Why Do We Fart?

Oh hell, did I have fun researching this one!  It must be one of the most asked questions out there, with some of the most hilarious answers.  Perhaps I have never grown up, as little kids find farts hilarious, don't they?  And if most of us are honest, we adults mostly do too!  I was really serious about my reading and learning, but had a great time along the way.  We all know that the bowel rules the body, really - but perhaps we think that we fart because we have air in our intestine.  Weeelll, sorta! 

The gas our body makes comes from different sources, and made up of varying components.  We have chemical reactions going on in our gut, we swallow air, especially when we are nervous.  Gas crosses into our intestines from our blood,  and the living bacteria in our intestines also produce gas.  So at the bottom of it (oh dear, sorry!) a fart is actually a byproduct of our digestive process.  The air we swallow tends mostly to be absorbed by our body before it gets to our gut, so that normally what reaches the gut will be mainly nitrogen.

Nitrogen is the main gas our body releases when we 'break wind' or 'fart' - together with carbon dioxide.  To a lesser extent we may also release methane and hydrogen.  These two gases are flammable, so if you are one of those people who releases suitable amounts of methane and hydrogen, your farts can be ignited.  Oh dear.   Not everyone produces methane, however, but only about a third of us.  If you are a very nervous person you may have quite a lot of oxygen in your flatus (fart) - as you will swallow more air, and probably move things through your digestive system too quickly for all the oxygen to be absorbed by the body.

And the smelly farts? What causes the honk, the pong?  According to dear old Wikipedia:

"For many years, this was thought to be due to skatole and indole, which are byproducts of the digestion of meat. However,  gas chromatography testing in 1984 revealed that sulphur-containing compounds, such as methanethiol, hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) and dimethyl sulfide, were also responsible for the smell."

And ladies?  It is official - ours smell worse than men's, but they produce more gas!  (Not many people know that, ha!).  So how about the sounds? This is tricky, very tricky - it all depends.  It depends on how tight your sphincter muscle is, how fast the gas is being expelled, and factors such as how much water and body fat there is.  The pitch of the fart alters according to how much vibration of the anus there is, and also how close together your buttocks are.  You laughing at me?  I hope not!  The smelliest of our gas emissions are caused by the action of bacteria in our gut.  These little critters tend to produce heat also, and so the gas bubbles we release are smelly as hell, and quite warm.  Thus, the silent but deadly (SBD) fart.

Ever been in a lift with 14 other people and someone dropped a depth charge?  Hmmmm.  Most unpleasant.
Interestingly enough, we produce quite a large amount of gas daily, probably approximately 14 fart's worth - or around half a litre.  And I guess some of us produce more.  Holding it in is not the greatest idea of all - although some people can and do hold on.  I only tried that once - my dear mother was most upset as I kept 'breaking wind' - so I held on, and ended up having to have the doctor called out.  Couldn't even get out of bed for pain.  They thought it was appendicitis - but after examining me the doc said - it is wind.  Fart away!

Another fascinating thing is that:

" Interest in the causes of flatulence was spurred by high-altitude flight and the space program; the low atmospheric pressure, confined conditions, and stresses peculiar to those endeavours were cause for concern. In the field of mountaineering, the phenomena of high altitude flatus expulsion was first recorded over two hundred years ago." (Wikipedia)

I can't vouch for whether it is fact or not, but I did read on Yahoo answers that "In World War Two, the Air Force estimates that around 1000 to 2000 airmen were killed because of flatulence. The reason is B-17 bombers were not pressurized, so when bomber crews operated around 20,000 feet, the gas would expand and rupture their intestines."  In a non pressurized cockpit, intestinal gas expands up to 300 times normal,  at high altitude. 

If you have lactose intolerance you will produce excessive gas when you eat foods containing milk or lactose products, because of the intestinal bacteria feeding on the lactose.  I am sure we all know the foods which produce terrific gas - brassicas, beans and spicy foods to name a few. 

And as I start to round off these few farty facts, a chap by the name of Weimer, from Colorado, in 1998 patented his invention of the first "undergarment" that contains a charcoal filter.  The undergarments are air-tight and provide a pocketed escape hole in which a charcoal filter can be inserted.  It was the addition of the escape hole that had me rolling around in fits laughing.  Oops, sorry!  No more smells eh?

And a farting application for the iPhone, in 2008, took in nearly $10,000 in one single day! 


Last, but by no means least in the funny stakes, in 1911, the Malawi Minister of Justice, George Chaponda, stated that Air Fouling Legislation would make farting in public illegal in Malawi.  Of course, the media loved it, using punning headlines to report the story (well, so would I).  The Minister, unsurprisingly, later withdrew his statement. 

From BBC Mobile 4 February 2011:

Two of Malawi's most senior judicial officials are arguing over whether a new bill includes a provision that outlaws breaking wind in public.Justice Minister George Chaponda says the new bill would criminalise flatulence to promote "public decency".
 
"Just go to the toilet when you feel like farting," he told local radio.
 
However, he was directly contradicted by Solicitor General Anthony Kamanga, who says the reference to "fouling the air" means pollution."How any reasonable or sensible person can construe the provision to criminalising farting in public is beyond me," he said, adding that the prohibition contained in the new law has been in place since 1929.

Why Do You Laugh?

I guess most of us would answer that we laugh because we hear something humourous, rib-tickling, funny as hell.  Or we laugh because our ribs are being tickled, literally!   How many of us, though, have had a fit of laughter in a totally inappropriate place or at an very bad time?   Me, for one!   I am extremely interested in why we do the things we do, and laughing fascinates me.  So I did my usual, and studied up!

Apparently, laughter predates human speech by perhaps millions of years.  It would have been a form of communication.  "Most laughter is not in response to jokes or humor," says Robert R. Provine, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.  Professor Provine has done studies of laughter, and also authored a book "Laughter: a Scientific Investigation."  Apparently, people who are born deaf and blind still laugh, which shows that laughter is not learned, but innate. We’re born with the capacity to laugh. 

As for the inappropriate laughing?  Laughter isn't under our conscious control, and this would explain why we laugh at the most awkward times.  

Laughter is contagious, and this is due also to evolution!  If one of us laughs at something, others will laugh as well - ever noticed how much funnier things seem when someone else is laughing with you?There have even been laughter epidemics!  I am not kidding you!  One, quoted by WebMD was in 1962, in the African country that is now Tanzania.  Three school girls began to laugh uncontrollably. Within a few months, about two-thirds of the students had the symptoms, and the school closed. The contagion spread, and eventually affected about a thousand people in Tanzania and neighboring Uganda. There were no long-lasting effects, but it shows how responsive people can be to seeing another person laugh.

Many researchers believe that the purpose of laughter is related to making and strengthening human connections. "Laughter occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free. And the more laughter [there is], the more bonding [occurs] within the group," says cultural anthropologist Mahadev Apte. 

The first laughter appears at about 3.5 to 4 months of age, long before we’re able to speak. Laughter, like crying, is a way for an infant to interact with the mother and other caregivers.  When we laugh, we’re often communicating playful intentions. So laughter has a bonding function within individuals in a group. It’s often positive, but it can be negative too. There’s a difference between “laughing with” and “laughing at.” People who laugh at others may be trying to force them to conform or casting them out of the group.

Scientists know very little about the  brain mechanisms responsible for laughter. But they do know that laughter is triggered by many sensations and thoughts, and that it activates many parts of the body.  When we laugh, our facial expressions alter, and we make sounds. If we laugh exhuberantly, the muscles in the arms, legs and trunk are involved. Laughter also requires us to modify our breathing pattern.

 
And laughter is supposed to have health benefits as well - laughing 100 times is equivalent to a 10-minute workout on a rowing machine, or to 15 minutes on a stationary exercise bike.  Laughing exercises the diaphragm, as well as the abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles.

 
Another benefit of laughter is that it improves our over-all mental health. Pent up negative emotions, such as anger, fear, and sadness, can cause biochemical changes in our bodies that can produce a harmful effect. Laughter provides a harmless outlet for these negative emotions, and provides a coping mechanism for dealing with difficult or stressful situations.
 
Laughter also has a very dark side, as Professor Povine stated:
 

"When gangs or groups of militants attack someone, they are often reported to laugh while doing it." It's the sinister aspect of laughter's power to form group cohesion. Sometimes, those bonds can be used to exclude or persecute others."

 
Much more research has yet to be done about laughter, but some researchers believe that the two types of laughter -- spontaneous and nonspontaneous -- actually have different origins in the brain. The spontaneous laughter originates in part from the brainstem, an ancient part of the brain. So it might be a more original form of laughter. The other type of laughter comes from parts of the brain that developed more recently, in evolutionary terms.

Protect Your Children From Sexual Predators

The statistics on paedophiles (child sexual predators) can only reflect what is known about predators who are caught, and we all know there are many more who haven't been found out.  There are certain facts which apply to most, if not all of them.  As with predators in the animal kingdom, they single out their victims from among the most vulnerable, that is:

".. pedophiles stated they would choose vulnerable individuals (e.g., children living in a divorced home, emotionally needy or unhappy children) and/or children who were receptive to their advances, even if that child did not meet the pedophile's usual physical pattern of attraction."

Many children do not tell about abuse simply because they:

• Are too young to put what has happened into words,
• Were threatened or bribed by the abuser to keep the abuse a secret,
• Feel confused by the attention and feelings accompanying the abuse,
• Are afraid no one will believe them,
• Blame themselves or believe the abuse is punishment for being "bad",
• Feel too ashamed or embarrassed to tell,
• Worry about getting into trouble or getting a loved one into trouble.

So what can we parents do to help protect our children?  We can teach them:

1. To feel good about themselves and know they are loved, valued and deserve to be safe.
2. The difference between safe and unsafe touches.
3. The proper names for all body parts, so they will be able to communicate clearly.
4. That safety rules apply to all adults, not just strangers.
5. That their bodies belong to them and nobody has the right to touch them inappropriately or hurt them.
6. That they can say "no" to requests that make them feel uncomfortable - even from a close relative or family friend.
7. To report to you if any adult asks them to keep a secre.
8. That some adults have problems.
9. That they can rely on you to believe and protect them if they tell you about abuse.
10. That they are not bad or to blame for sexual abuse.
11. To tell a trusted adult about abuse even if they are afraid of what may happen.

We need to try to teach our children about all forms of sexual abuse, to increase their awareness and coping skills. Without frightening our children, we need to provide them with appropriate safety information and support at every stage of their development. 

 

We can give personal safety information to children in a matter-of-fact way, with other routine safety discussions about fire, water, health, etc. Although even the best educated child cannot always avoid sexual abuse, children who are well prepared will be more likely to tell you if abuse has occurred. This is a child's best defense. 

Some excellent advice from the New Zealand Police website:

Finding the most appropriate balance between awareness and paranoia of paedophilia could be the key to protecting your child from sexual abuse.
Sexual abuse takes many forms and can at any one time involve forcing, tricking, bribing, threatening or pressuring a child into sexual awareness or activity. Sexual abuse occurs when an older or more knowledgeable child or an adult uses a child for sexual pleasure. The abuse often begins gradually and increases over time.
 
Children are naturally trusting and dependent, so physical force is not often used to engage them in sexual activity. They want to please others and gain love and approval. Many children are taught not to question authority and to believe that all adults are always right.
 
Child sexual abusers or paedophiles know this and take advantage of these vulnerabilities in children. Sexual abuse is an abuse of power over a child and a violation of a child's right to normal, healthy, trusting relationships.
 
Educate your child about sexual abuse and keep communication lines open about it. If children are equipped with safety measures for prevention and information on how to report any incidents that may feel "strange" or "uncomfortable", they are at least aware of basic prevention skills.
 
If your child appears to be unusually afraid of a certain adult, find out why. It may be a simple problem with a simple solution, or it may indicate a more serious situation.
 
If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. If a volunteer singles out your child, requesting to spend an unusual amount of time alone with your child, or perhaps lavishes your child with gifts and/or attendance at special events... Beware. Molestation can be a single event, however, more often it is a lengthy process which includes gaining the child's trust.
 
We need to take the advice given to our school-aged children...do your homework! Becoming informed and educated about molestation and prevention is the first step.

When is a Paedophile NOT a Paedophile?

We watch with growing horror and mounting anger as individual after individual and ring after ring of paedophiles is exposed, arrested and charged for their deviant crimes.   Sadly, the growth of the Internet has made it all too easy for these sick, sick people to connect, to exchange photographs, and (worst of all perhaps) to prey on young children.

Alan Smith

In a recent report, News.com.au stated that single mothers in Melbourne (Australia) who have joined online dating services have been targeted by paedophiles.  The report says that mothers have been 'groomed' by paedophiles in order to get at their children.  The offenders "took a long time to lull the mum into a false sense of safety before they attacked their real target".

''They can trawl through thousands of photos and know where they live and their age and then target them with a false name or identity – a photo of your children may spark that interest.’’
" ..our advice is to lock down your profile.'' 

Allen and George

 
How frightening and worrying is that?  Not only do these predators target children, but they also target the parent!  Is a paedophile a chameleon, one who can change his/her colours to suit the surroundings? I would say yes, most definitely.  For many months I have been reading and researching articles, papers, studies etc., on paedophilia, with the objective of trying to understand whether we can identify these people - and what makes them behave in such an aberrant and abhorrent way.
 
 As to the first objective, I believe the answer is no, we can't identify them until they are caught.  And the second?  Apparently nobody yet knows why these predators are attracted to children.
Interesting facts I have found are that:
 
To be a paedophile is not, as such, a crime.  There is, therefore, no common law or statutory definition in Australia of the word, or of the related word "paedophilia". Paedophile offences are framed in terms of rape, sexual assault, indecency, making or possessing child pornography and so forth. (Parliament of Australia Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission) 2003

Dawber - true evil

 
This is also the case in most countries,  as far as I can determine, that paedopilia is a clinical definition rather than a criminal definition.  To be a paedophile is not a crime, it is only when the person acts on their fantasies that it becomes a crime.  From Mayo Clinic Proceedings website:
 
Pedophilia is a clinical diagnosis usually made by a psychiatrist or psychologist. It is not a criminal or legal term, such as forcible sexual offense, which is a legal term often used in criminal statistics. The FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System's (NIBRS) definition of forcible sexual offenses includes any sexual act directed against another person forcibly and/or against that person's will or not forcibly or against the person's will in which the injured party is incapable of giving consent. 
 
.......  a pedophile is an individual who fantasizes about, is sexually aroused by, or experiences sexual urges toward prepubescent children (generally less than 13 years) for a period of at least 6 months. Pedophiles are either severely distressed by these sexual urges, experience interpersonal difficulties because of them, or act on them. Pedophiles usually come to medical or legal attention by committing an act against a child because most do not find their sexual fantasies distressing or ego-dystonic (repugnant) enough to voluntarily seek treatment.
 
There are all sorts of criteria to be met before someone can be 'diagnosed' as a paedophile, and one of the scariest things I have read is that paedophiles "usually report that their attraction to children begins around the time of their puberty or adolescence, but this sexual attraction to children can also develop later in life".   And these older people offend at a greater rate than other sexual predators.

Ferguson.

 

 
We teach our children 'stranger danger' and yet studies carried out and statistics from USA show that over a quarter of all sexual offenders assaulted members of their family.  HALF of the offenses against children younger than 6 were committed by a family member.  Again, 42% of offenses against children aged 6 to 11 were committed by a family member, and approximately a quarter of the acts against children aged 12 to 17 years.
 
A study  found that 68% of “child molesters” had molested a family member;  almost a third had molested a stepchild, a foster child, or an adopted child;  19% had molested 1 or more of their biological children; 18% had molested a niece or nephew;  and 5% had molested a grandchild. 

 
How on earth are we to protect our kids from people that they know, and trust?  For incest, in non-parental and non-violent incidences of paedophilia, the child knows the offender an estimated 60% to 70% of the time. Paedophiles often intentionally try to put themselves where they can meet children and have the opportunity to interact with children without supervision, for example:  babysitting, doing volunteer work,  hobbies, or coaching sports. Paedophiles usually obtain access to children through , friendship, and behavior designed to gain the trust of the child and parent.

Pendragon

 

 
So it isn't stranger danger only that we need to warn our children about, it is danger from someone close to them, and often to us.  My next blog will be about how you can protect your children from the sexual predator, paedophile, rock spider - whatever name you want to give them.  And don't panic, or become paranoid about it all - the odds against any of our children becoming victims are really quite slim.  It is just better to be warned, be aware, and keep our children safe.
 

Wilson

 

 
 
 
 

Why Do You Gossip?

Conversation is when three women stand on the corner talking. Gossip is when one of them leaves.~ Herb Shriner



Psychologists, educators, scientists and other learned people appear to agree that gossip can be 'good' and is a way for people to let others know of someone who is not to be trusted.  They liken gossip to social 'grooming' - I'll flea you if you flea me type of interaction, which bonds people.  It can apparently act as a brake on people's behaviour - behaving badly can get you talked about, to put it simply.

Sadly, most gossip we seem to come across is anything but.  It is damaging, heartbreaking, nasty and just downright unnecessary.  An awful lot of gossip is unfounded, and so many of us immediately jump for joy when we hear about another person's 'bad behaviour'.  The gossip is instantly passed on, without regard to the effect it will have on our group as a whole, and on the individual being slandered.  Yep!  Slandered.

The people I have known who have relished gossip have been sour and unhappy people - who would be given nicknames such as "acid tongue"  and "vinegar tits".   Which says it all, don't you think?  The nastier the rumour, the more they ate it up.  It is probably a way for them to feel morally superior to others, at the very least.  One important thing to remember?  The game of 'Chinese Whispers' - who added what, about whom? Gossiping can quickly become a form of bullying.

There is a damned good reason why many religions frown upon gossip, and that is for the harm it does.  If you are a malicious person and an acid tongue, then I pity you - life is not meant to be sour.  Your life obviously is lacking some of the basic necessities, such as kindness and compassion, empathy and caring - else you would think again before you repeated some foul talk that has been passed on to you.

My name isn't goody two-shoes, or Pollyanna, and I even enjoy some fun gossip myself.  But not nasty, cruel gossip thank you very much.  Strangely, the only person I would trust with some things that have been said to me is my husband.  Because he doesn't gossip.  Sometimes that is infuriating!   I draw the line at repeating gossip which has no foundation other than nastiness or vengefulness.   If you can't say something nice?  Don't say anything at all.

Did you realise that when you repeat gossip it will affect many people?  Especially with social media the like of Facebook.  Gossip flies at the speed of fibre optic cable.

"... and gossip has great destructive powers. People use gossip for their own selfish interests at the expense of others. Subtle social cues can turn to hostility or manipulation and quickly trigger anger, shame, and resentment. "

In an article by  Nicholas DiFonzo, in Psychology Today, he states:

"There is an old saying that one shouldn't try to defend oneself against slander; your enemies won't believe you anyway and your friends don't need to hear your defense. And Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir has advocated resisting office gossip by gently advocating for the target. For example: "John wouldn't have done that intentionally-he is a very hard worker," and "I'm sure that she was just trying to be helpful."

The sad fact is that the majority of gossip IS malicious and is often unfounded.  And yet how many of us take the time or trouble to check the facts?  Very few, I fear.  Perhaps it is time to look at ourselves and figure out where we fit in?  Wanna be vinegar tits?

Erm... vinegar tits?  Did you know that people gossip about you, and your nasty tongue?

My Experience With Post Natal Depression

Strangely, it is always difficult to really open up about the exact symptoms I had - to be honest about the fact that I was sure I was going rapidly insane.  It is fortunate that I had been seeing the most wonderful G.P. for years, and he therefore knew much of my background and health issues.  Among those issues was ongoing clinical depression.
  
The first episode of major depression I suffered at age 18 or 19, and the 'cure' as recommended by the doctor was a holiday.  So I went home for a week, where I was shoved out into the vegetable patch to weed and plant, as my mother said "there is no such thing as nerves"............  I guess it did make me feel a lot better though, strangely!

Hum, I went off at a tangent for a bit, sorry.  Back to the PND.  My pregnancy went fine, I was happy, no depression rearing its ugly head at all.  This changed most abruptly once my daughter was born.  This was March 1977.  When she was only a day or so old I had what they termed "baby blues" (ha flipping ha) and could do nothing but cry.  All the nurses said "oh it will go in a couple of days, it's nothing".

Not so.  Once home with my tiny baby I struggled in every way.  I was alone after the first few days, and trying to breastfeed was a nightmare.  An absolute nightmare.  I have recently found out that because she was so small I should never have been encouraged to breastfeed - tiny babies don't have the strength or stamina to 'latch on'  and to stay there.  My little girl would fiddle and fart about and fall asleep (exhausted, but I had no idea at the time).  Ten to fifteen minutes later she would be screaming and screaming again.  I kept waiting for her real mother to come and get her........it all felt so unreal.

So it started, and so it continued - and looking back I see that it all escalated because of lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of help.   Extreme fatigue is no help when you are a depressive.  Sleep deprivation is bad at the best of times!   While this was going on, the screaming baby, the lack of sleep, lack of food etc., my whole body was going out of whack in a huge hurry.   I was anxious, weepy, jumpy, angry all the time.  It seemed to get worse by the day, and perhaps it did.  What little sleep I managed to get was full of horrific 
nightmares. 

At the slightest provocation I would fly into an insane rage, which scared the hell out of me. I was miserable, had no energy, no enthusiasm, just negative me all the time.  It was a complete struggle to care for myself at all.  Even when I got the baby sorted out and onto bottles - whereupon she became a joy to be with - I was out of control.   I remember having to change her at one stage, and throwing her onto the bed in my rage.   Then I had to go out of the room, feeling total horror at what I had become, and shut the door so that there was a physical barrier between us.   I have rarely been so afraid in my life.

With no warning I would have awful headaches, I got sinusitis for no reason.  I was plagued with all sorts of niggling things like back ache.  My mood was just so black it was impossible to pull myself out of it.  Just getting out of bed in the morning was a major chore, and as for showering or dressing - no way.  I seem to recall that at one stage I stayed in my nightie for something like 5 days.  I cared for my baby, but not for myself.   It seemed there was nothing in the world to care about, everything was hopeless, I felt totally helpless, in absolute despair all of the time.  Every small thing was such an effort.

If I tried to eat it made me feel ill.  So I quit eating.  There didn't seem to be anything that could make me smile, let alone laugh.   Being on my own didn't help in the slightest, as I had nobody to say "get your butt to the doctor girl, you are really down".   Everything made me cry.

The kicker came when my mother and aunt came to visit (I was living in England, they flew over from Australia).   At one point in the first couple of days of their holiday my mum said to me "you used to be always laughing and singing, but now you don't seem to even smile, let alone be happy?"   My reply?  "what's there to be happy about?"..........   Her remark had the effect on me of stopping me in my tracks, and my reply shocked me!    After taking my courage and screwing it right down, I made an appointment with my G.P.

It was something of a shock when my doctor told me he had been expecting this!  How I wish he had thought to warn me beforehand!  The first thing he did was get me to make a daily chart of how I was feeling, morning, afternoon, night.  He put me on fluid tablets in the interim.  His thought was to prove that most of the depression was hormone related.  After doing my chart for a fortnight, I trotted back to him - to have him say 'aha!'   He then prescribed a hormone replacement, together with the fluid tablets.  I was to take the hormone replacement for 3 weeks, and the fluid tablets then for 3 days.   My chart was to continue for at least another month or two, and it proved beyond a doubt that I had huge hormonal problems.

After a couple or three months on the tablets it was as if I had been reborn!  I was to be on them for a very long time, but that is another story altogether. I have always been so grateful for having a kind, understanding G.P., who really was my saviour more than once.

The main lesson I learned from the experience was to seek help.  Always ask for help, there is a reason why we have this depression, and it is treatable.  There are many, many women who go through it, and it seems a pity that there are also still many who try to go it alone.  There is no stigma, it is just a fact of life that PND exists - and it IS treatable!

Woman Rapes 11 Year Old Daughter

A mother of four who raped her 11-year-old daughter and filmed it as a form of "sex education" has been jailed for four years in Australia.
 
The 37-year-old woman from Queensland's Sunshine Coast made three films using her mobile phone showing her raping her youngest child and exposed her to other sexual activity "in response to repeated questions," The Sunshine Daily reported.
 
Judge John Robertson said sexual offenses against children by their own mothers were "rare," describing the relationship between mother and child as "seminal in our society."
 
He told the woman she had "no psychological or intellectual reason to explain this shocking behaviour," as she had "a normal loving upbringing with parents and family who still support you."
 
The court heard that the woman started seeing the father of her four children — 16 years her senior — when she was "virtually a child" at age 14. She had her first child at 16.
 
She later began a cyber-sex relationship with a man and "became obsessed with sex." She would allow her daughter to view sexual videos the two sent to each other.
 
"From the start you characterized your behaviour as some form of bizarre sex education with the child which did not involve sexual gratification from you... You were obsessed with sex and your life was in chaos," Robertson reportedly said.
 
He also said the mother, through her "selfish criminal conduct," had deprived her daughter of the right to "a wholesome and loving relationship with her mother."
 
Judge Robertson suspended the four-year jail term after the woman has served one year, leaving a three-year jail sentence hanging over her head and ordered her to do three years' probation.

Maybe a firing squad?

What did I feel when I saw this article?  Sick with horror is the least of it.  What part of this woman is missing, that she should be able to do this to her own daughter?  I think I need a big gun, and a lot of bullets, don't you?   There are so many individuals like this in the world that it makes me wonder why we don't just get rid of them as soon as they are found.  And the misguided Judge?  The man needs his head read I think.

Or the electric chair?

These predators want to live by the law of the jungle?  Let them die the same way I reckon.  This type of person is an aberration, and in the jungle any animal which is born different is an aberration, and is killed.  They put the safety of their own kind at great risk.  Sometimes, as with an albino animal, for example, they don't last long anyway - they are simply too visible to be able to successfully catch prey. 

Even lethal injection.

 
So perhaps it is time for us to take a stand, and get rid of the twisted, warped, evil individuals in our world.  To make our world safer for our children, and for womankind.  My only hesitation is that their deaths would be far too kind and humane.  Call me sick and evil if you will, but my anger makes me feel that no mercy should be shown to those who prey on the vulnerable and innocent.  Perhaps even less mercy on women who are predators, for they are the most vile of all.

The Chinese people don't mess around.