Parenting.

Here is a brief example of a day in the life of a parent.
3 Year Old Boy: "Can I have a snack?"
Dad: "If you're still hungry you can have some more supper, or an apple or some broccoli or carrots, but that's all."
Boy: "Why?"
Dad: "Because you just had dessert. ."
Boy: "Yeah but that was dessert. Can I have a snack now?"
Dad: "No."
Boy: "But it's bedtime, I always have a bedtime snack."
Dad: "Yes, you had a banana for a bedtime snack."
Boy: "No that was dessert. I still need a bedtime snack."
Dad: "No."
Boy: "Dad?"
Dad: "Yes?"
Boy: "What can I have for a bedtime snack?"
Dad; "If you're still hungry you can have some more supper, or an apple or some broccoli or carrots."
Boy: "Dad, those aren't snacks."
Dad: "Son, all food outside of meal time is a snack."
Boy: (pause) "Dad, do we have any ice cream?"
Dad: "No."
Boy: "Can I have a cookie?"
Dad: "No. If you're still hungry you can have some more supper, or an apple or some broccoli or carrots, nothing else."
Boy: (voice rising with excitement and enthusiasm) "DAD! We still have Lucky Charms don't we?! I could have some Lucky Charms!"
Dad: "No. Those are for breakfast."
Boy: "I want some breakfast now."
Dad: "No. It's bedtime now, not breakfast. If you're still hungry you can have some more supper, or an apple or some broccoli or carrots, nothing else."
Boy: "Dad..."
Dad: "Son, I've told you what you can have."
Boy: "But I want a snack." (Go back to beginning, repeat 3 times, until son decides he'll have an apple.)

Between the Lines.

I'll often point out to friends of mine that the news we get each day can be vastly different depending on the source. Here in Canada some of the most basic examples are the differences between the Toronto Star and the National Post. Find matching political stories on a similar subject and the difference is immediately apparent. In the US one is a little more hard pressed to find any degree of perspective. CNN, Fox, and the big 3 networks seem to dominate the information market, and are generally well in line with one another, all of it far to the right. Yet surprisingly right wing hardliners in the US frequently refer to the media's liberal bias.
I get my news off of the internet, and outside of human interest stories I'll read the same story from a few different perspectives. This one is a perfect example.
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/2009110112723260741.html
vs this one
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/11/israel.gaza/
and this one
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28573204/

What I tend to do is look for the truth somewhere between the lines. It means boiling it down to the bare facts in any given article.
Here are some of the facts.
13 Israelis dead, 10 of them soldiers.
820 Palestinians, roughly 400 or so of them civillians...women, children, the elderly.
Their have been rocket attacks from Gaza, and Israel is attacking Gaza in a very heavy handed manner.
This is known as collective punishment. When a military force collectively punishes a civillian population for the actions of fighters, it is called collective punishment, and it's a war crime under Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Conventions. If Hamas is in fact using civillians to shield it's fighters, then it too is involved in war crimes under article 28 of the Fourth Geneva conventions.
Difficult to read between the lines when the lines keep crossing one another.

Good News!

I decided on a different treadmill than the one I'd originally ordered, and I put it together yesterday. I took it for a first run today. It works great. I don't. I have really let my cardiovascular fitness deteriorate, which justifies this purchase all the more.
I struggled to get 15 minutes of running out at a measly 6mph on a 1% incline. And I didn't do the 15 minutes all at once either. This from a former half marathoner.
Oh well.
All the more reason for me to keep at it.
I really want to be running on the roads this spring. I've never felt more balanced and healthy than when I've had a running habit, and I'm going to cultivate it slowly and carefully. I'm in this for the long haul.