My daughter's heart surgeon, Dr. Bechara Akl, died on October 21st of cancer. He was only 61 years old. He was a man of few words, but a giant in his field. My daughter was transferred into his care when she was only 3 weeks old. She had two large holes in her heart (called Ventricular and Atrial septal defects). He knew I was a nurse so spoke to ( Read more... )

In the past few weeks, there have been a handful of shooting incidents at school: Colorado, Arkansas and now Pennsylvania. In each case, someone innocent dies at the hands of someone in a great deal of emotional anguish. Why do those who hurt choose to hurt others instead of resolving their own issues? Why does the world seem so unsafe - and how ( Read more... )

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What were you doing the morning of 9/11 ( Read more... )

Steve Irwin, best known as the Crocodile Hunter, died today. He was filming a documentary on stingrays in the Great Barrier Reef when he accidentally "boxed in" a stingray that was mostly buried in the sand. It startled and shot its spiky tail up, getting Irwin right in the chest. From reports, he died instantly. He was only 44 and leaves behind a ( Read more... )

I love Autumn, and although the season doesn't begin for a few weeks yet, September is a happy month for me ( Read more... )

THE NOVELIST (Angela Hunt) has so many different layers of story... In one level (the "exterior story"), a famous novelist is teaching a college class on writing novels. To illustrate her examples, she writes a novella (the "interior story" of the book) unlike her usual genre of action/thrillers. We learn about her son Zack and how he struggles ( Read more... )

...then he is an ID-I-OT!

Ok, Karr is confirmed to be a creepy man with an unhealthy interest in high profile, young victim murdered cases. Eeeeew. We should lock him up on principle....

I'm guessing we'll all have to wait for DNA results to be conclusive, but the media reports regarding the suspected killer of JonBenet Ramsey are quite troubling. Is the suspect *really* the one who murdered JonBenet or is he someone disturbed enough to try and insert himself into this frenzy? The facts - and his public statements - aren't adding

After a ten year wait, it appears that the murder of JonBenet Ramsey might finally be solved. Of course, we don't yet have all the answers (including the all-important WHY?) and we should presume innocence unless and until proven guilty in a court of law, but how amazing to have answers, even if only to a few of the questions ( Read more... )