From Deseret News:

[Recent 'mini-trek' was] a promotional event for the full trek from Iowa City to Salt Lake City set to roll in summer 2009. …

The Mormon Trail Handcart Trek 2009 will commence next April, as part of a study abroad program.

Each handcart group will be made up of about 10 people, led by a student leader. The teams will each pull and care for an authentic pioneer-style handcart, built by hand especially for this trek.

Groups also will be responsible for various tasks along the trek, which will be self-sufficient in terms of equipment, housing, food and toilet facilities. …

Related: New book about Iowa City to Utah trek: ‘Devil’s Gate: Brigham Young and the great Mormon handcart tragedy’

Happy Father’s day, its that time again for me to share of the abundance of enriching and interesting items I found in my cyberspace wanderings this past week. So. without further delay, I present especially for you, the reader, the best of the Internet I could find…

Regarding the Mind-

At Mind Hacks, Vaughan has a nice piece on the cultural aspect of PTSD, and how trauma is largely defined by ones own values and opinions. I think this is actually a good argument that PTSD is actually a wounded soul or psyche.

Dr. Deb has a nice post pointing out the power of asking “what” we can do over instead of “why” bad things happen to us in empowering ourselves and coping with our problems.

At the Frontal Cortex, Jonah Lehrer has an excellent post about the neurobehavioral reasoning behind credit cards and how financial institutions use it to their advantage. If only we could give out play money at the same time as we charge with our cards, perhaps the nations debt woes would be solved.

Regarding the Soul-

The Washington Post has a fantastic article about Doctors and prayer, exploring why it is that so many doctors feel so uncomfortable praying with patients when a majority of their patients in fact find praying with their doctor desirable.

At By Common Consent, John C. has a thought provoking reframing of the lessons that can be learned from a group of Mormon Pioneers in the Martin Willey Handcart Company tragedy. He points out a powerful message about the Love of God and his continued concern and compassion for us, even as we suffer because of our own mistakes.

At Blog Segullah, Shelah ponders the meaning of Father’s Day, and expresses regret that their child’s baptism will take some of the luster off of the day for her husband, which leads her to an epiphany, Major spiritual milestones like baptism are actually the heart of what Father’s day is all about. Beautiful!

Regarding the Body-

The Scientific American has a fascinating case report on a lady in Queens with an extremely rare form of Epilepsy in which her siezures are triggered by music.

Speaking of seizures, MedGadget has an exciting report about work being done at MIT to develop a type of meteorological forecast of the brain, in order to predict and catch seizures before they happen and give the patient warning.

At Mark’s Daily Apple, Mark Sisson reports a study that shows that changing the timing of your meals lessens Jet lag. It seems we have an internal feeding clock, and it can override our circadian clock. Fascinating!

or All the Above-

At Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good, Susan Palwick has a wonderful post about compassionately helping the wounded learn to help themselves, and feeding the hungry when stigma and cynicism say otherwise. It’s a nice picture of humanity hidden quietly in the hospital.

At Rural Doctoring, Therese Chan has a beautifully simple post about an idyllic childbirth, In which mother and spouse as a couple give each other all the support they need, and nurses and doctors fade into the background to let them share the experience.

In answer last week’s question of death culture and what doctors should and should not share with patients or their families, Here is some hard survey data suggesting death is more comfortable if you remember discussing end of life care with your physician, at the Hospice and Caregiving Blog.

and just because I Liked it-

At Musings of a distractible mind, Dr. Rob takes on his reader’s burning question in a simple, honest, and straightforward manner as he describes his own experience of what it is like to be a doctor.

Kim at Emergiblog gives a spirited defense of the far too often underlooked contribution of Nurses, rebutting patient complaints with a loud and clear, That’s what the nurse was doing. All I can say is thank you, Kim. Nurses are the real foot soldiers and caretakers in medicine. I like them. (It helps when your mom is one, and a fantastic one at that.)

At Zooillogix, the strange story of Lady the toad sucking Cocker Spaniel. It turns out some dogs like hallucinogenic toads and can develop quite a habit. Warning- As a doctor, I’ve seen worse, but the last picture of the spewed toad might just turn your stomach.

In honor of Father’s Day, the Art of Manliness has a collection of the all time best (and worst) TV dads.

That’s it for now. Have a great Father’s day. Hope you enjoy and happy surfing.