Folks, if someone in the US wants to study a group of people with a a certain condition, they go to an IRB to get permission. They have to decide if the research will use identifiable information. If the data contain identifiers, you essentially always have to get permission from each and every patient, and that permission has to be specific to the exact use of their data.

You don’t “make a registry” of everyone with a disease. Bad people do that. Nazis. Insurance execs. Bad people.

I'm trying to get into the spirit of "remember when we used to post things just to post things" and share that I made this preserved lemon shortbread.

It's fine. I'll keep working on it.

This is my favorite tea cup, though.

#tea #food #TeaTime #baking

I made this doll over a year ago, when that one folk song was running through my head on repeat. It's about Laima - Latvian pagan goddess of fate who determines the fortune of human life. In the early morning Laima walks the earth giving people gifts that determine where their fortune and happiness is. She gives material goods to one, fame to another one, and then the singer-storyteller asks: "What will you give me?" After a heavy exhale Laima reaches to the very bottom of her dowry of gifts and takes out a golden kokle (musical instrument with strings) and a yarn ball of songs, and hands it over.

There is a lot to unpack, and that heavy exhale of a goddess who comes with gifts... Handing over something very precious from the very bottom. She gives a journey of life that's not the easiest one, not well understood or accepted, but the one that makes the world a better place, the one that touches hearts of others, the one that is needed. Imagine a world without music, stories told in many different forms of art... Or better don't. Feed with your thoughts what your want to grow.

Broom is one of the symbols of Laima, although you would rarely see her depicted holding a broom (your rarely see any Latvian pagan gods depicted in art at all, you can meet them more in music). With the broom she clears the path, so it's easier for good fate to express if you walk behind Laima. This little lady right here, she is not the goddess herself - I didn't dare to call her a goddess Laima. She is a witch named Laima (that's a casual Latvian female name).

She is here to remind and encourage you to use your gifts. They might feel heavy sometimes, and other times you just can't seem to have any (that's why she is hiding in grey), but they are there. Your gifts are into what you like and enjoy, what comes easily and brings joy and the feeling of fulfilment. That's where the essence of life can be found - into engaging into the call that runs through your heart. This is what this doll is about.

(She is still available).

#pagan #folksongs #goddess #goddessinspired

#TarotTipTuesday

In the earliest Italian tarot decks, where the cards were depicted with famous Roman emperors and generals, the direction that the character faces is significant. Those facing West are tumultuous characters, signifying change or movement, and those facing East ruled during stable and moderate times.

This is reflected most clearly in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck when looking at the four knights:

#tarot