養小孩的錢誰出？

【聯合報╱Wenjung（台北市）】
2009.03.26 03:38 am

小薰是不想要小孩的頂客族，但之前我們聚餐時，她說和老公已經改變想法，決定還是要有個小孩。
有三個小孩的敏敏立刻提醒她，小孩的花費到底要怎麼分擔，要先談個一清二楚，不然以後一定會為錢爭吵。
敏敏接著很哀怨的對我們說，她在生了兩個女兒後，本來不打算再生，但在老公堅持下，還是拚了一個兒子。
原本老公只負責房貸，家用都是敏敏負擔，只有和婆家聚餐時，老公才會掏腰包。而生了三個小孩之後，敏敏要照顧小孩還要上班，實在太累了，打算辭去工作在家帶小孩，愛面子的老公也很爽快的答應了，還很瀟灑的說：「本來妳就可以在家當少奶奶的，是妳自己怕無聊才要去上班的呀！」
剛開始敏敏還用自己的積蓄來支付開銷，但幾個月後就必須要老公負擔全部的花費。一家五口的生活費十分驚人，像她老公這種吃飯不知米價的人是無法想像的，所以一年多後，他就不斷質疑敏敏，說她花錢如流水，對小孩有求必應，不知賺錢的辛苦。
敏敏其實已經能省則省，但她知道一定得快點上班，才能減輕家裡的壓力，所以在小孩上托兒所後，她又再回到職場，但她老公算盤打得很精，說是敏敏自己不想在家帶小孩，因此安親班和課後托育的費用都是多花的，而鋼琴、美勞等才藝課，也只是滿足大人的虛榮心，如果因沒時間自己做飯而要外食的話，也是敏敏造成的，所以這些錢全都要她負擔。
可想而知，敏敏的薪水全部用在小孩身上，自己都不敢買衣服、化妝品，但老公的電腦卻不斷升級，遊戲軟體買個不停。
敏敏訴完苦，嘆了口氣說：「大家都說愛小孩，但看看多少離婚夫妻為了小孩的撫養費上法庭，就知道要達成小孩花費的共識，是多麼困難啊！」

味精與高鮮味精(上)

有些人食用含味精的菜餚後，會出現頭痛、心悸、嘔吐等現象，以致一般人認為味精有害健康。味精真的有害嗎？新近出現的高鮮味精又是什麼？它能取代味精嗎？味精的成分為麩胺酸鈉鹽。麩胺酸是一種胺基酸，為構成蛋白質的原料，廣泛存在於天然蛋白質食品，如乳酪、豆類、玉米、番茄、素肉及素火腿中含量皆不少。早期的味精是由海藻或植物中萃取，現在多是利用發酵方式生產。某些人在食用含有味精的菜餚後，出現頭痛、胸悶、惡心、嘔吐、心悸、臉潮紅、腹痛，甚至氣喘情況加重等不適症狀；尤其是平常不食用味精的外國人，更常在吃了含味精的中國菜後出現這些現象，早期西方醫學界便將這些症狀歸因於食用了中國餐館大量使用味精的食物，因而稱為「中國餐館症候群」。

有些研究認為，這可能是因為麩胺酸是神經系統中一個重要的神經傳導物質，而對麩胺酸比較敏感的人，或許因體內麩胺酸濃度增加，刺激部分的神經系統，而引起一些反應。不過，近年來也有研究顯示，味精與中國餐館症候群並不完全相同，一些不適者可能是對食物中的其他成分過敏而歸咎於味精。事實上，味精中的麩胺酸鈉是食物中的天然成分，也是人體中的組成成分，食入人體之後的代謝就是一般胺基酸的代謝，因此味精對一般人應該是無害的。不過，除了前述對味精敏感的人之外，病況控制不良的氣喘患者，味精會加重氣喘症狀，因此食用時須特別小心。(……待續)

Yushan a frontrunner for natural wonders list

Yushan (Mt. Jade), a major natural landmark in Taiwan and the highest mountain in northeast Asia, presently ranks among the frontrunners to make a list of the world's seven natural wonders.

The Yushan National Park Administration nominated the mountain to represent Taiwan in a selection by people around the world via the Internet.

The worldwide polls are held by a foundation based in Switzerland to select seven world wonders in the categories of landscape, sea view, island, mountain, cave, forest, and lake on earth.

Yushan has defeated more than 1,000 nominated natural wonders to rank among the top 261 places on the overall list in the first round of voting.

A total of 77 natural wonders — 11 in each of the seven categories — will be picked out of the 261 places in the second round of balloting that will conclude on July 7.

The Web site for the worldwide voting is http://www.new7wonders.com/
Officials at the Yushan National Park Administration said about 40,000 people scale Yushan every year and close to 20 percent or 8,000 mountain climbers are from abroad.

They said people should give their ballots to the more friendly and reachable mountains rather than the inaccessible ones, on which most people have no chance to set foot.

Italy dig unearths female 'vampire' in Venice

An archaeological dig near Venice has unearthed the 16th-century remains of a woman with a brick between her jaws — evidence, experts say, that she was believed to be a vampire.
The skeleton was found amid other corpses buried in a mass grave during an epidemic of plague that hit Venice in 1576.
During epidemics, diggers of mass graves would sometimes find older bodies that were bloated, with blood seeping out of their mouth and with an inexplicable hole in the shroud used to cover their face.
Modern forensic science shows the bloating is caused by a buildup of gases, while fluid seeping from the mouth is pushed up by decomposing organs.
At the time however, "scientific texts" taught that "shroud-eaters" were vampires who fed on the cloth and cast a spell that would spread the plague.
To kill the undead creatures, a stone or brick had to be forced into the vampire's mouth so that it would starve to death.