I’d like to stay home this morning with my coffee and a novel, or maybe finish up some blog posts I’ve started, but not finished, in the last few weeks. But you’ll have to wait to hear what I think about The Wild Trees
Because today, I’m going to work, and I’m going to stay there much later than I’d like. I’ve got a meeting tomorrow about my research, and I want to have some exciting new model runs to show off!
I started blogging 6 years ago today. I’ve blogged for a lot of different reasons, but the desire to share and connect with other people, to be part of a larger conversation, has always been a part of it (though sometimes I’ve really identified with Jamie here and felt like quitting). I count many of the people I’ve met through blogging as dear friends.
During many of the years that I’ve blogged, I haven’t consistently kept a real journal, but some rather large changes have happened in my life. I’m grateful to have at least some sort of record of my thoughts. Six years ago, I was partway through my first (somewhat miserable) year of college and my livejournal is full of cringe-inducing and confusing posts that reflect the havoc migraines and medications were wreaking in my life. My second blog documents the painful end of my time at UNC, my poorly thought out stint as a nanny, the odd & sometimes lonely experience of teaching English in China, and my first very happy year living in the southwest.
I’ve been writing here since 2007 and I don’t think I’ll be moving again anytime soon. In general, I think my blogging has become less personal now than it used to be, but I still write about plants, politics, shoes, books, and living with migraines. You all don’t comment very often, but I’d love to know why you read my blog and what kinds of posts you particularly look for.
For access to password protected posts, please email me at enchantressofnumbers at gmail dot com. Let me know if I know you in real life and send me a link to your blog or website if you’ve got one.
A beautiful post on hierarchies and judgement within marginalized communities.
The Skeptic’s Book of Pooh-Pooh points out an awesome news story on the danger anti-vaxers create for children in their communities. The anti-vaxers hypocrisy is also on display in their support of chemical castration for autistic boys.
We can’t expect toxic products to stop coming from China anytime soon. Honesty and transparency are impossible with a government that actively represses knowledge of its own history.
Women continue to be kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and brutally murdered in Mexico. Despite the hundreds of victims that are likely the victims of one or more serial killers, the police aren’t doing anything about it.
As the AZ legislature slashes education funding across the state, especially at the university level, the AZ Republic has a timely article about the importance of research – even if it sounds ridiculous.
“Justice.”
Lindsay Beyerstein explains that we do still need journalists and should be paying them – most bloggers provide commentary and synthesis, not reporting.
The role of partisanship in California’s economic crisis.
Something to have nightmares about: the rise of private policing in the US.
Right wing extremists kill more law enforcement officers.
Dr. Isis’s fantastic post Boys Talk About How Girls Should Talk About Science…
It’s easy to consider a civil discourse when you’ve never had your ass grabbed by a colleague, been called “young lady” in front of your peers, or been asked about your reproductive plans. It’s easy to ask the participants to be calm, and minimize profanity, when you don’t have to keep in the back of you mind which which men to avoid at a meeting when they’ve been drinking.
FSP on “us and them.”
The next cake I’m going to bake.
Pennsylvania is starting to look like the deep south half a century ago.
I have several posts waiting to be written (or half written) and had grand plans of finishing at least one today. Unfortunately, I’m sick again today. For the last several weeks I’ve been nauseated for several hours almost every day for no apparent reason. It isn’t bad enough to make me miserable, but it keeps me from staring at my computer screen for too long. So instead of telling you about my trip to Sedona today, I’m going to go sit on the porch and drink ginger tea.
I’d apologize for the lack of blogging, but I’m pretty sure most of my readers have either experienced the end of a semester or heard me whine enough to understand exactly why I’ve disappeared the last few weeks. I don’t actually have any finals this semester, but I do have large papers and projects to turn in. Ultimately, these end up being a lot more work than a big test, but I prefer them. Most exams just require you to vomit up some large percentage of the information presented in class that semester, but a term paper or project forces me to think about what I’ve learned in different contexts, apply it, and synthesize it. Much more useful and interesting than regurgitating Ohm’s law in all its permutations for plant physiology (Dr. Isis is right about everything in physiology boiling down to Ohm’s law) or listing the advantages of a hierarchical Bayesian modeling approach.
I turn in my modeling project at 7:30 AM tomorrow and my plant physiology mock grant proposal on Thursday morning. Then I’m going to reward myself by replacing the cheap, falling apart plastic plants some of plants live in and sit on my balcony in the sunshine playing in the dirt for a few hours.
And then you might hear from me again.
I’ve been wanting to change my theme for awhile, but was having trouble finding one I liked, so I was very excited when I saw Moody’s new theme. The theme designer, Brian, has some absolutely stunning themes and they’re really well done. Most themes I’ve used don’t handle picture alignment very well and have strange formatting quirks, but his are just perfect. So come check out my awesome new theme if you’re reading this with a feedreader!
I was planning on having the 14th Berry Go Round up today, but it was eaten by wordpress. I should have it cobbled back together by tomorrow morning, so check back soon!
It’s going to be pretty quiet around here for the next month - I’ve got 3 big scholarship deadlines and an abstract to get submitted. Wish me luck!
Everybody!
I’m feeling uncharacteristically indecisive and couldn’t make up my mind for the Extinction Thursdays competition. I’ll just use a different one each week! As for the prizes – everyone who made a suggestion should email me a mailing address.
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