AUTHOR: Kevin DATE: 11/05/2007 ----- BODY:
Today we had a well-baby visit in celebration of making it to 15 weeks and out of the rather horrible (nausea 24/7) first trimester. Aside from the usual Q&A and the chance to listen to the heartbeat, it was results day for our first trimester screen. This test is supposed to give more accurate odds for the likelihood of Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) than the older expanded AFP screen.

The age-related rate of these birth defects in the general populace is roughly one in a couple hundred. As we learned when we inquired about diagnostic testing for birth defects, the rate of miscarriage associated with amniocentesis is also roughly one in a couple hundred. Wow. We decided that we would avoid diagnostic testing unless the screen results came back strongly positive. Fortunately this turned out not to be the case as our updated odds turned out to be 1:10,000 for one and 1:7,500 for the other.

On the way home we talked about the fact that, despite all the new tests and whatnot, we're feeling pretty relaxed about this whole baby thing the third time around. The first time was stressful. Like waking up multiple times in the middle of the night to check on the baby stressful. The second time wasn't exactly a walk in the park but everything seemed more familiar and the paranoia levels more manageable. Now it's all good.

In other news, I could play with the Gracenote music map for days. When you put a music CD into your computer and your audio player does black magic and suddenly knows the album, artist, and track names, chances are it checked with Gracenote to get the info. It used to be called CDDB before it changed hands and it is one of the better sources of information about music that people are playing right now. As far as I know, the map is something relatively new - it allows you to select a region or country and it will display the current top ten bands being listened to in that area.

Select California and you get the usual suspects: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, J.K. Rowling, U2, Kanye West, Pink Floyd, 2Pac, Carrie Underwood, Linkin Park. Alright, how about India's top three? Linkin Park, Jagjit Singh, A.R. Rahman. Ukraine? Linkin Park, Enigma, Rammstein. Kazakhstan? Linkin Park, Genesis, Rammstein. Jordan? Eminem, Metallica, Linkin Park. Thailand? Bodyslam, Linkin Park, Clash.

Do we detect a pattern here? How can it be that in dozens of countries scattered throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East people are entranced by a Nu Metal band from Agoura Hills, CA? Is this really the music that unites the cultures of the world or a sign that MTV has taken us to the brink of Armageddon?

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-------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:Blogger yam COMMENT-DATE:12:25 AM COMMENT-BODY:Wow! I love Linkin Park! --------