Archive for August, 2008
Vacation’s over
I lived at the Kellogg Biological Station for most of this summer. It’s wonderful to be home, but living on a lake wasn’t all bad.
“It’s natural”
From Helen Boyd‘s She’s Not the Man I Married. I find it amusing that people find excuses for their bad behavior by pointing to residual cavemen genes, since I thought the whole point of civilization was to maybe get past our most basic urges, or at least indulge them responsibly.
Wondering what to do with your life?
From The Life of the Cosmos by Lee Smolin. [T]he fact that general relativity and the quantum are not yet united means that we have no single picture of what the world is that we can believe in. When a child asks, What is the world, we literally have nothing to tell her.
Sexism
From Helen Boyd‘s She’s Not the Man I Married. the first time it occurred to me that my mother wasn’t just my mom or Mrs. My Dad, but actually had a first name, astonished me. I remember feeling shocked by the realization that my mother was a person, like me, and not just someone who’d […]
DKNY Ballari
I went to a conference where I needed to look somewhat professional, but I needed to be able to walk several miles and stand for several hours. So, I went shopping for a pair of black flats. I tried three brands of shoes that were relatively cheap – $30 to $60. Even though they all […]
Elephant, spaceship, whatever
My housemate, Jane, is a wonderful artist and has this strange idea that everyone around her is some sort of artist, too. She hung up a large piece of paper in our kitchen and insists that visitors add something. I showed it to my brother who is staying with us this week: Me: I added […]
What I’ve noticed (back to normal edition)
Abortionclinicdays proposes that a special notice to patients be displayed in places where caregivers are allowed to refuse reproductive care to women if it interferes with their religious rights. It begins”I follow my own religious beliefs ahead of your medical needs. Therefore, I will not support, offer, or approve any of the following checked off […]