Alone", which I had not previously read. Good call and beautiful art!

We're playing D&D this Saturday, which means we can have a longer session than when we play on a weeknight. I'm looking forward to it.

And now a few links:

A really interesting article on how to interview candidates for software jobs (link provided by goljerp).

Buy T-shirts and more from the Total Information Awareness store! This is the Orwellian logo they don't use any more. (Link provided by a co-worker.)

Everyday etiquette hell (source forgotten). Put the Coke down first. Really. Either that, or plan to clean your monitor.