December 2001

Season's Greetings 2
Most North Americans enjoy the holiday season after Christmas Day, a time to kick back and relax after the frenetic lead-up to 25 December. Japanese people, however, are busy preparing for Oshougatsu (New Year's Day), which is considered an important holiday. For Nikkei-jin who observe both Western and Japanese traditions, there is no time to rest!
Dorami-chan has spent the last couple of days reviewing recipes and shopping for the ingredients she needs to make osechi ryouri, the traditional Japanese New Year's food. Another Japanese New Year custom, nengajou (New Year's cards), is catching on in America, not because of the influence of Japanese culture, but simply as a reaction to the hectic nature of what Christmas and the days leading up to it have become.
- New Year's cards avoid that Christmas crunch
  Stop feeling guilty about late Christmas cards, and take a lesson from the Japanese: Send New Year's cards. The trend has grown in America in recent years.
In a way, I have followed the nengajou custom, even though I was never taught about it or anything else to do with Oshougatsu while growing up. Being a non-Christian, I have always gravitated towards seasonal cards with non-religious imagery that say "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas". And being somewhat of a procrastinator, friends will attest that my cards have tended to arrive after 25 December (the following June one year was the latest so far). My seasonal cards are more timely now that Dorami-chan does the organizing!
Living in North America, we cannot wait until the post-Christmas lull to write our nengajou. From Portland, cards meant to reach Japan in time for Oshougatsu must be sent by end of the third week of December, just a little bit after seasonal cards to North American friends.
Interestingly, many of the cards we have received from Japan say "Merry Christmas", even though the relatives and friends who sent them are not Christian.
- Pop Vox: Do you know the real meaning of Christmas?
  In Japan in recent years, Christmas has come to mean for many young Japanese dinner at a fancy French restaurant on Christmas Eve, followed by a romantic night at the hotel. But how many know the real meaning of Christmas?
(30 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Before Night Falls
A Cuban writer experiences and escapes persecution under Fidel Castro's regime.

(29 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Healing Baby Pictures
Autopsies are not just for adults. Pathologists routinely do postmortem examinations on deceased children and infants, as well as stillborn babies, and document them using photography. I recall one episode from my pathology residency training when a fellow resident showed photo after photo of one pediatric autopsy that was being discussed at a weekly hospital conference. It was his way of alleviating the perceived dull routine of the meeting, but apparently the images upset non-pathology attendees such as nurses and social workers, who were unaccustomed to seeing pictures of dead babies. He was taken to task by our supervisors, but fast forward to 2001, when would-be parents have no problems with posting images of their stillborn children on the Internet, and even find it therapeutic!
- Photo Homage to the Stillborn
  What has been done in support groups for years is now happening online: To help themselves cope with their devastating loss, parents of stillborn and miscarried babies build virtual memorials for their lost children, often including photos.
(28 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Boxing Day
The day after Christmas is a regular workday in the United States, but in Canada and other British Commonwealth countries, it is Boxing Day, a national holiday. Though most people today proabably think of Boxing Day as the day for shopping at post-Christmas sales, it actually has a deeper meaning that should not be forgotten.
- Urban Legends: The Origin of Boxing Day
  The name of Boxing Day comes from the need to rid the house of empty boxes the day after Christmas. True or false?
- Boxing Day: An English Tradition
  The when, where and how of Boxing Day
(26 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Season's Greetings
Dorami-chan and I have finished snail mailing and e-mailing our seasonal greeting cards for this year. Our thanks and appreciation to the people at the U.S. Postal Service at a time that is stressful enough without the threat of bioterrorism. For those we have inadvertently overlooked and to visitors of this website, happy holidays and all the best in 2002!

(25 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
A Seattle Christmas
Dorami-chan and I visited my sister and "Bill" in Seattle for Christmas.
- Seattle's Museum of Flight
  Dorami-chan and I have come to Seattle on numerous occasions, but had yet to take in this local attraction. With time on our hands and most people at the malls doing last-minute Christmas shopping, it was the right time to visit.
  The most impressive display is the Great Hall, a glassed-in structure with all kinds of planes, from ultralights to experimental jets. There was also a model of an air traffic control tower that explained how airports and pilots communicate.
  
  You can climb into the cockpits of some of the jet planes. You can't be obese and be a fighter pilot -- there's not much room in there. And too many dials! We also tried the flight simulator ($3.50 extra). It elicited screams, but so did the hang glider simulator (free).
  
  The Red Barn, Boeing's first design and manufacturing facility, is part of the museum. The former boathouse features displays about how airplanes came to be. The story is told mostly from an American perspective, beginning with Orville and Wilbur Wright's glider. There is a brief mention of Bayersiche Flugzeungwerke, the German aircraft engine manufacturer known today as Bayersiche Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works) or BMW, maker of fine automobiles.
  - History of BMW
    The BMW logo is a stylized whirring aircraft propeller
  - Automotive Heraldry
    Car manufacturer logos and their meanings
  There was also a display about take tombo (bamboo dragonfly), a popular children's toy in Japan.
  
  Outside, the first presidential plane Air Force One is on display. It features a meeting room, a large communication center, and a bathroom built to Jacqueline Kennedy's specifications. The current Air Force One is a Boeing 747, which offers more room, but fewer options in terms of landing sites, since jumbo jets require runways of a certain minimum length.
  
  Museum of Flight, 9404 East Marginal Way South, Seattle WA 98108, 206-764-5720
  
  (24 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
- What Planet Are You From? (USA 2000; Dir: Mike Nichols)
  The motel where we stayed in Seattle had cable TV, so we enjoyed seeing more hockey game highlights in one night on ESPN than we would in a year of sports news in Portland. HBO showed this movie.
  The story takes the spirit of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus to an extreme. An alien from a planet of cloned men devoid of emotion is sent to Earth with the sole purpose of reproducing. He meets and has a child with an Earth woman, and along the way, he learns about communication between the sexes.
  
  (23 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
- Christmas Ships
  "Bill" took us out to a shoreline park to see the Christmas Ships, a Seattle Christmas tradition. Every night during the weeks leading up to Christmas, the Argosy Cruise Line leads a floating parade of private boats and kayaks decorated with lights. On board the lead boat, local choirs (a different one each night) sing a 20-30 minute program of Christmas songs. The performance is played over speakers for the other boats in the parade and spectators on shore. The lead boat has a dinner package for those who don't own a boat and don't want to stand on shore (we had a perfect night -- calm, dry and not so cold -- but I can imagine the experience wouldn't be so pleasant with wind and rain).
  
  (23 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Home Autopsy
The year-end issue of the British Medical Journal is out today (BMJ 22-29 December 2001;323:7327). I always enjoy this seasonal tradition of the medical profession, a collection of quirky and tongue-in-cheek writing done by doctors in the style of the serious research that the journal normally publishes. This year my favourite article is "Postmortems on the kitchen table", a look back at a time -- not so long ago -- when pathologists did autopsies during housecalls.

(21 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amelie) (France 2001; Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet) 1/2
Portland is on its way to a record autumn rainfall, making the movie theatre an attractively dry place to pass the time.
We saw this film at the Fox Tower Cinemas, Portland's newest mulitplex venue. We found out they offer free refills on popcorn, only after we had ordered a large bag close to showtime. Similar "generosity" is shown at another the KOIN Center Cinemas, another mainstream theatre. Maybe this is a sign that overcapacity has increased the competition for filmgoers?

(20 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Algerism: Fitting Description?
I was hunting around the job boards today and came across a want ad for a Bioinformatics Knowledge Engineer: "Strong biology background, well versed in Java and/or Perl, solid understanding of Algerisms." I think the last word was supposed to be "algorithm" -- the stepwise process a computer (or person) uses to solve problems. But what if the company meant what got posted?
"Algerism" derives from Horatio Alger, Jr., a post-Civil War era author of over one hundred novels that tell stories of courage, faith, and hard, honest work in the face of hardship. Alger's moral, brave, generous, kind, diligent, industrious heroes succeed by persevering, doing their best, and always trying to do the right thing. These rags-to-riches tales exemplify the American Dream, which is still very much alive today.
Most companies probably want employees with those qualities!
- Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans
  Honours the accomplishments and achievements of outstanding individuals in American society who have succeeded despite adversity
- Horatio Alger Society
  Encouraging the spirit of Strive and Succeed
- Russell Alexander Alger, 1836-1907
  The life of this U.S. Secretary of War defined another Algerism, synonymous with venality and incompetence
(19 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Nursing Crisis Hits OHSU
If you have been doing any reading lately about North American healthcare issues, you probably know that there is a continent-wide crisis in the nursing profession, with high stress, low morale, and shrinking numbers. Oregon has not been immune to this: the hospital where I work, Oregon Health & Science University has been trying all summer and fall to reach a new contract with its nurses, but negotiations finally broke off this weekend, and today was the first day of what could be a prolonged strike.
The nurses' union leaders have chosen a strange time for a job action. Can they expect any sympathy when Oregon has an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, nearly two points higher than the national average and the highest in the United States? Or when the public learns that while on strike, some nurses are working for a temporary nursing agency for twice their regular salary?
Nurses mainly interface with pathology departments as the persons responsible for packaging specimens for delivery to the laboratory. The replacement nurses hired by OHSU have not caused any significant disruption to our workday, thanks to clear and complete specimen labeling procedure instructions distributed on the hospital intranet -- an example of knowledge management at work.
(17 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
The Pro Treatment: Online Hockey Stats
While in Italy, I had to miss two games my recreational hockey team Gang Green played in the Sherwood Ice Arena Adult B League. Before tonight's game, my teammates were so focused on the task at hand that they would only offer a terse summary of how the team had done in my absence: "Split."
Luckily, they also told me that the league statistics are now available online through a service offered by sPortability. From any computer (hence the name), you can see summaries of the most recent games, league standings, our team page, and my individual player page. It isn't perfect: the standings show us as having lost a game that was actually cancelled and is to be played later, and has me down as having played in the two matches I was away for. The statistics provided are minimal, and don't give a complete picture of events that transpired. At what point in the game were the goals scored? Who combined on which goals? Which goals were powerplay or shorthanded? What were the penalties for? And what were different players' plus-minus scores?
Still, the service is convenient and makes me feel a bit like a pro! I won't tell you how we fared in our game tonight so you'll have a look.

(11 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]
Viva Italia!
Dorami-chan and I are just back from Italy, where I attended MEDINFO2001 - 6th World Congress on the Internet In Medicine and presented a paper on the J-MeSH tool featured in my 2000 January Junket to Japan.

(10 Dec 2001) Discuss This Topic [Back to TOP]

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