My Pontification » Musings

87% polled say birth control pill causes side effects

Dustmite — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:36:06 +0000

Holly Grigg-Spall has a poll on her blog,”Sweetening The Pill“, which asks “Have you experienced negative side effects from the birth control pill?”. I realize this poll is not scientific and may be somewhat skewed by the the nature of her blog, but based on the warning labels and the mounting bad press lately I am going to guess this poll would show similar results if done more scientifically.

At the time of this post, 126 people have voted with only 16 (12%) saying they have never experienced a negative side effect. That means that 110 women (87%) HAVE experienced at least one negative side effect.

If I tried to sell you a car and I told you there was only a 12% chance that you wouldn’t have any problems, would you buy it? Would you move into a neighborhood where you only had a 12% chance of being safe? If a doctor recommended you take vitamins to help promote a healthy active lifestyle and told you there shouldn’t be any problems even though the warning label said you only had a 12% chance of NOT suffering from a side effect, would you trust the doctors advice?

Two of the most common side effects are feeling bloated and a lack of desire for sex. Think about it, the pill which is supposed to unnaturally give you the freedom to have sex when ever you want to without fear that your body will act naturally might make you feel bloated and uninterested in sex.

The average woman’s body is only fertile for roughly a week out of each month and will provide the woman with multiple indicators announcing her fertility. And yet evidently the need or desire to have sex during a woman’s fertile week without a 100% guarantee their body won’t respond as it was designed to, causes most women to gamble they will be part of the 12% group and not the 87%. Either that or the danger and likely hood of even the most basic side effects let alone the life threatening ones have been down played to them. Could it be a little of both?

Contraception: Why Not? (part 15) This post is part of a series by Professor Janet...
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My New Year’s Resolution

Dustmite — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:06:30 +0000

I realize I am 7 days late, but these things take time. I decided that the reason so many people fail miserably at their resolutions is not because they make them, but because they set the goal way to high.

Therefore I have decided to make a simple resolution. I am still setting a goal, but I want it to be a realistic goal that is achievable. After all, the most important thing is that I feel good about myself and my progress throughout the 2010 year.

So after evaluating the things that I could improve on, I have picked just one thing to focus on. As a result, I hereby pledge to make at least one blog post over the course of this year (2010). So if you are reading this post, I have reached my goal. I can now feel good about myself and call it a year.

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Life without computers

Dustmite — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:53:20 +0000

Ever wonder what life would be like without your computer? Maybe you’ve been thinking you spend way too much time on the computer and you should cut back a bit. Well you’re not the only one. Matter of fact, I found someone who is willing to do something about it. Meet Jennifer over at CONVERSION DIARY. You can read about her decision to give up her computer for an entire week by reading her post “A week without noise“.

Personally I don’t think I could do it. I have come close but over all I still think life “flows through” the computer so I would be afraid of dying if I didn’t have my computer.

When her week of no usage is over, I would like to know from Jennifer if her cell phone usage “fluctuated” during this week?

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Contraception: Why Not? (part 16)

Dustmite — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:00:36 +0000

This post is part of a series by Professor Janet E. Smith.

Slide: Monkeys and Contraception

There is an amazing study reported from a book by a man named Lionel Tiger. Lionel Tiger is an anthropologist from Rutgers University who studies animal behavior to explain human behavior. He works with a colleague named Robin Fox, who also is an anthropologist who studies animal behavior to explain human behavior. In the 1960’s, as he saw contraception becoming more and more popular, he speculated that male/female relationships would change radically. He did a study in the early ‘70’s that involved a tribe of monkeys. The alpha monkey of this tribe, named Austin, chose three female monkeys to be his exclusive sexual partners. Austin had a grand time with these three female monkeys. Then the researchers injected Austin’s three females with the contraceptive Depo-Provera. Austin stopped having sex with them and chose other female monkeys to be his sexual partners. Then they contracepted all of the females in the tribe. The males stopped having sex with the females and started behaving in a turbulent and confused manner.

Male monkeys at least evidently prefer intercourse with fertile females. Studies also show that males – human males — produce more testosterone when they are around women who have fertile cycles. In fact, men are more attracted to women when they are fertile and women are more attracted to men when the women are fertile.

Once when I mentioned this at a talk in Kansas, a man came up to me and said, “In Kansas, we don’t need studies to show that males are more interested in females when they’re fertile.” He said everyone in Kansas grows up on a farm and we know that when a bull is in a pen with a cow who is not fertile, he is not at all interested. But if the bull is in a barn a mile away with metal fences in between, the bull will get to the cow when she is fertile.

Tiger speculates that one of the reasons that women are dressing so immodestly is because they’re not attracting men because of their fertility. They have to act as though they will do bizarre things in order to attract a male. They aren’t attracting them simply by their fertility since they are not having fertile cycles.

Tiger also reports on a study involving tee shirts. The study included two groups of human females, one contracepting, one not contracepting. It also involved a group of males who had been rated for their evolutionary desirability. Men who are evolutionarily desirable are healthy and aggressive and responsible; the other group included those who can’t hold a job, etc. These men all wore a tee shirt for a day. At the end of the day the women smelled the tee shirts. Without meeting the males the non contracepting women chose the evolutionarily desirable males as potentially attractive mates; the contracepting women chose the losers.

Mothers have approached me after my talk and said, “That explains a lot. It explains why my daughter is stuck with that loser.” Other women say, “Now I understand why my son, who is such a marvelous young man, seems to be having trouble finding good young women.”

Slide: Contraceptive may kill libido

Here we have an article that says contraception may kill libido. As mentioned, one of the side effects of contraceptives is that it reduces a woman’s sex drive. Testosterone is also the source of a female’s sexual drive and women who are using chemical contraceptives do not produce as much testosterone as when they are not contracepting.

Here we read that:

When women on the Pill were tested, levels of a chemical that wipes out testosterone were found to be seven times higher than in those who had never taken it.
Most worryingly, even those who were not on the Pill, but had taken it in the past, had levels up to four times higher than those who had never used it.
Past studies had suggested taking the Pill could dampen a woman’s sexual desire, but that if she came off it, her libido would return within a month.
Dr Goldstein, former director of the Institute for Sexual Medicine at Boston University, Massachusetts, said that while his research seemed to suggest the effects could be permanent, more investigations were needed.

The website NBC10.com has featured a video that reported this information that the Pill reduces a woman’s sex drive. So, of course, the solution to this problem was what? Give women shots of testosterone. Don’t take them off the Pill: give them shots of testosterone. What a great idea!

Contraception: Why Not? (part 15) This post is part of a series by Professor Janet...
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Would you buy a harp album?

Dustmite — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:42:07 +0000

OK, I admit it – I like America’s Got Talent. For that matter I also like American Idol and I even like Simon Cowell. I was watching America’s Got Talent the other night and this gal, Rashida Jolley, came out for her audition. I was a bit blown away by it to be honest. Rashida plays the harp and sings. Now if you have not seen her audition yet, then please watch it below (I think the version I found is doubled, but a good quality). My problem is that I cannot see myself buying a harp album but I could see myself buying her vocal album. I just don’t know how far into the competition she can go using the harp.

Her harp playing and vocals were a cool combination, but I just don’t see it being good enough all the way through. Is it possible that the harp will become a liability at some point? My wife even wonders if she could vocally perform the same way without the harp – like it is a security blanket for her. What about you, could you see yourself buying her harp album at Wal-Mart?

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Have You Ever?

Dustmite — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:30:05 +0000

Have you ever…

Read your blog SPAM? I just got one today that read “Doesn’t it take up a lot of time to keep your blog so interesting ?” Umm, no not really – I don’t post much.

Been listening to an MP3 player / iPod in your car and sat in the car with it running waiting for the end of the song oblivious to the fact that your MP3 player is portable and does not require your car to remain running?

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Music Friday

Dustmite — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:00:24 +0000

On Fire

They tell you where you need to go
Tell you when you need to leave
They tell you what you need to know
Tell you who you need to be

But everything inside you knows there’s more than what you’ve heard
There’s so much more than empty conversations filled with empty words

And you’re on fire when he’s near you
You’re on fire when he speaks
You’re on fire burning at these mysteries

They give me one more time around
Give me one more chance to see
Give me everything you are
Give me one more chance to be near you

When everything inside me looks like everything I hate
You are the hope i have for change
You are the only chance i’ll take

When I’m on fire when you’re near me
I’m on fire when you speak
I’m on fire burning at these mysteries
Mysteries
Mysteries

You’re on fire [3x]
I’m standing on the edge of me [3x]
I’m standing on the edge of everything I’ve never been before
And I’ve been standing on the edge of me
Standing on the edge

And I’m on fire when you’re near me
I’m on fire when you speak
I’m on fire burning at these mysteries
These mysteries [2x]
You’re a mystery [2x]

-Switchfoot

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Music Friday

Dustmite — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:59:18 +0000

Tears of the Saints

There are many prodigal sons
On our city streets they run
Searching for shelter
There are homes broken down
People’s hopes have fallen to the ground
From failures

This is an emergency!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We’re crying for them come back home
We’re crying for them come back home
And all your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

There are schools full of hatred
Even churches have forsaken
Love and mercy
May we see this generation
In its state of desperation
For Your glory

This is an emergency!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We’re crying for them come back home
We’re crying for them come back home
And all your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children, in Christ you stand!
Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children, in Christ you stand!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We’re crying for them come back home
We’re crying for them come back home
And all Your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

-Leeland

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Musical Musings

Dustmite — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 09:01:11 +0000

I have a pretty wide range of musical tasts, just ask my wife. I grew up on older country and it was not until late in the 80′s I leaned more towards Rock but even then it was not until I found classic Rock (Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, etc) that I found my Rock “home”. I “rarely” like some classical and even more “rarely” like some operha even. What I DON’T like under ANY circumstance is Torn Anus Torry Amus.

Within the past few years I have picked up an enjoyment of Christian music – more Rock in nature. But I am VERY picky in what I like so my collection of Christian music is very minimal. I don’t know what it is, but I will put up with a mediocre Country or Rock song and will even listen to it again, but not so with Christian music. It better be original, the artist better not be mimicking Paul Simon or changing a couple of the words to Sesame Street and calling it spiritual or Christian music. I cannot stand that nonsense. I think I hold them up to a very high standard. I figure if they have to mimic or alter a secular song then they are a sell out just trying to make a buck and they don’t have the talent to cut it with the Christian genre. I might be wrong, but that is why I have a very small list of albums by Christian Artists.

But, my favorite all time Christian artist – top of the list by a mile, is Third Day. It doesn’t hurt that my birthday is on the same day as lead singer Mac Powell, nor does it hurt that their music helped me stay focused and quasi calm while my marriage was in shambles and coming apart (we pulled through it ). It was rather amusing, a friend gave me a couple of their albums which I did listen to, but I was in my “hate Christian” music mode and never really latched on. But coming through that rough patch I was able to get into the music, hear the lyrics and enjoy the actual vocal sound of Mac coupled with the Rock sound of the band. As a result I have never looked back. I finally was able to see them in concert this summer and enjoyed it. So if you want to give them a spin, I would recommend 4 of their albums. The first two are their worship albums (Offerings & Offerings II) which are a fair seperation from their genreal musical style. My favorite two “regular” albums would have to be Wire and the latest Revelation. I think out of all their albums, Revelation has to be their best – especially track 5, aka Revelation.

Aside from that, the bulk of my short list would be:

Jeremy Camp – Unplugged album only
Jeremy Riddle
New Live Worship (King of All Glory is awesome!)
Newsboys (Hit and miss, need to be in the mood)
Casting Crowns
Nicole C. Mullens
Delirious

Thats the bulk of my Christian albums although there are a couple others floating around. Thats not to say I don’t still like or listen to secular music because I do. As I was looking through my music catalog I zeroed in on just a few other favorites. I really enjoy the talent of David Gray, love INXS (which I could not stand in the late 80′s), love the name hoobastank (only song I like is “The Reason” – but cool name) and I hate to say it, but I suffer from a musical disease – I find myself slightly drawen to the music of “Pink”. Not sure why but there it is. Besides, she has that slightly trashy hot look I seem to like much to my wifes dismay.

So there you have it, yet another round of pontification.

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Origin of Life

Dustmite — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:31:54 +0000

There are those that argue for evolution and those that argue for creation and maybe some claim they don’t know. Well I am here to tell you I now have the answer to end all speculation and confusion. You see, I recently bought a bottle of Old Spice body wash – not the young mans kind, the good kind – the Classic Original scent (Much to my wife’s dismay – says it reminds her of her Grandpa). Anyhow I discovered the secret to our existence – right there on the bottle of Old Spice! Here is what it says:

“IF YOUR GRANDFATHER HADN’T WORN IT, YOU WOULDN’T EXIST.”

There you have it, the debate between creationism and evolutionism can now be put to rest.

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