London | Smokers get help to Quit as they Knit

Non-smoking support groups are forming with the focus of using knitting to help women stop smoking.
This report from a London group shows how well it seems to be working.

I had a mother who was a heavy smoker while I was growing up - which, I believe, is the reason I never smoked. But, I think that keeping hands and mind busy with knitting could help - I know it helps with dieting!

What's in the name of this blog: Mopalia ?

So what, you may ask, is MOPALIA?

It's the name of a mollusk invertebrate that I began researching when I was working on my PhD in Marine Ecology at UC Berkeley's Bodega Marine Lab in the 60s. I left Marine Biology and moved to textiles and got my MA from UCB in the Design Dept in the early 70s instead.

Mopalia muscosa, common name 'mossy chiton' is a slow-moving, attractive little animal. and more good photos here.

Below is a very nice photo of a Mopalia muscosa taken
by E. Eugenia Patten © California Academy of Sciences. There is a lovely collection of invertebrate photos at the site where this photo was located : Cal Photos

In case you are interested in my background, how I got from tide pools to textiles and quilting and knitting - here's a bio of me from approximately late 1998.

Mopalia muscosa photo by E. Eugenia Patten © California Academy of Sciences

How do you 'adopt' a frozen egg? - The Boston Globe

How do you 'adopt' a frozen egg? - The Boston Globe: "How do you 'adopt' a frozen egg?

When I first saw this article in my news links, I assumed it was an Onion joke article - but it's not! It is from the Boston Globe.

By Susan L. Crockin | December 4, 2005

This past May, to protest a bill on embryonic stem cell research, President Bush surrounded himself with 21 babies, each of whom had been born to parents through the donation of a frozen embryo. Declaring that there is ''no such thing as a spare embryo,' President Bush suggested that surplus embryos should be ''adopted' and used to produce children, not stem cell research.

To further this agenda, the Republican-led Congress has given almost $3 million in grants to promote embryo ''adoption,' funneling much of it into the ''Snowflake embryo adoption program' sponsored by Nightlight Christian Adoptions." ...

And there's more to this article. Don't miss the rest of it. Don't you love what they are doing with our Tax Dollars, both at home and abroad!?

Good for South Africa's Supreme Court!

This was a pleasure to read on Google this morning! Perhaps some other countries will take the step now that there are 5 other nations who have seen the light!


South African court rules for same-sex marriage - The Boston Globe

South African court rules for same-sex marriage
Parliament given year to amend laws
By Craig Timberg, Washington Post December 2, 2005

JOHANNESBURG -- South Africa's highest court ruled yesterday that gays and lesbians have a right to marry, and it gave the national parliament one year to change the words ''husband" and ''wife" to ''spouse" in its marital laws.

Under the ruling, which was greeted with jubilation by gays and lesbians and frustration by some church leaders, South Africa will become the first African nation and the fifth in the world to extend full marital rights to same-sex couples.

''It was a great victory for human rights and gay and lesbian people," said Dawie Nel, director of OUT, an advocacy group based in Pretoria, speaking by phone. ...