I think I should lay off on the recipes that require basil. My poor plant looks a bit naked.
the fall semester
Classes: Calculus III, Botany, Topics in Environmental Biology
Work: 10 hrs a week at a local non-profit, 10-20 hrs a week tech support, 10-20 hrs a week in the lab
Fun: Occasional naps
how much evidence
Can you imagine a murder case being thrown out for lack of evidence when there were eyewitnesses and DNA evidence? Probably not. But it happens with rape. Even when rape is reported, it almost never results in conviction and very rarely does the perpetrator face serious jail time. Perhaps if this crime were taken more seriously, it wouldn’t be so common.
Dear God
Please tell your humble servants to buy me garlic
I planted a giant pot of garlic today. The pot should be deep, the soil should be rich, and the cloves should be just below the surface. It should be ready to harvest in May or June. I hope it grows – I used bulbs I bought at the grocery store. Judging from how quickly they sprout on my counter, it should be fine.
denial
Rachel Carson inspired the environmental movement with her book Silent Spring
Sen. Tom Coburn derailed approval of a Senate resolution honoring the life of Carson, whose 1962 book “Silent Spring” warned of the dangers posed to wildlife and humans by the pesticide DDT and who is credited with inspiring the modern environmental movement.
“Rachel Carson’s work both directly and indirectly created a climate of hysteria and misinformation about the impact of DDT on the human populations,” said John Hart, a spokesman for Coburn, in explaining why the Oklahoma Republican withheld his support for the plan to honor her.
And we wonder why it’s so hard to get people moving on issues like climate change. This guy wants to bring widespread DDT use back. Of course, he probably recognizes the dangers, but he’s probably getting paid to say things like this. You’d think as a doctor he’d care a little more about the health of his constituents.
shopping at Wal-Mart
I went to Wal-Mart today. I needed milk and a pot. It took me 20 minutes, primarily because people much much bigger than me took up every available bit of space and did not respond to numerous excuse me’s. I am in agreement with Z:
And I think I hate Walmart. I hated it first because it was full of people, then because everything you buy there breaks, because they treat their employees like shit, because they can throw off the global economy if they feel like it, ship jobs to China and exploit workers over there […] Whatever. If everyone has been to Walmart everyone knows what is bad about it. You go because it’s cheap and it’s one stop. But now I can’t even buy anything that is really worth my money. Am I going spend money on this shit? No. I’m going to the grocery store, and the hardware store and I’m going to waste my money on gas after driving all the way out here.
Walmart makes me feel trapped. Trapped between trying to save money because I don’t have much, and trying not to buy the things that don’t cost a lot of money because they’re cheap, shitty things that break and give you health problems. And it seems that I am not alone in this. I wish that no one had to shop at Walmart.