Teri's Tell All

Time to Say So Long

2007-01-30T17:36:00.000-06:00

Blogger is forcing me to sign up with Google in order to keep posting to this blog. I have to choose a Google account. I'm sure that means I'll be inundated with Google spam so... it's time to say so long.

When I find another avenue to thrill you all with my esoteric babble, I'll let you know. In the meantime, loyal friends and fans, greet each day with an astronomical APOD beauty, check out the vocabulary match-up quiz on the Free Dictionary page, and revel in each moment of wonderment. The world is worth enjoying with fresh eyes every day. It's been fun.

... and, thanks for all the fish!

Stepping Out

2007-01-26T16:50:00.000-06:00

Today, at 60 degrees - feels like 62, my knee finally felt up to venturing out and I hobbled the long block to Bread Co for their tasty Asian Sesame Chicken Salad and a visit with some friends. Sunshine! Good cheer! Heaven!

It turns cold tomorrow but I have my 20-minutes (minus any knee involved exercises) and my massage to look forward to so... who cares! It's the weekend!

Wishes

2007-01-25T16:28:00.000-06:00

Wow, was I tired yesterday. I had an 8am and a 9am presentation, a full day, and then a 4pm presentation. I went home and slept 9 hours! But my knee and ankle are much better today so all's well,
I guess, and I've gotten nice feedback about the classes including a very complimentary email cc'd to my boss. The faculty think I'm doing a wonderful job, which is good, I just wish I could translate that into more $$$ or, even better, more vacation, i.e., faculty status.

Won't happen but I can wish.

Father of the Bomb

2007-01-24T16:05:00.000-06:00

In a very interesting and moving book, Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, by Lydia Millet, we meet Robert Oppenheimer, "father of the bomb", as he looks upon the 21st century world that has arisen, in large part, because of his work. We read incredulous statements about nuclear tests and massive storage and peace rallies which are undoubtedly true. Oppenheimer is revered by some as God and to that he says, "we are not gods, but we are something else. We are the end of man. ... We have the power of gods but we do not have the wisdom. This is our tragedy." (p.461)

Words made flesh every day...

Bush spoke last night...

Doilies of Disease

2007-01-23T15:52:00.000-06:00

Have a look at some lovely computer-embroidered doilies that are patterned after viruses:

Laura Splan and click on the doily picture at far right, top line.

Who would have thought that beauty could come from HIV?

Wonderful Web Video

2007-01-22T16:32:00.000-06:00

I was joining a class today for the last 20 minutes to do a brief library instruction demo and the prof was showing a short web video which I think is beautiful. You've all heard most of the statistics presented (and not all of them are depressing, some are just jaw-dropping) but putting them together with pictures and music is very effective. Follow my link to the Big Picture Small World website and scroll down the left-hand side menu for the movie "World in 10 Seconds".

Big Picture Small World

New Class

2007-01-19T15:27:00.000-06:00

Blogger was down (or so slow as to be the same thing) yesterday but there wasn't anything new to report. The knee is getting better each day and I can walk around without support now, though I still carry the cane just in case.

I signed up for another MLA seminar -- not the one I had planned on taking (film noir) but "Reality Fiction" or how reliable are authors who claim to be writing memoirs / autobiographies? The first class was last night in the absolutely farthest classroom from anywhere on the campus. I managed to hobble there without too much trouble as the sidewalks are new and well lit and I gave myself an hour. (It took 25 minutes.)

We'll be looking at older works (Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams) but talking about contemporary issues, too. The prof is witty, intelligent, and interested in what we have to say, as are the members of the class, including the area Peace Corps recruiter who spent time in the Pacific, a poet finishing up his MFA, a woman from Italy who is a translater here, several high school English teachers, the traveling lawyer who was in my "Critical Passages" class, and several other equally interesting people. The discussions should prove to be lively and intellectual. I'm excited!

Wobbling and Hobbling

2007-01-17T14:35:00.000-06:00

2007 is not starting well. Last Sunday I fell down the stairs and did something horrible to my knee (also sprained my ankle and scared the bejesus out of the 2 old ladies in the house). If you don't want the gory details, skip the rest of this post.

I had been feeling really good, strong after my 20-minutes-to-fitness session on Saturday. I had excess energy and was going up and down the stairs with ease. Except the last time, of course, when I had my hands full, was not holding onto the railing, and must have slipped on my socks. All I know is I ended up grabbing the railing and landing with my "good" knee bent at an extremely unnatural angle. At this point, I'm cold sweating and the room is trying to recede. Unfortunately, I have to straighten that leg in order to get down the rest of the stairs -- excruciating and then some!!! More cold sweat and spots in front of my eyes. The knee joint was extremely wobbly but I made it to the couch where I applied ice and elevated it.

Now I'm hobbling around with the knee and ankle wrapped, using a walker and a cane, and waiting to get in to see a knee joint specialist. Want more info? Here's a link to a good article:

BUPA (British) Health Information

Now I've got 2 bad knees and I'm quite sure the doctor will say, once again, that strengthening the muscles around the knee is the only thing that will help. Bummer, bummer, bummer!

2007 can only get better, right?

380 Years

2007-01-12T17:26:00.000-06:00

I use my pheromone charms to snag a Rhodes-scholar baseball pitcher who signs $37 million contracts and makes us filthy rich (need to have a stake for the next umpteen years)and popular (I can be the fun-party-girl I never quite was) and world-travelers (see all the beautiful places). Unfortunately, he'd age but I wouldn't so, at some point, I'd have to pretend to be his companion care-giver instead of his partner.

Then, because remaining young as everyone else ages would throw up all kinds of red flags, I'd need to meet someone... say, a CIA man... who could help me create a new identity and I'd probably have to hang out with him for a suitably long time so as not to just be using him -- until that became uncomfortable once again.

I'd like to become a British archaeology student, studying Celtic rock carvings, getting in to see the actual Lascaux. After that lifetime and career of traveling the world looking at rock art, I'd hope to become... oh... an Australian writer of novels or research articles and/or a university professor... something reclusive and quiet but in touch with the world.

By this time, I'm about 350 years old and I'm sure that the world's governments would be micro-chipping and fingerprinting everyone by that time; thus, it would be much harder, if not impossible, to change identities.

But I'm stuck here anyway. What do I want to do next? Dance? Maybe... but that only accounts for 30 more years or so and I've used up all the careers I've ever wished I had. I've got 700 more years!!!

You see the dilemma. Career suggestions welcome.

Details

2007-01-11T17:09:00.000-06:00

The story goes... I am presented with an alien artifact that is decorated with spirals (naturally) and can be worn around the neck and, when I put it on, begins to work medical magic repairing my telomere DNA which makes me look and feel 25 and will continue to work for 1000 years after which I will begin to age normally. It also gives me powerful pheromones which can be used to influence people to help me, hide me, falsify identity records, and/or donate money to my continued well-being. (Might as well give myself a somewhat easier time of it.)

The amulet has been handed down through generations of women, originally found 60,000 years ago by a not-quite-modern-human ancestor. (Think of the details that can be added here for weeks of bedtimes! And, the possibilities of evolutionary tinkering. Oh, I'm having fun with this!!! Maybe I should actually research it and write a best-seller???)

So... for my first new life...

Bedtime Story

2007-01-10T16:49:00.000-06:00

For years I have told myself a bedtime story to ease into sleep. Because I fall asleep quickly these tales can take months to conclude given the intricate detail that I provide myself and the desire for an intro synopsis before adding new information.

When I was unhappy with my job, the story revolved around allocating mega-millions won with the lucky PowerBall ticket (which I did, indeed, purchase twice a week for as long as that miserable job lasted). (Actually buying the ticket and creating fantasy changes to my life gave each week a little hope.)

Now that I love my job and life in general, the story involves living 1000 years and just what I would do with myself for that many generations. Think about it... after you've read all the books you've ever wanted to read (heaven!) and gathered enough degrees to dabble in several careers (I keep thinking I want to follow another thread), what would you do with the remaining 700 years?

And, how would you keep the government from dissecting you?

Hectic New Year

2007-01-09T17:34:00.000-06:00

So it took me a bit longer to get back to blogging but it's been a hectic beginning to 2007. I arrived from Florida to a limping cat, a humongous screw in my tire, a long list of chores at home, and a lot of preparation to do for the start of the semester.

I left work early one day to take Took to the vet where he said that he guesses she tore her cruciate ligament but, without sedating her for x-rays (not recommended due to her age), he couldn't be sure. He wouldn't recommend surgery anyway (age, again) and she seems to be getting along okay now that I've given her a stepstool to make the jump up to my bed easier.

I took time out of another day to go to the station to have the tire patched. I was pretty surprised that they could do it given the truly enormous size of the screw.

I just a few minutes ago finished putting up a bulletin board about trustworthy websites. I've also prepared a short presentation to the new adjunct faculty with totally rewritten handouts and started thinking about my first instruction class of the semester which is on the very first day of classes.

Phewwwww !!! Busy, busy, busy.

Happy New Year

2006-12-21T23:46:00.000-06:00

I expect to be in the library alone, or nearly so, tomorrow, possibly at the circulation desk, where the computer sports a sign that threatens that Big Brother is watching so... no blogging. And, then, we're closed until the new year and I'm off to Florida for a week of sun and warmth so... no blogging.

I'll be back Jan3, maybe with pictures from my new digital camera if I figure out how to upload them.

Have a happy and safe New Year !

P.S. My massage therapist says she can already (just four
20-minutes-to-fitness sessions) tell that my muscles are getting stronger and that I should keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.P.S. An extraordinarily beautiful APOD Last Tuesday, 12/19.

P.P.P.S. Bummer of an announcement recently about obesity -- seems that people with a weight problem have highly efficient gut bacteria causing them to gain more calories from what they eat. No kidding -- that's what I've been saying all along!

S & R, part 7 - Conclusion

2006-12-20T14:03:00.000-06:00

"Science cannot tell us if God exists only in our imaginations or as an entity beyond our comprehension. So why do some scientists continue the search... ?" (p.57)

! ! ! World domination ! ! !

"Persinger warns that in the wrong hands, a truly precise, powerful God machine, capable of implanting beliefs or signals that seem to come straight from the Almighty, could be the ultimate mind-control device." (p.57)

Or maybe just to create devices that treat depression...

S & R, part 6 - Molecular

2006-12-19T13:40:00.000-06:00

Rick Strassman, psychiatrist, "traces spirituality to a single compound, dimethyltryptamine, or DMT ... [and] proposes that DMT secreted by our own brains plays a profound role in human consciousness. Specifically, he hypothesizes that endogenous DMT triggers mystical visions, psychotic hallucinations, alien-abduction experiences, near-death experiences, and other exotic cognitive phenomena. ... Like the classic psychedelic compounds ..., DMT resembles neurotransmitters ... But what makes DMT unique ... is that trace amounts of it naturally occur in the human body. ... Many of his subjects reported quasi-religious sensations ... and contact with 'a supremely powerful, wise, and loving presence.' ... [Some] visions ... were not always friendly. ... In part out of concern about this negative experience, Strassman discontinued his research." (p.56-57)

S & R, part 5 - Genetics

2006-12-18T13:31:00.000-06:00

Dean Hamer, geneticist, is trying to link religion to a specific gene. Building on twin studies "[i]n the 1980s ... [and] his research in the late 1990s ... [on] the genetics of nicotine addition, ... Hamer focused on genes associated with neurotransmitters ... [and found] a variant, or allele, of a gene called VMAT that corresponded to higher scores for what he had defined as spirituality. ... Hamer calls the VMAT variant 'the spiritual allele,' or more dramatically, 'the God gene' ... Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project ... calls Hamer's claim 'wildly overstated.' " (p.55-56)

S & R, part 4 - Pathology

2006-12-15T13:23:00.000-06:00

Michael Persinger, neuroscientist (of the Dawkins god-machine experience, see 12/12 post), "attempts to explain religious experiences with a radically different theory, one with a pathological slant. ... When the brain is mildly disrupted - by a head injury, psychological trauma, stroke, drugs, or epileptic seizure - our left-brain self may interpret activity within the right hemisphere as another self ... we may perceive a sensed presence as a ghost, angel, demon, extraterrestrial, or God. Religion (or at least the experience of God), ... might be a cerebral mistake. ... [I]nspired in part by ... epileptic patients ... [who], when their temporal lobes were stimulated, reported hearing voices and seeing apparitions ... [Persinger built] a device consisting of solenoids that encircle the head and deliver computer-controlled electromagnetic pulses to specific regions of the brain. ... 600 subjects ... he claims that as many as 80 percent 'sense a presence'." (p.55)

S & R, part 3 - Neurology

2006-12-14T13:11:00.000-06:00

Andrew Newberg, neuroscientist, researches the similar mystical sensations reported by people of different religious traditions by scanning the brains of monks meditating, Christians praying, and others. "These commonalities indicate that the visions stem from the same neural processes... [Brain scans suggest] that suppressed activity ... (prompted by an individual's willed activity) could heighten a sense of unity with the external world", a blurring of the line between self and other, and, thus, a feeling of religious experience. (p.54)

S & R, part 2 - Anthropomorphism

2006-12-13T12:55:00.000-06:00

Steward Guthrie, anthropologist, "argues that the belief in supernatural beings is a result of an illusion that arises from our tendency to project human qualities onto the world. ... Anthropomorphism is an adaptive trait that enhanced our ancestors' chances of survival... [mistaking] a tree creaking ... for a human assailant, he suffered no adverse consequences ... Over millennia, as natural selection bolstered our unconscious anthropomorphic tendencies, they reached beyond specific objects and events to encompass all of nature", leading to the creation of gods. (p.54)

Science & Religion, part 1

2006-12-12T17:00:00.000-06:00

Richard Dawkins (aka Darwin's Bulldog) is quite critical of religion, lauding science as the way to understand the universe. Apparently, a few years ago, he participated in an experiment that claimed to have "induced religious experiences in subjects by stimulating specific regions of their brains with electromagnetic pulses. ... [Using] the 'God machine' ... he was 'very disappointed' that he did not experience 'communion with the universe' or some other spiritual sensation." ("The God Experiments". Horgan, J. Discover, Dec2006, p.52)

I'm sure Dawkins was disappointed because, if he had experienced a mystical feeling, he would be able to say that it was induced within his own brain, not by god - a purely scientific explanation.

"[M]odern researchers are applying brain scans, genetic probes, and other potent instruments as they attempt to locate the physiological causes of religious experience, characterize its effects, perhaps replicate it, and perhaps even begin to explain its abiding influence. ... Some [researchers] ... hope that their studies will inform and enrich faith. Others see religion as an embarrassing relic of our past, and they want to explain it away." (p.52)

Over the course of this week, I'll be reviewing the experiments discussed in the above quoted article but, first, a brief mention of "Do Magic Mushrooms Make You Mystical?" (Ruvinsky, J. Discover, Oct2006, p.19)

"36 healthy, well-educated, psychologically stable middle-aged adults who had never used hallucinogens volunteered for the study. ... 61 percent ... [had] a 'complete mystical experience' ... 71 percent ... one of the five most spiritually significant experiences of their lives; 79 percent said it increased their long-term sense of personal well-being or life satisfaction."

Dawkins might be pleased with those results, a physically induced state of religion.

Fat Vaccine

2006-12-11T17:54:00.000-06:00

There's an experimental vaccine against obesity that triggers an immune response against the rat's own molecules. While it sounds great - lose weight, lose fat - a neuroscientist from Canada says "It's an intriguing idea... [but] I sure as hell wouldn't take it, no matter how fat I was." So much for a quick fix!

(From Discover, January 2007, p.64)

APOD Duel

2006-12-08T10:07:00.000-06:00

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is really cool!

What they've done is present a false-color, enhanced picture of a nebula (very beautiful to look at) and, if you run your cursor over the picture, a second picture of the same nebula in actual, natural color (also beautiful but not as colorful).

A bit of dueling beauty.

The Subconscious Knows...

2006-12-07T17:03:00.000-06:00

From (Garfield, K. "Are We All Synesthetes?" Discover, Dec 2006, p19):

"The artist Vasily Kandinsky imagined he could hear the tone of his paintings as he made them. ... synesthesia - was thought to affect at most about 4 percent of the population, but ... we may all have a bit. ... [Psychologist Jamie] Ward asked 200 random [people] ... to view two musical animations. One was designed by synesthetes to accompany a piece of music; the other was designed by nonsynesthetes. When asked which animation better matched the music, volunteers overwhelmingly chose the synesthete-designed animation. ... 'We all, unconsciously, link together music and vision, but only synesthetes are consciously aware of these links", he says. ... neuroscience might spark a renaissance in understanding art."

And, speaking of art, from (Garfield, K. "A Turbulent Mind", Discover, Oct 2006, p.19):

"Vincent van Gogh was a brilliant depicter of natural phenomena, especially when he was at his most psychotic." In Starry Night's tempestuously swirling sky, "[Jose Luis] Aragon found that Van Gogh's eddies matched the famous Kolmogorov statistical model of turbulence. ... quite a coup, since the problem of turbulence is generally considered the last unsolved mystery of classical physics."

Is this unconscious knowledge another thing that sets humans apart? Or, again, is it just the fact that we ask the question?

Drum Roll, Please

2006-12-06T16:49:00.000-06:00

This is my 300th blog entry!!! I'm celebrating with an interesting refutation of a common myth about death:

"In 1907 a Massachusetts doctor conducted an experiment with a specially designed deathbed and reported that the human body lost 21 grams upon dying. This has been widely held as fact ever since. It's not." (Temescu, LeeAundra. "20 Things You Didn't Know About Death", Discover, Sep 2006, p80)

From Snopes.com, the urban myth debunking website:
Dr. Duncan MacDougall weighed 6 different dying patients, "attempted to eliminate as many physiological explanations for the observed results as he could conceive", "repeated his experiment with fifteen dogs", and reported that the people lost varying amounts of weight (their souls) and the dogs lost none (no souls). His results were admittedly questionable. "Nonetheless, MacDougall believed he was onto something — four years later the New York Times reported in a front-page story that he had moved on to experiments which he hoped would allow him to take pictures of the soul: ... 'Dr. McDougall is convinced from a dozen experiments with dying people that the soul substance gives off a light resembling that of the interstellar ether.' ... MacDougall seems not to have made any more experimental breakthroughs regarding the measurement of the human soul after 1911 (at least, none considered remarkable enough to have been reported in the pages of the New York Times), and he passed away in 1920. Nonetheless, his legacy lives on in the oft-expressed maxim that the human soul weighs 21 grams. ... MacDougall's results were flawed because the methodology used to harvest them was suspect, the sample size far too small, and the ability to measure changes in weight imprecise. For this reason, credence should not be given to the idea his experiments proved something, let alone that they measured the weight of the soul as 21 grams."

So much for the movie, 21 Grams (2003), though it got nominated for 2 Oscars. Maybe I should watch it. Maybe it should get a drum roll.

Technology

2006-12-05T16:44:00.000-06:00

I bought myself an iPod Shuffle for xmas and gave it to Will to load up with songs (240) as his present to me. I'm looking forward to hearing what he's chosen and drowning out the mindless chatter of freshman students while I'm reading on my lunch break.

I also, finally, bought myself a digital camera. The pictures of Canada really didn't turn out very good (The ones I posted were the best of a poor bunch. See posts from 10/13 - 10/24.) and so I felt it was time to invest in better technology. And I do mean better! Since I take pictures of rock art, often high on cliffs, I wanted greater than average zoom capacity but I also wanted compact size. That gets kinda pricey... but fun. I'm spending a lot of time figuring out all the camera's capabilities. (I'm still haven't figured out mine.)

So... I was feeling a little smug about entering the 21st century... until a friend mentioned that I don't yet have a flashdrive, or an HDTV, or a TiVo. Okay, okay... so I've only entered the 20th century but at least I'm no longer a total Luddite!!!

I'll get the hang of all this technology yet.

Enthused

2006-12-04T11:46:00.000-06:00

Not only am I capable of walking from the garage to my office (see 11/29 post), I feel somewhat more energetic than normal and slightly warmer than recently, no longjohns needed. (My metabolism is ramped up?) So, I am quite enthused about the 20 Minutes to Fitness regime. The super slow method suits me so much better than aerobic bounciness.

Now... I do have to remind myself that the trainer went easy on me because he underestimated my strength. Of the 6 physical therapy rehabilitation machines I was on, only the last two were weighted high enough to push my muscles to fatigue (with no strain on my joints!). But, I now know what this is going to feel like. And that I'll need to rest after and, like Saturday, go to my massage later in the day. I've prepaid 12 sessions which will take me into March. I should be hooked by then.

This is a strength and fitness program but building muscle burns calories so, if I diet with it (or at least make an effort during this holiday eating season), I may make inroads. I'll revisit this subject in March and let you all know.

Will Wonders Never Cease

2006-11-30T12:38:00.000-06:00

Amazing -- the College is closing at 2pm today in anticipation of bad weather. If the forecast comes true and we get many inches of snow, we may be closed tomorrow. How civilized!

Also amazing... yesterday it was 70 degrees and today below freezing.

Call Me Crazy but...

2006-11-29T16:36:00.000-06:00

well... no buts. I am nuts -- going off the deep end -- totally wacko. But I've got to do something that I'll stick with.

I was reading an article about an exercise routine where one (me???) can gain strength/fitness and burn mucho calories in just 20 minutes a week without breaking a sweat. You read right -- 20 minutes a week no sweat! The author, a respected journalist who admitted that she was being compensated for the article but that no amount of money could get her to lie, wrote an effective article; I looked up the program on the internet, read all the information, and emailed the local contact. I've now got an appointment on Saturday, right before my weekly massage, with the nurse and the nationally trained owner for a free orientation and first workout.

If I can manage to walk/crawl in to work on Monday, I'll let you all know what I think and feel and plan to do in the long term.

Saved by the

2006-11-28T16:56:00.000-06:00

green-and-yellow-sunflower (aka PB gas, aka Amoco). I took my bumper (along with the rest of the car) into the station this morning at 8am (and you all know how hard that was!) to have them try to pop out the dent.

They did. It looks pretty good. And, it only cost me 30 minutes and $34. If you didn't know, you might not notice. Definitely saved by the power of the shop guy.

Speaking of saved... I got a totally new computer at work the other day -- a brilliant flat-screen monitor, new keyboard, speakers, and mouse. It looks quite lovely on my desk now that I've dusted (the area under my dinosaur huge old monitor was ghastly) and resettled. The picture resolution is nicer, too.

Things are at least looking good!

Peace... almost

2006-11-27T17:04:00.000-06:00

I had a perfectly wonderful 4-day holiday which included several meals with Will as well as a piano duet (I'm really awful!) at the end of a delightful mini concert of guitar before the piano. When he wasn't around (which was actually quite often), I caught up on my magazine reading (4 months worth), took walks in the delightfully warm and sunny weather, and did no chores (after cooking the turkey and fixings). Oh, wait... I did some concrete patching so I was a bit productive. But, mostly, very restful and decadent.

Unfortunately, there was one bad happening -- someone backed into my car, dented the bumper, and (no surprise) left no note. It doesn't interfere with my driving but it looks awful and is the driver's side front bumper. In other words, I am confronted by the dent every time I approach the car. I'm taking it in to the gas station tomorrow morning to see if they can push it back into place (as I think they can). I really don't want to do the bodyshop thing.

I'm not going to let that ruin my mood, however; it's just a car (I keep telling myself). It's just a car.

Frivolous Read

2006-11-21T17:46:00.000-06:00

I'm reading a fun "beach book" right now about an archaeologist who digs up very old bones from Africa whose hand is holding an extraterrestrial object. Of course, there's a love triangle and jungle-based cocaine dealers and intrigue and... you get the idea. Not a book I'd recommend to anyone but I'm enjoying it.

I have to work a few hours tomorrow but will not be posting. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Back Monday.

Language

2006-11-20T16:46:00.000-06:00

On the continuing topic of what makes us unique, separate from the rest of the animal kingdom, special... proposals have been made and knocked down -- bipedal upright walking, tool use, social grouping, language -- all also practiced by different species. I favor the idea that we are the only ones who ask The Question; we ponder our existence and place. And, to ponder, we need sophisticated language.

According to the article, "Can we Talk?" by Annette Lessmoellmann in the October/November 2006 Scientific American Mind (p.44-49):

"The trait that makes human language different [from other animal language] is the complexity of sentence structures that we employ." ... "The thinking goes that no other animal... can create nested sentences such as 'The woman, whose dress, which was not unattractive, and rustled when she walked, sat down next to me.' ... In short, relative clauses are a human prerogative." ...

"When our ancestors' brains developed the ability to process nested structures, they were suddenly able to explore, improve and diversify their communication in complex new ways. It was as if they discovered a music or a grammatical rhythm in the world to which every other creature was tone-deaf. And ultimately that may have given humans a great deal to talk about."

Indeed.

To Be Thought About So Keenly

2006-11-17T17:34:00.000-06:00

[It would be inspiring, gratifying, satisfying to have someone feel about you the way the father does his daughter in Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics.]

"To my daughter, " Dad said grandly, ... "May your studies continue to the end of your days," he said. "May you walk a lighted path. May you fight for truth -- your truth, not someone else's -- and may you understand, above all things, that you are the most important concept, theory and philosophy I have ever known." (p314, bolding mine)

[Or to be looked at and listened to with the intensity described here.]

I knew how complimentary it could feel when Hannah talked to you, when she singled you out -- opened your meek cover, boldly creased the spine, stared inside at your pages, searching for the point at which she'd stopped reading, anxious to find out what happens next. (She always read with great concentration, so you thought you were her favorite paperback...) (p.322)

But fiction is, indeed, fiction... at least thus far.

FogBow

2006-11-16T17:42:00.000-06:00

Check out this amazing APOD of a fogbow (like a rainbow but colorless):

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Every day has the potential to present you with something wonderous if you look at things with new eyes and child-like enchantment. I don't know where I saw this quote (possibly at the end of an email?) but I like it:

Growing old is mandatory,
growing up is optional.

Spamalot

2006-11-15T15:49:00.000-06:00

was absolutely hilarious !!! Mason and I laughed so hard... and when we weren't laughing we were giggling uncontrollably.

Even the Playbill was Pythonesque -- there was a fake "coming attractions" play written up that had me limping (from the pulled leg) for a long while. I kept saying, for example, "maybe it's real 'cause Finns really have names with lots of vowels", and Mason kept saying, "no way, listen to this", proceeding to read the most outrageous lines. We were howling before the musical even started!

And, Spamalot... what a hoot! While it cribbed extensively (and shamelessly) from the movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which Mason has completely memorized, it also threw in the funniest new bits that kept startling him and causing shrieks of laughter from the whole audience, things like a song entitled, "The Song That Goes Like This" or "You Won't Succeed on Broadway", along with the Round Table (Roulette) and feathered Vegas showgirls.

Did I mention... it was hilarious! (Pronounced hi-lair-ee-us !!!!!)

Not so Recessive

2006-11-14T16:26:00.000-06:00

While I'm touting my recessive Kindergarten-teacher gene (see yesterday's post), my colleague is demonstrating her dominate one... We have a bust of The Bard on our circulation desk that sports new outfits depending upon the season. This morning he sprouted turkey feathers. In keeping with the idea that this is a turkey masquerading as Shakespeare, he is now wearing sunglasses (of the Elvis variety) and has backed away from the front edge of the desk. I chuckle every time I walk by.

Actually, this is probably a manifestation of, not a kindergarten-teacher gene, but a college-prankster gene. Amusing none-the-less.

Kindergarten Teacher Gene

2006-11-13T17:42:00.000-06:00

I must have one. I spent part of today putting up a bulletin board display. You know, cutting and pasting, arranging and taping. And, I enjoyed it! This one was about making your Google search better (if you do one) and, more importantly, when NOT to use Google. We'll see if it has any effect.

At least with these smart science students, I don't really ever feel like a kindergarten teacher!

Give Me More Banville

2006-11-10T16:54:00.000-06:00

I thoroughly enjoyed The Sea by John Banville (as I may have already said). The language is lush and painterly and I savored every word. Thus, I now have four more of his works in hand that marry his interest in science and its inability to explain the universe and in characters who are unable to explain themselves. I think it sounds quite fascinating.

From the website Contemporary Writers:

Banville gained international recognition with ... his 'scientific tetralogy', ... linked by their common interest in the status of mathematical or astronomical structures as alternative 'languages' of perception. In Dr Copernicus (1976) and Kepler (1981), the scientific protagonists serve to illustrate the shortcomings of any 'fictional' versions of the universe, which ultimately fail to capture its elusive substance. The resultant self doubt which burdens both Copernicus and Kepler recurs in The Newton Letter (1982), in which Newton's biographer, living in isolation in County Wexford, Ireland, attempts to write about Newton's crisis of belief while suffering, simultaneously, his own neurotic failure of nerve. The implied parallel between scientist and writer - both engaged on their own inadequate systems of interpretation - is foregrounded in what has been seen as Banville's most autobiographical work.

... Mefisto (1986) ... is a Faustian tale of a mathematical prodigy, Gabriel Swan ... Here the figure of the scientist gives way to the painter, as visual art becomes the primary channel for the author's meditation on perception and representation. ... Collectively, therefore, these novels mitigate some of Banville's earlier scepticism, despite their flirtation with the archetypal postmodernist jeux of gapped and inconsistent narration, non-sequential chronology, and the blurring of 'truth' and fantasy.

Capsaicin

2006-11-09T17:05:00.000-06:00

Tuesday evening I was going straight from work to an archaeology lecture so I went to our cafeteria to pick up dinner to eat in the car – hot braised chicken stir-fry -- and no drink. It was quite tasty, a little spicy for me but I was managing just fine, sitting in the car, enjoying the evening, when I bit into one of those tiny HOT red peppers.

I thought my mouth was on fire! I amassed spit to try to dilute it. I shoveled rice. I tried not to breathe and I tried to deep breathe. It went on forever… felt like an hour… but, probably in 10 minutes or so, I recovered enough to attend the lecture and forget about the pepper pain.

Wednesday morning I got up early to teach back-to-back classes of freshman comp, showing them the joys of database searching. Besides equipment problems again (another story), things were trundling right along until the last 10 minutes of the second class when… I totally lost my voice.

The menthol-eucalyptus cough drop I’d been sucking obviously hadn’t helped and the diet coke I sipped did nothing either. Thankfully, the instructor had been listening during the first class and summed up for me. My voice came back but went out again, off and on, all day.

It didn’t occur to me until several hours later that the voice loss might have been due to the throat burning of the night before.

Capsaicin, the ingredient in those little hot red peppers is touted as an amazing, natural pain reliever that “blocks pain signals from nerves… desensitized nerve fibers in knee joints… [and is used on] inflamed nerves in the airway… [with] nasal sprays.”
(Arthritis Today, Nov-Dec 2006, p54)

I’m VERY leery ! ! ! ! !

Park Morning

2006-11-08T17:04:00.000-06:00

The water reflects
grasses in autumn colors,
mirror clear and bright.

Bumper Sticker

2006-11-07T16:57:00.000-06:00

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

(All sides should take note.)

Hope and Worry

2006-11-06T17:21:00.000-06:00

I'm going to stop on my way to work tomorrow to vote. On the one hand, I hope I hit a lull and walk right up to the voting machine. On the other hand, I hope there's a long line of people wanting to vote -- mostly because the yard signs in my neighborhood are all on the correct side of the issues. And, I hope (quite possibly in vain) that my state changes colors in this election.

I worry that the important issues will not be supported because we're unlikely to become blue. I worry about what that will mean. I worry a little about the machines themselves. This is the first time we'll have touch-screen and my mom is freaked by this; I worry that that's the general feeling. And, I worry about where we go from here.

I worry and hope... and watch.

In the Dark

2006-11-03T17:05:00.000-06:00

I don't like leaving work in the dark but, now that the time's changed, I have to so, a couple of days running, I've taken the Parkway instead of meandering through the darkened park. What's there to see, after all, I thought. Yuck! The traffic is terrible, bumper to bumper, creeping and crawling, dull dull dull.

So....... Last night I decided that the park would be a much more pleasant, less crowded place to be, even if I can't see the colors of the trees and the waterbirds ducking and diving. A pleasant discovery -- there are lovely lighted fountains and reflections on the pools, bicyclists' self-powered fender lights of white and red, and, of course, the moon and stars and airplanes against the dark sky. At one corner, the angle is such that reflected in the water are red lights and green, plus yellow street lights -- an all-winter-long christmas scene.

Little patches of light everywhere. I'm not really in the dark.

2 Interesting Books

2006-11-02T17:09:00.000-06:00

The Sea by John Banville won the Booker Prize last year. I picked it for my book group discussion this Friday. I don't know yet how the others feel about the book but I love Banville's use of descriptive words that sound just right but that I don't know and have to look up if I don't want to guess. Every page, every sentence in fact, is lush and dense and beautiful.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl is also wonderful. This time the interesting twist is constant references to books; most I've never heard of but, once in a while, I recognize a title making me curious about all those others. The first person narrator is intriguing and likable so far (I'm only 1/3 through). (I'm only about 1/2 through The Sea but I expect to, if not like, at least understand the narrator there, too.)

Life is good -- it's nice to have time to read. And, to have found such erudite books.

Hallowe'en Jokes

2006-11-01T17:28:00.000-06:00

Q: What is Albert Pujols dressing up as for Hallowe'en?
A: Batman.

Q: What did the pirate pay to get his ears pierced?
A: A buccaneer.

Q: How can you tell a ghost is lying?
A: You can see right through him.

I think it's a great tradition here -- to make the kids tell jokes or sing (I had a trio rap) or do something to earn their treat -- even though I know what the real tradition is.

Mysterious Ways

2006-10-31T17:02:00.000-06:00

My mom would say, "God works in mysterious ways." I would say, "Things seem to work out just the way they should, at least for mom and me."

The trip to Iowa was much better than I anticipated and, now, I feel a bit guilty that I didn't do it before -- I was dreading the drive which turned out to be easier than I thought (divided highway all but 6 miles and very little traffic), Mom was not looking forward to sitting in a car for 9 hours but, in actuality, it only took 7 including a sit-down lunch and we didn't even listen to the books on tape.

We had a nice visit with my aunt who was cheerful and alert and thrilled to see my mom. She died yesterday (after we got home) and my cousin keeps saying that she held on until she saw Mom one last time, it was that important to her.

In addition, because we were up to visit, one of their brothers came and all of my aunt's children came, and that was good. We spent all of our time with the family, didn't even drive by the Little Brown Church which was 2 miles away, and I am truly thankful that we did this trip on the spur of the moment.

Mom's content with how it all worked out -- I guess I should let the guilt go...

Going to Iowa

2006-10-25T17:35:00.000-05:00

I'm off for a long weekend to northern Iowa to take my mom to visit her sister and not looking forward to the 7 hours (according to Mapquest, but probably more like 9 for us) driving but I am looking forward to seeing cousins I haven't seen in ages. Maybe the fall colors will be nice... 'though I've heard that it's already frosted up north and so the leaves may all be gone. There's apparently a Frank Lloyd Wright house nearby and The Little Brown Church in the Vale so we might do a little sightseeing. If we have any energy after that drive. Let you know.

Oh, got my first books on tape for the drive. Let you know about that, too.

Final 2-day Train Trip

2006-10-24T17:07:00.000-05:00

One of the first amazing sights we saw on this last leg of my fabulous journey was a black bear, not 6 feet from the train, looking straight at me! Only one person got a picture because she was already pointing her camera out the window. (This isn't it; this is a Google image.) It was pretty cool...:

On our evening stopover at Kamloops, I went to the local dinner theater -- The Great Canadian Lumberjack Show (the second amazing thing). Aside from the hokey banter, the actual lumberjacking was pretty interesting -- tree climbing, log rolling, chopping. But, of course, I kept envisioning the Python sketch.

On the very last day, inside the Rocky Mountain Trench, saying goodbye to the Canadian Rockies:

The third amazing sight we saw was the Mooner. This weekend was Canada's Thanksgiving Day, complete with turkey and dressing and the occasional drunken Mooner. No X-rated picture of that either.

Animals seen but not photographed:
Canada Geese
White duck with turquoise head (King Eider?)
Ravens
Bald Eagles -- whole flocks !
Moose (only maybe)
Very blue bird
Elk (many)
Black bear -- 2
Mountain Goats (teeny dots)
Canada Jay (I think)
Magpies
Rock Rabbit -- it whistles !
Salmon runs
Mooner
Seals

Fish Fossils

2006-10-23T16:58:00.000-05:00

I have long coveted a fish fossil. Alberta is famous for the Burgess Shale, the fossil bed in Yoho National Park that, in Stephen Jay Gould's opinion, demonstrated the Cambrian Explosion and Gould's punctuated equilibrium theory. Yoho and the fossil beds are right next door to Banff National Park and Lake Louise. Thus, one of the shops in the Chateau, the Rock & Gem Store, provided an opportunity to acquire a cute little fossil fish from the Emerald Lake fossil beds (also quite nearby).

Imagine my delight and surprise when the bus (on our afternoon jaunt to the city of Banff) stopped for a photo op at... Emerald Lake!!!

Several Kicking Horse River sightings, waterfalls, and snowy peaks later, we arrived in Banff for a short walk to stare at the mountains (what else?) and a delectable dinner of Alberta beef.

A Day to Myself

2006-10-20T15:48:00.000-05:00

in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here's the hiking path in front of me on my 4.8 mile 4-hour rainy stroll to the end of the lake and beyond into the Valley of the Six Glaciers:

Once in the Valley, I heard a funny loud whistle and saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It took me a while to find the responsible critter because I was looking for a bird; it was a Rock Rabbit, too fast for me to take a picture of but the internet provides:

Every few feet presented a picture worth taking so... I took an entire roll on this walk.

Lake Louise is named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, and the wife of Sir John Campbell, who was the Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883. The province of Alberta is also named for the Princess Louise. (Wikipedia)

I watched the lake all day, from outside in the mist and rain to inside through the big picture windows facing the view when I needed to warm up. Only when the shop lights reflecting in the glass blocked the view did I move to find a dark dinner location where I could still see out. There was only one chair available by the window! I raced toward it and... arrived just as a couple got to the table. So, I proposed we share the table and quickly claimed the one "good" chair. They were into Corvette rallies, he was a Spencer Tracy look-alike, and we had a fun time, a good meal, and I got the view.

A thoroughly fabulous day!

A Day by Motor Coach

2006-10-19T17:08:00.000-05:00

After a lovely evening in Jasper, Alberta where I saw 7 elk cross the road near my dining table (in hotel), we boarded the bus for a scenic transport to Lake Louise. (Lake Louise, by the way, and my father's rhapsodic desire to visit, was the straw that decided this particular trip.) Along the way we saw a black bear at the railroad tracks a ways away but still close enough to tell when its face turned toward us; the bus driver, a young Tokyo transplant who was quite amusing, pulled over on the shoulder and let everyone get a good look but, alas, for me, no picture.

I did get pictures on the Glacier at the Columbia Ice Field. Note the beautiful blue ice at this millwell (a passage for glacial melt water):

And along the road:

Several waterfalls, lovely lakes, and Turneresque light and clouds later, we arrived at the breathtaking and supremely beautiful Lake Louise. (Several pictures to be posted tomorrow.) I've been to a number of exquisite places but, for a single spot, I do believe that Lake Louise is the most stunning I have seen. (My dad was right, even if he never did get to see for himself.) And, it rained the whole of my hiking day -- it was still unbelievably gorgeous.

But, first... a succulent and elegant dinner with a divine desert that I'm glad I had prepaid because I never could have spent that much on my own! The Chateau at the lake is too, too fancy, but fun.

By Rail, Day 2

2006-10-18T17:14:00.000-05:00

In one of the more civilized moves, we stopped the train and stayed in hotels for the night. Unfortunately, the floor in front of the sink rocked back and forth with occasional lurches and I worried that the bed would do the same. Turned out, it wasn't so bad.

Anyway, the first thing I did after checking in and dropping off my bags was go out for a walk. The desk clerk kindly directed me toward a hiking path or an overlook (the first night in Kamloops, it was an overlook) and I stayed out until dark. I just couldn't get enough of those Rockies! So, I ended up eating my 3-course, pre-paid dinner at 9:00. One of the nice things about traveling alone is the freedom to do what I want whenever I want without worrying whether someone else is having a good time. (I also got 2 seats to myself on the train and the bus.)

The next day's train ride was more spectacular than the first (if that's possible). More eagles, blue and green rivers, mountains with glaciers and dustings of snow, waterfalls, and blue blue sky. We had another track-clearing wait in a stand of aspen with a view of Mt. Robson:

By Rail

2006-10-17T16:36:00.000-05:00

The train (at least this one) is a very civilized way to travel. Not only is it comfortable with wide aisles, picture windows, and sort-of-normal bathrooms, it has exemplary service. Each car has its own captain of cuisine / informative host. Except for having to get up before sunrise, the day was wonderful. (Actually, seeing the sunrise over the Fraser River was pretty wonderful, too. Also saw a white duck with a turquoise head - possibly a King Eider - lovely.) Anyway... We were fed plenty and often -- breakfast, snack, lunch, tea -- with a fruit basket and drinks always available. (It's a good thing I lost a few pounds before this trip... I dread getting back on the scale!) As historic places and spectacular views got close, we were given just enough talk to be interesting but not so much as to be intrusive.

A pretty typical view once we left the Fraser Valley and entered Fraser Canyon:

I saw bald eagles fishing and flying, salmon leaping, osprey nests, and ginseng fields hiding under black semi-porous tarps. The muddy Fraser River gave way to the crystal clear Thompson River which we followed the rest of the day, the tracks protected from rock falls by sheds and tunnels.

Later, we entered high desert (and were told that this is the northern most part of the Sonoran!!!?!) and saw Rabbit Sage (yellow flower) and thistle (purple flower). The front of the train in Black Canyon:

Canadian Rockies - Getting There

2006-10-16T17:16:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed a circular rainbow on the clouds below the plane? Mine was clear and very lovely and preceded the plane for quite a while. When the clouds finally opened up over Washington state, I saw a farm(?) with field patterns of a maze and a spiral and a couple of half-circles. Very strange and interesting from above -- made me want to parachute out and ask them "Why?"

Vancouver is a lovely city, clean and safe. I spent the evening walking downtown to the Harbor Center which has a 360 degree observation deck where I watched the sun set over the ocean, the coastal mountains looming nearby, the ferry bus and sea planes -- I just love the combination of water and peak.

Watching the ferry cross to a Vancouver suburb, I really wanted to take a ride but I still had to walk back to my hotel. I also missed the stroll along the water to Stanley Park and the trip to a nearby island and its petroglyph park. So, I must go back to Vancouver.

On a cultural note, I expected Canada to be somewhat British, at least to have BBC television. But, it's very American - the TV, the advertisements, the look and feel. Every once in a while, though, something surprises -- the off-beat humor, the French Sweet 'n' Low packets, the distinctive "o". The beginning of a wonderful adventure...

Oh to be an Osprey

2006-10-13T16:36:00.000-05:00

I'm back. The Canadian Rockies are exquisitely beautiful and the trip was flawlessly choreographed by Rocky Mountaineer. I'm getting my thoughts and a few pictures in order and will render a multi-entry report beginning Monday but, in the meantime, know that I fell in love with majestic mountains, rivers both wild and tame, lakes of green and turquoise, deep blue sky, clouds of all hues, white snow, blue glaciers, bald eagles, black bears, salmon (swimming and on my plate), interesting international travel companions, informative but not intrusive commentary, trains, and too much good food. I really didn't want to come home -- at least, not yet.

So... oh to be an osprey... they are offered government-subsidized, lake-shore property:

Reality Train

2006-09-29T17:42:00.000-05:00

In my reality, I leave for my fabulous Canadian Rockies train adventure early Monday morning and will be gone 10 days. Look for blog postings and pictures on Monday, Oct.13. Take care, y'all!

Going There -- Maybe

2006-09-29T17:34:00.000-05:00

From BBC News, Science/Nature, posted 11:36 GMT 9/28/06:

"Virgin Galactic will own and operate at least five spaceships and two motherships. ... The passenger flights, which could begin in 2009, will take off from a $225m (£127m) facility called Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert. Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, said the firm was in negotiations over a reality TV show. In the show, contestants would compete to win a place on a space flight, the Press Association reported. Mr Whitehorn said: 'The indications are that we can create a show that would give people the chance to go into space. It would be a cross between Dr Who, Star Trek and the Krypton Factor.' Virgin Galactic is one of several private firms vying to open up public access to space."

Ooooooooohhhhh -- this is a reality show I could see myself entering!

Speaking of Mars

2006-09-28T17:25:00.000-05:00

From CNN.com Science & Space posted 11:50am EDT 9/28/06:

"Opportunity, and its sister rover Spirit, are still going strong nearly 1,000 days into their field work on Mars. ... And to show how genuinely surprised scientists are at the long duration of the rovers, scientists recently had to solve a problem similar to the "Y2K" crisis of 1999-2000. In the latest revision of software sent to the rovers, programmers had to add a fourth digit to the assignment of tasks for each Mars day. When the rovers were designed, no one could imagine they would still be thriving more than 999 sols, or Mars days. ... Spirit and Opportunity were designed to work interactively with scientists, and to question and even refuse commands that they interpret as dangerous to their survival."

[So, I guess that in spite of the programmers, the rovers are still going -- pretty intelligent little machines! And, they've found evidence of water and other interesting things...]

"Among the surprises: The rovers have stumbled upon three meteorites, metallic masses made of nickel and iron that had fallen to the planet's surface from somewhere else in outer space."

Zero-G Surgery

2006-09-27T15:18:00.000-05:00

From BBC News Online, Science/Nature, 9/27/06, 14:32GMT:

"A team of French doctors say they have carried out a successful operation on a human under "weightless" conditions in an adapted aircraft. The trial is being seen as a first step to performing surgery in space. The doctors removed a benign tumour from the arm of a volunteer as their plane made a series of swoops to mimic a reduced-gravity environment. The medics and patient were strapped down for the procedure which was done inside a hygienic plastic tent. Specially designed instruments were fitted with magnets to attach them to the metal operating table. The three-hour flight above south-west France used a modified Airbus A300 known as "Zero-G", which flies parabolic curves that give its passengers 20-second periods of weightlessness. ... Both patient and medical team were trained to cope with this free-fall environment in machines similar to those used by astronauts. It is the first time such an operation has been carried out on a human being. ... The next phase of the programme will be to carry out an operation using a robot controlled from the ground by satellite. This experiment should take place within a year."

Baby steps toward a manned Mars mission. Way cool!

Library Forum

2006-09-26T17:21:00.000-05:00

Update on the library non-blog. The work-around that the tech people came up with when they quashed my blog actually works!

We've posted 3 blog-like items spread over several days, announced each one with a link on a web page that everyone in my school community has to go to at some point, and the posts are being read!!!

Truthfully... probably more that the blog would have been because the link is pushed at them and they would have had to go, voluntarily, to the blog. I'm really quite pleased.

Bean Soup & Bread

2006-09-25T17:16:00.000-05:00

Mom baked oatmeal bread on Friday and ooooooh, did it smell good when I got home. Last night she put beans in water to soak overnight and is crockpotting beans and ham soup all day today. Yum -- comfort food on a cold day.

Okay, not cold. It was 55ish this morning and, come winter, that will feel like shorts weather but, coming from summer, it feels like hot soup and warm bread and sweaters and a good book.

I'm reading Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley and it's pretty funny. It might actually be funnier to me because I handed it off to mom when she found herself without a book and I'm really surprised that she read the whole thing since it's about a gay real estate agent who uses house cleaning and ironing as a substitute for sex. She did say, when she handed it back to me, that it was weird and she didn't really get it. I've only read 50 pages but I'm looking forward to discussing it with her -- should be interesting.

But, first, I'm looking forward to homemade soup and bread!

Nooooooooooooooo

2006-09-22T17:07:00.000-05:00

Stargate SG1 has been cancelled ---------
noooooooooooooooooooooooo !@#&*%!#!&*

So, if I win the Get-In-The-Gate Sweepstakes, will there be an SG1 to appear in? The rumor is that SG1's 10th season will stop tonight but continue in March so maybe...

At least there WILL be an Atlantis (the contest is for an appearance on both shows) but it's not the same...

Aberration

2006-09-21T17:09:00.000-05:00

The leading Neandertal expert, Erik Trinkaus, "suggests that rather than the standard straight line from chimps to early humans to us with Neandertals off on a side graph, it's equally valid, perhaps more valid based on the fossil record, that the line should extend from the common ancestor to the Neandertals, and Modern Humans should be the branch off that. ... 'In the broader sweep of human evolution,' says Trinkaus, 'the more unusual group is not Neandertals, whom we tend to look at as strange, weird and unusual, but it's us - Modern Humans.' " (Neil Schoenherr, Modern Humans, not Neandertals, may be Evolution's "odd man out", WU Record online 9/21/06)

Trinkaus is only looking at the physical attributes (e.g., we are the only homonids with low brow ridges) but it's an interesting proposition for all aspects of human-ness, and brings to mind the Drake equation. Does the "fact" that Modern Humans are unusual evolutionary biproducts reduce the fraction of planets that develop intelligent life? And, thus, reduce the Drake equation (the number of galactic civilizations with which we might communicate)?

How much of an aberration (scientifically/evolutionarily speaking -- psychologically is another rant) are we?

Spamalot

2006-09-20T17:22:00.000-05:00

I asked Mason to do the bonding thing and go with me to see Monty Python's Spamalot at the Fabulous Fox and, surprise, he said yes. I was just about to leave for the box office over lunch yesterday when an email came to me announcing a charity auction last night that included... ta-da!!!... 2 box seat tickets plus dinner for a minimum bid of what one ticket would have cost if I'd left 10 minutes earlier. I stayed for the fun and... these kids have too much money! Granted this was for charity but, still, the bidding got waaaay over what I was prepared to spend and this was the last thing on the block so I waited through the entire evening to NOT get the tickets.

It was down to the box office today over lunch. I got good seats for nearly 1/2 the winning bid. No dinner, though. Think I could get by with Spam?

Eye - Teeth

2006-09-19T17:00:00.000-05:00

Do you look people directly in the eye when talking to them? It makes me crazy when people look anywhere but my direction so I try very hard to look at the speaker but I find that I often look at their mouth, not their eyes, because it actually (sometimes) makes me nervous to look right into their eyes. (There's lots of good psychological reasons for that nervousness but I'm not going there.)

What I do wonder is... do you think they can tell that I'm watching their teeth chomp?

I tried a little experiment with mom last night at dinner and she couldn't tell exactly where I was looking (it helps to have squinty eyes) so, probably, I worry too much.

Julia Redux

2006-09-18T16:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, now I'm 2/3s through TWWO and I must correct my last post... of course, it's literate; it's wonderfully literate.* And, lyrical**. What I meant to say (I'm groping here) is that TWWO proceeds as expected, following characters in alternating sections but all tied together early in the story. It's the architecture of a normal novel.

In 3Js, the three months are separate sections in widely separated years and seem (at first) like three entirely separate stories, the first June even told by a different narrator. The novel's architecture is much more subtle, surprising, and interesting -- questions left hanging in earlier sections are answered from a totally different perspective in the latter sections. It's the change in perception that is so compelling; the first person voice that is intimate and revealing.

Did I say compelling? I couldn't put Three Junes down! While The Whole World Over is also wonderful, I do not have the same trouble setting it aside to watch a Stargate rerun or come back to my desk from a reading lunch.

*literate: well-written, polished
**lyrical: expressing deep emotions, observation of emotions

Julia Glass

2006-09-15T17:14:00.000-05:00

I'm reading The Whole World Over by Julia Glass, the author of Three Junes that I raved about earlier. She paints such interesting characters and life situations; it is a very real pleasure to read her work. I'm only 1/3 of the way through TWWO so I probably shouldn't say (and it IS wonderful) but, I'm feeling that it's not quite as lyrical or literary as 3Js, witness the fact that I plan to read Three Junes again (it's that good) but not TWWO.

It is definitely fun to have the time (no classes this semester) to find and read some very good books.

Like Pluto

2006-09-14T17:25:00.000-05:00

Pluto's plummet from the planetary population prompted Jeffrey Kluger (TIME, August 28, 2006, p76) to write about other misnomers.

"We're a country with 43 presidents, but only 42 men have held the job." Grover Cleveland is listed as president number 22 and 24 (with Benjamin Harrison in between). Kluger thinks Cleveland should only be counted once -- that means W isn't "43" as his dad likes to call him.

"Europe: you're not a continent; you've never been a continent. I know, it would be galling if a raw cowboy island like Australia retained its glittery Continent label while you were downgraded to Midsize Peninsula of Western Asia. But hello? Look at a map."

I know he's making fun but it does give one pause... who are these people who get to decide the nominal fate of things?

Just Enough

2006-09-13T17:07:00.000-05:00

That's what I know -- just enough to be dangerous but not enough to be good. At least when it comes to repairing books. Today I took 3 perfectly fine (but teeny-tiny) books and stuck a needle and some kind-of-sharp-thread through their binding so I could sew them into a larger cover. They were getting lost on the shelf and this was the chosen solution. (I was coerced into choosing this method. I would have put them into folders inside larger covers -- no sewing.) I do know the proper way to sew books into covers and they'll probably be fine but I'm sort of anticipating/dreading that the thread will cut through the pages and I'll have a big mess to repair. Hence, my fear that I know "just (barely) enough".

Albert the Amazing

2006-09-12T17:07:00.000-05:00

Last spring, WU scientists tested Pujols to see if they could determine why he is so good. Here are some of the interesting results:

Babe Ruth was tested and found to have superior eye-sight and hearing, steady nerves, and faster than average reflexes, just as Pujols does.

Albert was asked to locate and cross out all of the capital "A"s on a sheet of paper. Instead of reading left to right as most people do, he divided the page into sections and scanned each in turn. (The investigator had never seen anyone do that before.) In another test, he replicated 133 symbols in a minute, a hand-eye coordination feat that was off the scoring chart. Testing finger-tapping speed, Albert tapped in the 99th percentile.

[From WUSTL in the News Spotlight who credits: Associated Press Online, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006 as Pujols Aces Tests Given to Babe Ruth.]

No wonder Albert is Amazing!!!

Black-Crowned Night Heron

2006-09-11T17:11:00.000-05:00

I thought I spotted a new water/wading bird in the park this morning. It looked like this:

I turned the car around and went back for another look -- pretty cool and tres exciting!

So, when I went to look it up in Audubon, I discovered that it was a Black-Crowned Night Heron and that I'd actually seen it before, misidentifying it as a kingfisher because of its posture at the time (hanging over the pond, its beak millimeters from the water, very still) and looking, not really, like this (Belted Kingfisher):

Maasai Zulu-grass

2006-09-08T16:26:00.000-05:00

I bought a new summer skirt the other day. It has beads and sparkly sequins and lots of color and, believe it or not, it's not gaudy. Anyway, I needed some beaded jewelry to go with it and was early to my massage appointment, so I looked around the shop. Amidst the new-age charms and healing stones, there was a rainbow of Maasai Zulu-grass and glass-bead stretchy necklace/bracelet things. One struck my fancy and I bought it.

According to the information that came with the grass beads, Maasai beadwork is world renowned. When drought threatened the Maasai's livelihood, the women used the abundant grasses to create a new type of bead material. My choice was made with tan grass beads and blue and maroon glass beads and, it felt good to support the Maasai.

Then, on Monday, I decided that one string wrapped around my wrist four times was not enough to look cool; I needed another.
On the off chance that the shop might be open, I stopped on my way to work. They weren't, but the owner was there and let me in anyway and I picked out a string that has grass beads dyed black with pink and crystal glass beads. Wrapped together they are perfect.

And, besides, I just like the idea of wearing Zulu-grass.

No Book

2006-09-07T17:07:00.000-05:00

The hardest part of spending the night in O'Hare was not having anything to read. I had a book with me (A Confederacy of Dunces by Toole) but I'd gotten half way through and decided that the characters irritated me too much to continue and, after midnight, there are no stands open and no news dispensers available (also no food but that's another complaint). Maybe I did zone out a little since the hours went faster than I expected; still... I would have liked to while away the time reading.

Tonight I'm embroidering something, on a deadline, for my mom's church sale, so... again, no book.

Lightning Strikes

2006-09-06T17:14:00.000-05:00

Althought my Florida trip was behind me yesterday, I'm just now getting back to normal.

I managed to watch the rain skirt around me on the beach and while dining outside on fresh seafood but, during the plane flights, I courted danger in the form of nasty storms both going and coming. Going, we had to circle around a black, flashing cloud parked on top of the airport until we were just minutes from being diverted for refueling.

Coming, because the plane was HIT (!!#%&!!!) by lightning while still on the ground with me in it and the computer systems reeled from the power surge making a plane change necessary, I missed my connection at O'Hare and got to spend the wee hours of Monday night trying to nap through zamboni and vacuum cleaning until I caught the first flight out.

No napping occurred but I came to work yesterday anyway for some pressing business. When the whiplash from nodding off in front of my computer threatened to cause serious injury, I went home to sleep.

I feel much revived today.

Lascaux

2006-08-31T17:14:00.000-05:00

The painted caves at Lascaux, France are on my list of "must see before I die" -- even the reproduction, Lascaux II. However, I've just been reading that the reproduction is not totally accurate because only the painted images are reproduced; the petroglyph carvings and the geometric designs are ignored. Well, damn... that's exactly what I'm interested in -- the geometrics.

I actually didn't realize that there were many, if any, carvings and geometrics in the cave until recently and, now, I've been trying to find some scholarly tome that illustrates them. I haven't had much luck.

This latest information pushes Ireland and Scotland ahead of France and Spain as destination of choice -- lots of good spiral carvings there, in the open, for all to see.

But, enough of that. I'm off tomorrow morning at 8am (at the airport at 6) for Tampa and a long weekend immersed in sun and seafood. Y'all be well.

Tired

2006-08-30T17:31:00.000-05:00

I'm tired... got nothing to blog. Maybe I need to eat more...

Step 1

2006-08-29T17:13:00.000-05:00

Who knows what it is that's making me (finally) stop overeating. Is it the French Vanilla Jelly Bellies? Is it the South Beach meal substitute bars? Is it just the right life moment?

I dunno... but, I seem to be able to tolerate hunger pangs without scurrying to find snacks, eat smaller portions without pouting, and stop craving everything from chocolate to cashews.

Step 1 accomplished -- just in time for my trip to Tampa. But I shall persevere throughout the long weekend, eating shrimp and fish and other low cal delectables. What a hardship, yes?

Actually, Step 2 is the hardship... exercise. I've still to master that necessity.

Fairmount Park

2006-08-28T17:20:00.000-05:00

I went to my first thoroughbred races on Saturday with some friends and, since I didn't understand the betting and it wasn't explained very clearly, I ended up losing more than I would have if I'd understood; not a lot more, but some. It was St. Louis Derby Day at Fairmount Park so, according to my friends, there was one race with "real" horses, not some close-to-the-glue-factory nags. I dunno... I think they did look better but it could have been my imagination.

While having the starting gate right in front of us a couple of times and the finish line just beyond our seats for all the races so that the viewing of the horses was pretty good, the people watching was even better -- what an interesting crowd, none of whom would I want to spend more than that one Saturday night with, however, no matter how interesting to watch.

So, how did I choose my horses? I looked at the stats a little but mostly chose by name. In the first race there was...
Here Comes Rusty !! Lovely horse -- came in dead last. Then there was Manhattan Beach -- also dead last. And, Moe B. Dick -- somewhere in the middle of the pack. And, others, too useless to mention.

And, of course, I won... nothing. (No surprise there; I never, never win when I play for $$$, not even nickle card games.) I'm glad I went. Will I go again? Unlikely.

No Blog

2006-08-25T15:39:00.000-05:00

So why they couldn't tell me this a month ago, I don't know. Apparently, the next software upgrade for our internal webpages will include a blog component and they want me to wait. It sure would have been nice to be informed about what was coming -- would have saved me a lot of work. (But am I surprised? No.)

They've come up with a "work around" for the time being which will be a pain in the neck but it's better than nothing. And, of course, they will now put up the other pages I wanted (taking out all mention of the blog) on how to get reference help and an online request form. Why they couldn't do that a month ago is also beyond me. (But again, surprised? Ha.)

I'm a tad disgruntled but I'll get over it -- for now, no blog.
But later...

Mucking About the Solar System

2006-08-24T17:06:00.000-05:00

Scrub your memory. We only need to remember the order of: the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.

Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor planets." The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun -- "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.

...The decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects.

quoted from: CNN.com

I'm going to stayed tuned; who knows what additional (reverse?) mucking about will happen.

Three Junes

2006-08-23T17:16:00.000-05:00

I'm finally getting around to reading the highly recommended book by Julia Glass, Three Junes. It is a true pleasure to read this literate and interesting novel.

I went outside at lunch today, sat on a bench in the shade and breeze, munched some almonds and a Gala apple, and found this passage to share: "Time plays like an accordion in the way it can stretch out and compress itself in a thousand melodic ways. Months on end may pass blindingly in a quick series of chords, open-shut, together-apart; and then a single melancholy week may seem like a year's pining, one long unfolding note." (chapter 10, approximately paragraph 8)

Time is such a strange illusion and, as my brother has previously speculated, anticipation (or, from the book, longing) affects time's perception. Quiet, relaxing weekend days disappear in the blink of an eye while it's taking eons to reach my Canadian adventure departure date. It's a method that works -- looking forward to my various trips (plotted months in advance) is my way of forcing the years to slow down and stay awhile, to not vanish so quickly...

to unfold like a song played adagio.

Ramblings

2006-08-22T16:59:00.000-05:00

Wow, was I tired yesterday! I was on my feet for 45 minutes of every hour, talking at freshman for 20 minutes or so 6 times, and being my generally cheerful self. I was so pooped by 5pm that I left work early, stopped for salmon, and broiled it the minute I got home for fear that, if I sat down, I'd never get up. I didn't.

Finally, at 8pm I got enough energy together to set up a DVD movie, "Hitch" -- very cute, sweet, funny, and clean -- that I'd recommend to all.

Tonight I'm going with a friend to see "The Devil Wears Prada" which should also be good.

Work was far less fatiguing today but tomorrow I have my first quicky instruction session -- first day of classes -- and we'll see how that goes.

Yesterday my French vanilla Jelly Bellies arrived and I had my 10 (plus 10 more, tsk tsk) and no ice cream before bed. I think I'll be able to keep to a 10-12 jelly treat so let's hope this trick works.

Enough...

Homogenization of Music

2006-08-21T17:34:00.000-05:00

Lanier says, "Variety doesn't always have to increase ... [it] could even decrease over time. ... that [may be] happening right now in human song. ... Since the beginning of recorded music, the sound of human song has changed with each new generation of people. There's no confusing a 1930s song with a 1940s song, or a 1950s song with a 1960s song. The pattern sticks until roughly the end of the 1980s." After that, it's hard to distinguish. Why?

Lanier mentions that it could be cultural decline or the ubiquity of the Internet or (his theory) that the use of digital tools to record music constricts the kind of music one can make. We think that technology makes things easier and better but glitches occur if the music doesn't conform and, thus, variety is drummed out.

How sad.

Language & Mating

2006-08-18T16:43:00.000-05:00

Jaron Lanier ("Sing a Song of Evolution: is language descended from musical mating calls?", Discover, August 2006, p24-25) starts his wonderings with "Lngwidge iz a straynge thingee. You can probably read that sentence without much trouble. Sentence also not this time hard. ...This shouldn't be surprising: Language is flexible enough to evolve into new slang, dialects, and entirely new tongues."

He then goes on to speculate that human vocalizations may have started out as sexual display and become varied and complex later when song was applied to other matters; perhaps complexity is genetically likely but held in check until mere survival and reproduction is assured and energy can be spent on style.

Two popular stories of the beginning of language: 1) where words are created singly and added to slowly over multiple years; and,
2) where early humans "are surviving, finding mates, and reproducing. They are making all kinds of weird sounds because evolution allows experimentation to run wild... doing a lot of things in groups, and their brains start correlating certain distinctive social vocalizations with certain events. Gradually, a large number of approximate words come into use."
Song turns into language.

And, expands exponentially.

So, if this is the case, why is music variety now in decline? Discussion Monday.

Half of Everything

2006-08-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

The tech guy cancelled our meeting to discuss the blog and, because all of my summer work mentions the blog, all the work is on hold -- my new reference pages, the FAQs, the library brochure, my classes-starting-bulletin board -- until we can schedule another meeting. I have half a bulletin board display up, half a class handout printed, half of an approved brochure, half a mind... to scream!

I've had all of this ready and on the boss's desk for 3 weeks, the boss finally asked permission 10 days ago, the tech guy's boss passed it to the tech guy a week ago and, now, he probably won't get around to it until well after classes start.

ARGHHHHH... I hate having only half of everything.

The Expert Mind

2006-08-16T17:03:00.000-05:00

an article in Scientific American (Aug 2006, p.64-71) about how chess grandmasters' mental acuity sheds light on how people become experts -- chunking theory and the making of a prodigy.

Ordinary "people can contemplate only five to nine items at a time. By packing hierarchies of information into chunks ... chess masters ... could access five to nine chunks rather than the same number of smaller details. Take the sentence 'Mary had a little lamb.' The number of information chunks ... depends on one's knowledge of the poem and the English language." It can be part of a larger chunk, a 1-chunk sentence, a 5-chunk meaningless group of words, an 18-chunk letter display.

Herbert Simon, in the 1960s, "estimated that a typical grandmaster has access to roughly 50,000 to 100,000 chunks of chess information. ... [and] can retrieve any of these chunks from memory simply by looking at a chess position ... [just as we] can recite the poem 'Mary had a little lamb' after hearing just the first few words." Grandmasters play fast and expertly because they envision whole sets rather than individual steps.

Wow, that sounds like a lot of chunks of information on one topic; but, it makes sense to me that an expert in a subject could very well have that much information stored in their heads. However, here's my question -- do they have room for very much more? Is the true "expert mind" capable of being very good at other things at the same time? Perhaps a few...

Vanilla Cravings

2006-08-15T17:21:00.000-05:00

And I'm soooooo hungry! I really am trying to stick to it this time except that my big downfall is vanilla ice cream which mom can have around and only eat a little but I cannot stop myself from digging into a large bowl full.

So... in a effort to forestall this temptation, I am trying a substitute. I went online to the Jelly Belly Company and ordered a huge bag of French Vanilla perfections that should arrive by the end of the week. Since I'm managing to exert some small amount of willpower in other parts of my diet, I think I will be able to postpone until late night the satisfying of my vanilla craving and, then, just eat 10 (at 4 calories each) of these special treats.

I do hope this works because I'm already getting crabby and forlorn and mopey and, I think, only vanilla can make things better.

Pumped, Jazzed, Psyched

2006-08-14T17:22:00.000-05:00

I got an express package from Rocky Mountaineer Vacations on Friday with all my tickets and passes and general information. (Which means they charged my Visa for the rest of the whopping cost. Oh, well...) I am so excited about this trip!!! All the pictures of Jasper and Lake Louise and Banff and the 250 or so miles of train window views every day are just SO BEAUTIFUL !!!

Geez... it's only 6 weeks away... I gotta start toughening up my knees. So... today, I'm very, very hungry (as I'm sticking to a diet) and will spend some quality time with the bike and the exercise mat this evening (ooh, thrilled about that).

But, I'm pumped, jazzed, psyched, and ready to do it!

Keep you posted.

Playing God

2006-08-11T17:15:00.000-05:00

Will Wright, creator of the Sim worlds, was interviewed in Discover and, since he "plays god" with his whole-world creations, the interviewer asked "If you could rebuild Earth in any way... what would you do?"

His answer was most interesting. "Hmmm. Well, the development of life was amazing and maybe incredibly improbable, so I wouldn't want to mess that up. The development of intelligence was possibly even more improbable; I wouldn't want to modify anything until that happens either. ... Can I give you James Lovelock's answer? I'd probably eliminate cattle entirely. They're the Earth's second-largest producers of methane, which is a serious greenhouse gas. The clearing of forests is done mainly to accommodate livestock, so getting rid of cattle would help protect biodiversity."

I'd never thought of that -- is it really a simple solution to our problem? I crave beef 3 or 4 times a year but I could give it up. Hmmm is right!

(Discover, Aug 2006, p.50-53)

Library Blog???

2006-08-10T17:13:00.000-05:00

My boss is quite enthusiastic about the new blog but I don't know about the administration. (I've been wondering if they'd give up control or not.) Anyway, everything I've been preparing for the fall semester refers to the blog because I really want to promote it and get it looked at and I'm going ahead with lots of plans because the boss said to keep on. Well, of course, now, two weeks before classes start, all of my new web pages and handouts are on hold until the royal We can meet to determine if they will approve. Next Wednesday is either doomsday or into-the-future-day.

Cross your fingers!

How to Figure the Distance of a Star

2006-08-09T17:55:00.000-05:00

From CNN.com,
Study: universe bigger, older than expected, Ker Than (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/08/universe.age/
index.html):

"The researchers looked at a binary star system in M33 where the stars eclipsed each other every five days. Unlike single stars, the masses of paired stars can be precisely calculated based on their movements. With knowledge of the stars' masses, the researchers could calculate their true luminosities, or how bright they would appear if they were nearby. The difference between the true luminosity and the observed luminosity gives the distance between the stars and Earth."

I'm committing this to paper in an effort to remember but it's still magic to me how they figure it out.

Preserving Wilderness

2006-08-08T17:12:00.000-05:00

"In 1960, the writer Wallace Stegner wrote to a federal commission: 'We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.' " (Quoted in Discover, August 2006, p.48)

I love knowing that wild Alaska is there, that canyons in Utah are so off the beaten trail that Indian artifacts are still strewn on the ground, that the Pacific Crest Trail is so remote that a hiker doesn't come near even tiny towns. Not that I'm ever going to visit / hike / adventure any of those places. But I'm glad to know they're there.

Monarch Envy

2006-08-07T17:19:00.000-05:00

How do you tell the copycat Viceroy butterfly

from the poisonous Monarch?

Notice the Viceroy's black line arcing across the lower wings.

Being Good to Mom

2006-08-04T17:04:00.000-05:00

Actually, I'm seeing lots of Will -- even had a long lunch and two card games today. I'll probably get the afternoons tomorrow and Sunday as well and it's already been a good visit. He's so nice to his mom.

Wouldn't you think I'd consider mine??? I promised her I was done getting tattoos but I'm totally itching to get some stars. I've got some time 'cause I'm not quite sure where I'm going to put them (probably swirling toward the spiral sun on my wrist) but... I asked her, without saying why, how much weight I'd have to lose before I could treat myself with something outrageous and she put a number on it -- 62.5% of the total (thought I was going to tell you the number??? ha!) Do you suppose that will be the final incentive? It's a pretty big itch!

Will Here

2006-08-02T13:23:00.000-05:00

I'm off to get Will from the airport for a week-long visit. I'll see him the rest of today and all of tomorrow (I'm taking a vacation day) before he dumps me for his friends. Sounds like a pretty long time actually.

No blog entry tomorrow. Stay cool!

Mission Accomplished

2006-08-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

I've accomplished most of what I wanted to at work this summer. The things that are left on my task-calendar are not very interesting to me -- I mean, they have to be done sometime, but I may just let them pile up until next summer -- probably not smart but... oh, well. To enumerate my accomplishments, I:

designed & populated the library blog
updated & reformatted the database webpage
retyped & updated the drugs by topic webpage
updated the recommended books handout
rewrote the general library pamphlet
designed a new reference webpage
created a library FAQ
designed an online help request form
designed a program of drop-in learning sessions
rewrote the freshman orientation spiel
wrote a library instruction course proposal
designed several bulletin board displays

Whew! That sounds like mission accomplished to me!

Massaaaaaage

2006-07-31T17:00:00.000-05:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'd forgotten how wonderful a full-body Swedish massage feels. Saturday, on the spur of the moment as I drove past the Center for Mind Body and ---- (I forget exactly) near my house and noticed it was open, I stopped and got a massage. They're kind of weird with tarot reading and life coaching along with massage and acupuncture... but their logo is a spiral and they sell jewelry made my Masai women and... ahhhhh, the massage was good.

I've been meaning to find another person to have a regular appointment with but have been putting it off as my neck and shoulder gets tighter and tighter from abundant computer work. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find as wonderful a masseuse as I had before when I was under so much job stress before quitting and going back to library school. And, I wanted someone close; it's hard to drive very far when that relaxed.

Anyway, Angeline is an angel for sure and I've got appointments set up into November. After getting the knots out, I'll have to cut back to every other week, I think, because it's way more expensive than my previous savior / masseuse, but hey... I'm worth it!

35 Million

2006-07-28T17:49:00.000-05:00

Remember my post of 6/2, the "2 percent" announcement of the difference between chimps and humans? Now there's an article posted on CNN.com (www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/07/20/
neanderthal.genome.ap/index.html) that states that "[t]he chimp genome 'led to literally too many questions, there were 35 million differences between us and chimpanzees'." (Jonathan Rothberg)

Is 35 million 2% of the genome?
Probably (my math is terrible).
But 35 million sounds like a huge number and 2 percent sounds like nothing. An interesting way to manipulate a reader's reaction, if not the actual statistics.

The CNN article is about the two year Neanderthal project that is attempting to sequence Neanderthal DNA from 40,000-year-old, possibly contaminated, multiple-individual samples sifting through 3 billion ATGC pairs. Rothberg says, "By having Neanderthal, we'll really be able to home in on the small percentage of differences that gave us higher cognitive abilities."

Probably a small 2% or 35 million differences.

TV Addictions

2006-07-27T11:43:00.000-05:00

One of the worst hardships of the power outage was missing my TV addictions, Stargate SG1 and Atlantis. Luckily, I have a wonderful and crazy brother who taped the shows, found the time to watch them, and then overnighted them to me -- I got and watched them last night. Now I can watch Friday's episodes without missing anything. What a dear my brother is!!

What a sad state of affairs my TV addiction is... but, hey, why not?... it's a pretty harmless addiction.

Finally

2006-07-26T19:12:00.000-05:00

I have power -- ahhhhhh, the pleasure of a cool breeze, some TV news from BBC and CNN, the local weather report, baseball, reading without eye strain, a good night's sleep.

Yesterday, I went to a workshop on Blogs for Librarians. Learned some interesting things and started setting up my library blog. Today, I've been relearning HTML code and changing the template colors to match the school's web pages, adding a link to the catalog, and adding our logo. I'm having fun!

Now, I'm making some changes to this blog. Note the links to the right and visit the Astronomy Picture of the Day or use my favorite dictionary. More subtle changes will probably come along later.

Right now it's time to go collect my frozen foods from the staff frig and the staples from the library frig and head home to eat in -- finally.