Archive for 2009
What I’ve Noticed
Sexual assault prevention tips guaranteed to work: men, don’t rape people; women, just stop having a vagina to tempt the rapists. For as wealthy as the US is, you’d think we’d have safe drinking water. But we really don’t. Pollution is one reason why the popularity of bottled water is such a bad thing – […]
Crossed wires
When I have migraines, my senses become hyper-acute – light, smells, sounds, tastes, sensation are all too much. Sometimes, though, I sense things that aren’t actually there. I often smell smoke or exhaust when there isn’t any. Coffee tastes peppery. And I can hear an indistinct conversation even when there aren’t any people nearby. It’s […]
What We Killed Thursday
Fitchia mangarevensis was endemic to Tarvai in the Gambier islands of French Polynesia. It was described by science in the 20s and studied through the 50s, but hasn’t been seen since. The Gambier islands have a long history of human environmental destruction. While the Gambier islands once had a population of thousands, they can now […]
Idioms
I struggled with many common idioms as a child. Two I remember being confused by: You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. I didn’t understand how it was possible to eat a cake you didn’t have. A friend in need is a friend indeed. While I thought helping friends was great, I didn’t […]
Sports really are primitive
E.O. Wilson in Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge: Not just hunter-gatherer bands but also groups and nations at the level of high civilization are prone to adopt animal species as totems to reflect the qualities they most value in themselves. American football fans, having at last found a way to form their own Paleolithic tribes, […]
What I’ve Been Listening To
Amazon.com Widgets
What I’ve Noticed
Oh so true snippets of fundie culture. The Princeton Guide to Ecology just went to the top of my wishlist. Yes, even above the lovely shoes I posted earlier this week. “Government-run” health care has problems, but it still works better than private insurance: Compared with the employer-coverage group, people in the Medicare group report […]