wow

From the BBC today, some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking pictures from inside the womb that I have ever seen.

today's read - spine-chilling

I started this book last night and was so engrossed that I stayed up way into the night. It's an inside view of the minute-to-minute events at the Whote House on 9-11 that really made my hair stand on end.

Clarke makes some compelling comparisons between the Cold War-era Soviets and today's pro-Caliphate Islamist movement.

More later when I've read the whole book.

Knox County's Web Server

One more note about my blog traffic: I sure do get a lot of hits from Knox County employees. Hmmmm.....

So hi there. Hope you find what you're looking for -- on my blog and in the world at large.

ABC's 20/20 on formula companies' influence on public health awareness campaigns

Here is the story 20/20 did recently on how the infant formula industry managed to take all the bite out of a planned public health campaign on the risks of not breastfeeding. Here is my own story on the same issue from a few months ago.

Yep, the fearless editor at HipMama.com (that would be Bee Lavender) scooped ABC News on this important story.

I originally wrote the piece for a major online magazine for which I've written quite a bit, but in the end, the editor there decided that she didn't quite get the hook and that there wasn't enough of a story to tell. So I offered it to Bee.

a good pony is hard to find

We have now been shopping for a new pony for my daughter, Jane, for months. I never knew this could be so difficult. All we need is a hunter pony between 12.0 and 12.3 hands with solid lead changes and nice movement at a price we can swing.

Ahhh, but there's the kicker; the price. Ponies are so unbelievably expensive. But just when I start to think that I could find the perfect pony if I only I had 25K to spend, I hear from a friend who has her own training barn about this child we know whose parents can afford almost any pony and are able to take her to all the A-circuit shows and the kid still can't seem to get qualified for pony finals or even win very good ribbons. This child has been through four different 4 and 5 figure ponies in the past 24 months.

For now Jane is riding Shazaam -- barn name: "Gomer" -- a gorgeous but somewhat nutty pony belonging to her trainer. She rode Gomer at a few shows last summer while her pony was recovering from an injury. At one memorable show at Kentucky Horse Park, Gomer jumped the rail that encloses the ring because he thought it was just another jump in the course he was jumping. I wasn't there, but people who saw it happen said it was quite impressive ;-)

Anyway, Gomer is less silly than he was a year ago, but still sort of spooky and fearful. Plus, his lead changes still aren't there yet. But that's what we have to work with for now...

See, he's a very cute pony. 

Jane and Gomer 

This is Jane riding Gomer last summer 

are you looking for me?

It's always interesting to look at my blog's traffic statistics, and I have noticed that that at least 40% of the people who visit have arrived here by searching under my name. So if you are one of those folks, satisfy my curiosity and tell me what you were looking for.

Sometimes the search strings are pretty obvious, like "katie allison granju divorce" (yep, I'm getting one) or "granju salon.com" (uh-huh, I've written for Salon a good bit), but other times they are just plain freaky, including "katie granju rhubarb" and "granju dental work" (both real search queries in the blog's traffic stats)...

So tell me what you came for. If you have a question for me, feel free to ask.

And I'm reading...

skywatching

Today I'm listening to Pete Droge

dr. sears + infant formula

A writer-mama friend of mine -- the author of a wonderful book published by La Leche League -- tells me that last time she was in Walmart, she heard the voice of Dr. William Sears coming over the P.A. system, advertising infant formula fortified with DHA.

This makes me sad. I wrote about Sears' surprising ties to the infant formula industry a few years ago. But if my friend really did hear this at Walmart (I suppose it's possible she mis-heard -- and I haven't heard the ads myself) it appears he's given up all pretense of supporting the WHO Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.