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Happy New Year! I am back home from an extended stay with my parents and almost done with my antibiotics. Pretty soon I will reappear in the world (and send out some belated Christmas presents). _
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09:45:46 AM, Monday 1 January 2007

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Top Ten Reasons Why I Like My Kitchen More Than My Advisor's Lab _
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07:33:35 PM, Saturday 30 December 2006

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Everything better now in Iraq? This seems like a very appropriate Onion article, today. Nothing soothes all the pains from thousands of deaths like one more. _
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07:14:58 AM, Saturday 30 December 2006

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For months we've been putting things that we need to keep away from the kitten on top of the bookshelves. Now, suddenly, the kitten is on top of the bookshelves. I guess she is getting bigger. _
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07:49:53 AM, Friday 22 December 2006

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I give you everyone's favorite Christmas carol written by a Unitarian in response to the Industrial Revolution:

It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on earth, good will to men,
from heaven's gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel-sounds
the blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and warring humankind hears not
the tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!

O ye, beneath life's crushing load
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow;
look now, for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophets seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold,
when the new heaven and earth shall own
the Prince of Peace their King,
and all the world send back the song
which now the angels sing. _
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05:40:25 PM, Sunday 17 December 2006

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I am unpleasantly sick. I can't make my brain work well enough to finish up my take-home final. But I can make it work well enough to assemble a list of schools it would be pretty cool to teach at (priority is small, public, interesting curriculum, biology majors aren't all pre-med, emphasis on service so far not all of these exist at one place):
Berry College
Berea College
California State University, Monterey Bay
College of the Atlantic
College of William and Mary
Evergreen College
Fort Lewis College
Georgia College and State University
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Reed College
St. Mary's College of Maryland
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Unity College
University of Maine at Farmington
University of Minnesota at Morris Hi, PZ Myers!!!
University of North Carolina at Asheville
Warren Wilson College

Of course, this is not even vaguely a step to an academic job. How I'll find a job is answering 100s of ads from schools not on this list because I still haven't heard of them until I get invited to interview at some and finally a job. But it's nice to remember just how many cool schools there are out there where it would be amazing to teach.
_
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06:58:34 PM, Saturday 16 December 2006

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I think it might be time to go to the NC Zoo. Look, kitties! _
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12:43:34 PM, Saturday 16 December 2006

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Probably the most famous modern SJC alum, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, died on Tuesday. _
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08:04:10 AM, Friday 15 December 2006

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It's a shame Pinochet died without being prosecuted for all of his crimes. We shouldn't let that happen with Kissinger. _
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06:22:45 AM, Monday 11 December 2006

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Let It Ring

When you march stand up straight.
When you fill the world with hate
Step in time with your kind and
Let it ring

When you speak against me
Would you bring your family
Say it loud pass it down and
Let it ring

Let it ring to Jesus ‘cause he sure’d be proud of you
You made fear an institution and it got the best of you
Let it ring in the name of the one that set you free
Let it ring

As I wander through this valley
In the shadow of my doubting
I will not be discounted
So let it ring

You can cite the need for wars
Call us infidels or whores
Either way we’ll be your neighbor
So let it ring

Let it ring
in the name of the man that set you free
Let it ring

And the strife will make me stronger
As my maker leads me onward
I’ll be marching in that number
So let it ring

I’m gonna let it ring to Jesus
Cause I know he loves me too
And I get down on my knees and I pray the same as you
Let it ring, let it ring
‘Cause one day we’ll all be free
Let it ring

Amy Ray _
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07:19:07 PM, Friday 8 December 2006

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On seeing stuff online memorializing Pearl Harbor Day, my first thought is always that I need to email my brother and wish him a happy birthday. Which I did. Happy Birthday, Lee! _
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01:48:07 PM, Thursday 7 December 2006

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It's not theology, it's class PeaceBang takes on Unitarian smugness and cheesy internet forwards. Having been accused of being a Unitarian often enough, this was a good lesson for me.

...what one person describes as "the pure Light of God's sweet love" is no different than our "inherent worth and dignity," and what one person describes as an angel sent to watch over you is the spark of divinity Mr. Emerson reminded us was divinely installed in each soul. _
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11:23:01 AM, Wednesday 6 December 2006

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Curmudgeon Alert Curmudgeon Alert Curmudgeon Alert
It's that time of year again, when "social organizations" from fraternities to the junior league to everybody else on the planet, throw "fundraisers" where they have a party, charge admission, then give that money to some charity.

I have some respect for, say, the Duke Chamber Choir, which charges canned goods as price for admission to its Christmas Concert, which would otherwise be free. But pretending like flashy spending of your disposable income to go to parties is somehow charitable just pisses me off.

If you want to give money to charity, give money to charity. If you want to have a party, have a party. Don't pretend like your partying is somehow for the public good, when you would have paid those $20 just as readily if it was just for beer rather than for poor kids. _
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10:19:24 AM, Wednesday 6 December 2006

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Working from home today, and I thought I'd try to onblog to-do list because everybody else is doing it

Finish revisions on Restoration Ecology article and send to co-authors Since this is the most time-sensitive thing on here, I didn't even work on it, because I'm awesome that way
First draft of question 3 of take home exam At least I read the paper it's about, right?
Finish reading Nature's Economy at long last The subtitle is "A history of ecological ideas" and while it was required reading for me and a looonnngg haul I think that the way it's presented might interest Johnnies and I'll try to write something about it later
Drop off rent check
Return late DVD
Call vet The lump on Artemis' leg is a tissue reaction to her rabies vaccine and should go away in a month or so and is nothing to worry about assuming it doesn't keep growing and doesn't seem to hurt her
Meet with mentor-organizing lady
Buy Tuxedo food _
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07:40:31 AM, Monday 4 December 2006

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And now for something completely different: Artemis
_
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10:45:24 AM, Thursday 30 November 2006

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Ninth Ward
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10:43:10 AM, Thursday 30 November 2006

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More New Orleans photos here, with commentary to come over the next few days as I get to it. _
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07:37:23 AM, Thursday 30 November 2006

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And yet, in the 9th Ward...
_
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07:04:01 PM, Wednesday 29 November 2006

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Out of chaos, hope.
_
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07:02:07 PM, Wednesday 29 November 2006

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Can't find the camera connector cord thingy. _
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01:04:04 PM, Tuesday 28 November 2006

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This is a grad student's experiment to see how quickly a meme spreads in the blogosphere. _
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01:01:51 PM, Tuesday 28 November 2006

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At last someone brave enough to challenge scientistism and its dogma!
We here at the Indescribable Institute believe that the time is ripe for such a major paradigm shift in the current field of Reproductive Biology - namely, challenging the notion that reproduction (commonly defined as the "production of new individuals" or "perpetuation of a given species") occurs via currently-accepted mechanisms such as "fertilization of egg by sperm" and "36-38 week gestational period" which come under the umbrella of "Sexual Reproduction." Given the numerous inherent problems with the Theory of Sexual Reproduction, we propose that alternate theories such as the Stork Theory, the Cabbage Patch Theory and the Found Beneath a Bridge Hypothesis are deserving of fuller investigation, and should be taught as part of any meaningful biological curriculum at the high school or college level. _
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07:42:50 AM, Tuesday 28 November 2006

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One source of hope for good, cheap, hurricane-proof homes to come. _
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03:47:24 PM, Monday 27 November 2006

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I'm back. Pictures to follow. Send money to disaster relief agencies. The deadline to muck out houses--go in for the first time, remove possessions, and demolish down to the frame--in New Orleans is December 31, and they're not going to make it. _
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09:53:22 AM, Sunday 26 November 2006

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Have a great Thanksgiving, everybody!

For the fruits of all creation, thanks be to God
For the gifts of every nation, thanks be to God
For the plowing, sowing, reaping,
Silent growth while we are sleeping,
Future needs in earth's safekeeping, thanks be to God.

In the just reward of labor, God's will be done.
In the help we give our neighbor, God's will be done.
In the world-wide task of caring,
For the hungry and despairing,
In the harvests we are sharing, God's will be done.

For the harvests of the Spirit, thanks be to God.
For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us,
For the truths that still confound us,
Most of all that love has found us, thanks be to God.

Fred Pratt Green (of course) _
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06:49:45 AM, Saturday 18 November 2006

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This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved. (added: underline the ones you haven't read but really want to.) (via Mirabai)

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.*
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov*
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman*
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner*
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer _
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01:32:14 PM, Thursday 16 November 2006

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"Don't be an ornithologist if you can help it. But if you can't help it, go ahead..."
Frank Chapman _
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02:59:20 PM, Tuesday 14 November 2006

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I gave the AccuWeather toolbar a chance, but I think it's got to go. It says that it's partly sunny and 80 degrees F, when the National Weather Service points out that it's 48 and, well, raining.

Oh, and Feingold announced he's not running for president. So, poop. I don't have anybody I particularly want to vote for now. _
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07:06:59 AM, Sunday 12 November 2006

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Patrick and Theresa Nielsen Hayden take Jim Wallis to task for his irritating and just plain wrong commentary on the election. (I think Patrick's unreligious and Theresa's somewhere along my religious lines). Wallis wrote that the election was a victory for the "religious left" and a defeat for the "secular left". As Kevin Drum pretty conclusively shows there is no lesson from this election and there certainly is no one group which deserves credit or blame.

I was really happy to see this, because I was pretty annoyed when I read Wallis' commentary. Here I was, celebrating the revolution with my secular left friends, when Wallis comes along to make all of us religious people who vote Democratic look like jerks. I still love Sojourners, but Jim's getting pretty old. _
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12:15:24 PM, Friday 10 November 2006

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Woot for Speaker Pelosi!

When I was a little girl, I thought I would be president. Geraldine Ferraro was even a candidate for vice president. Then I got a little older, and thought no woman would ever be president. Speaker Pelosi is just two slots away from being president. My faith in Americans has started to come back. _
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09:02:01 AM, Wednesday 8 November 2006

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The New York Times bucks the current pop-culture trends by publishing something about how marriage has not, in fact, historically been the most important thing on the planet, and the huge emphasis on the strength of marriages neglects the historic importance of other interpersonal bonds.
“How can we save marriage? How can we make Americans understand that marriage is the most significant emotional connection they will ever make, the one place to find social support and personal fulfillment?”

I think these are the wrong questions — indeed, such questions would have been almost unimaginable through most of history. It has only been in the last century that Americans have put all their emotional eggs in the basket of coupled love. Because of this change, many of us have found joys in marriage our great-great-grandparents never did. But we have also neglected our other relationships, placing too many burdens on a fragile institution and making social life poorer in the process. _
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01:19:39 PM, Tuesday 7 November 2006

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Try to get your emergency contraception while being assaulted on all sides by busybodies who want to control your body It's a game! It's a political ad! _
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03:09:46 PM, Thursday 2 November 2006

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An academy for public service I had heard this mentioned somewhere before, but now it sounds like it's really going to happen. I would love to teach there! They have a webpage. Legislation is moving in Congress sponsored by Sens. Clinton and Spector. And they've suggested taking over Walter Reed Hospital campus when it closes in a few years. Their proposed curriculum is what I hoped it was, broad liberal arts with a commitment to service-learning. Sort of like Warren Wilson or Berea but federally funded. It would be aimed at the best among us who want to serve their country in a way not involving guns. _
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02:00:30 PM, Thursday 2 November 2006

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I have nothing to say except that we should all be outraged. _
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08:35:03 AM, Thursday 2 November 2006

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A year after the hurricane, all the water still hasn't receded. First person accounts, beautiful pictures, hope, heartbreak. _
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04:46:36 PM, Wednesday 1 November 2006

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