Multiple generations of stars in the Tarantula Nebula:
Space is cool. :) This is from the Science Daily Magazine– the Picture of the Day.
“A legislative committee Wednesday recommended banning the theory of evolution from textbooks in the latest challenge by state officials to the scientific view of how life develops.” This just really, really, really pisses me off. I think it’s safe to say that the creationists are a very small minority anymore, especially with all of the scientific, tangible evidence that points away from their ideas on our –and earth’s– beginnings. How can they ignore what radio-carbon dating tells us? How can they ignore logic? Maybe it’s just me, but I would never, ever want to believe in something so strongly that it clouded my grip on reality, on logic. I guess that’s why I struggle with religion in general. It seems too easy to close your eyes and give in to those beliefs. What else is left unseen while your eyes are closed? I think religion has it’s place, but I also think that people take it too far most of the time. It seems to be a desperate attempt to hold on to something beautiful so that they don’t have to think on their own, so that they don’t have to face the reality of not knowing. Of course, that’s all my opinion, and I’m sure there are plenty of people who are horrified that I *don’t* believe. It just seems silly to me. Mass brainwashing. I would not let my children go to a school that ignores scientific fact. If we allow that to happen, what other twisted and tweaked ideas will be taught as absolute truth? (article found on Metafilter)
I certainly don’t consider myself a religious person, but I do consider myself to be a spiritual person. I believe that there is an energy force– a collective of souls (assuming our souls are pure energy)– that it is the ‘higher being’ we’re all connected to. I believe our energy comes from this pool when we’re born, and that our energy returns to it when we die. Mother Nature is pretty good at recycling, after all. So, I have my own ideas, and I don’t mind if no one else agrees with me. I don’t even mind that other people believe in things that I find silly— I just don’t want those ideas forced on me (or my children, or public education). I don’t think anyone has a right to sell their brand of religion to anyone else unless their ideas are solicited. Everyone has their own heaven, and everyone creates their own path.
“This must be a Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.”
Not entirely unrelated to the above rant, I found an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a 3.5-million-year-old skull discovered in Africa. “The find is further evidence that humanity emerged from an evolutionary maze of false starts, dead ends and competing adaptations to its African homeland, several experts said. It is the sixth new prehuman species to be discovered in the past decade, encompassing up to 4 million years of human evolution, researchers said.” Wow. This kind of thing reminds me why I wanted to be an archeologist as a kid.
Oh, the Thursday quote above is from the fabulous “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Maybe we should teach that in public schools…
OH! Last night I could see the baby kicking through my nightgown. Pretty freaky! He was really moving a lot, and if I watched, I could see my whole abdomen shift with his movements. :)
Busy day… a bit stressful, but I’m not beating my head against the desk or anything. Not yet, anyway…
We finally ordered a digital camera! Finally, finally, finally. It’s not the 3.4 megapixel that we wanted, but it will definitely do! It’s a Sony Cybershot DSC S50– 2.1 megapixel, 1600×1200, etc. Yum.
I think I’ve finally digested most of the article that I posted last time. One of the ideas that intrigues me most is that of moving away from our material obsessions, and instead emphasizing intrinsic value: data obsession. For instance– if I could just buy a full CD of songs in mp3 format (of course via the internet, with my handy-dandy debit card, then download everything), I’d be as happy as a girl with one less jewel case to mess with. I might still burn the mp3’s to cd for archival purposes, but it would be on a cd with LOTS of other mp3’s— more space efficient! I don’t care about owning the pretty little booklet or the fancy-stamped cd itself. Three years ago, I’d have settled for nothing less. I guess I’ve been changed. For the better? Perhaps. At least I won’t drown in an avalanche of cd’s and those lethal sharp-edged hard-plastic cases. The biggest drawback I can see here (speaking for myself only) is that I’m a huge design of cd cover art, and have been known to buy a cd or two purely because I liked the packaging. So, I’m missing out on some cool art, and the artist is missing out on one more sale. However, I think that even if I were to denounce purchasing music at stores altogether, I might still sneak out once in a while and browse the import section at Virgin Megastore. It’s kind of like sneaking the last chocolate donut: no one will probably ever know, and if they find out, who cares anyway?
Today’s shiny, happy object: the Holga camera! Chris brought one to work, and I think I’m going to have to buy one. It’s this cheapie-plastic camera– he got his for $14– that has no F-stops, no settings period, aside from the icons of a mountain, a person, and a group of people. You can do multiple exposures, and the winding mechanism has no set stops… so if you don’t know how many clicks to advance your film, you are either going too far, or have overlapping images. Maybe best of all, the camera isn’t light-fast, so there are all kinds of strange lighting anomolies– from streaks to feathered edges. It’s just way cool. This photographer has some pics taken with a Holga, and here’s where you can buy one!
Ok, ok, I know that *everybody* is pointing to the
Clay Shirky article on
Slashdot…. but deservedly so. It’s good… there’s a lot to think about in there. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around parts of it, so I’m incapable of much comment. Josh and Crackmonkey need to talk to this guy… although they would be up for three weeks solid discussing the future of our online lives. It would at least be an interesting circus to watch, though.
I have three free weekends until the wedding. I’m trying not to freak about all of the things I need to get done in that time frame. Probably the biggest and scariest task is finding a pair of shoes that A) match the dress, B) I like, and C) fit me. Not an easy task, even in the metroplex. Part of that is the shoe size… when will the shoe manufacturers learn that women’s feet do *not* stop growing at size 10? A decent 10.5 is *so* hard to find. I either end up with shoes that are slightly too big (11), or just barely too small (10). Anyway, time to hit the shoe stores…. :)
We’re thinking Max for the baby’s name. Actually, Maximilian, but Max for short. Josh likes Johnston for a middle name, but I’m still looking…. I think that’s too long. Any suggestions? He has been kicking more lately… he was rather quiet last week. From the 26th week on, I’m supposed to count the kicks… I think he’s supposed to move something like 5 times within 6 hours. Anything less, and I have to contact the doctor. I hope I can remember to count. I’m sure as his kicks get stronger, I won’t be able to avoid noticing them, though!
Applesauce is looking at a college today… the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. The family wants him to go there so he’ll be closer to relatives… but no matter how close he is, he’s going to be wrapped up in his newly-found independence and college life, so I don’t think it really matters where he goes. I think he’ll pick the school that has the best courses for his major… and the school that wants to give him the most money. He’ll be fine, no matter what he chooses. I know he’s getting tired of searching.
I’m sleepy.
Warning: mini-rant ahead. Ok, so people (you know who you are) bitched at me that my weblog had no interactivity, no way to respond to posts, no way to converse…. and now that I have blogvoices up and running, no one is using it. How’s that for irony? =) Oh well, such is life. I still have chocolate-caramel-peanut clusters, and you don’t. Neener-neener.
It has been a good day. A little work, a little surfing, a little chatting, and of course, a couple of chocolate-caramel-peanut clusters to top it all off.
Chatted briefly with brother Matt [side note: it gets really confusing when writing about the Matts– brother Matt and friend Matt– so I guess from now on it will have to be Applesauce and Crackmonkey. That is the only way around this dilemma.], and was reminded how much high school sucks, and how amazingly glad I am to have that part of my life over and done with. Who says getting old is hard? Being a teenager is excruciating. Just another coupla months, Applesauce… hang in there! It’s all uphill from here.
Josh and I finally registered at Target last night– both baby and wedding stuff. It took forever! But we’re done. The wedding registry is rather sparse– we pretty much have what we need as far as living essentials. The baby registry, however, was overwhelming! There is so much baby STUFF out there– it’s mind-boggling. Who knew that such little creatures needed so many accessories? We tried to get a good range of stuff– cheap, expensive, big, small— and what we don’t get as gifts we’ll probably buy eventually. The whole registry thing is a little strange to me— I feel so…pitiful… I know we’re not *asking* people to buy us things, but it still seems a bit presumptuous. I have, however, been on the other side, and registries are great when you want to give someone a gift, but don’t really know what they want or need. Just like Amazon wish lists… they do come in handy.
“If we agree that monkeys are funny and we agree that squirrels are funny, we have no choice but to agree that squirrel monkeys are really funny.” –Wil Forbis (The Acid Logic blog)
Unless you’re Josh, and then you would argue that, while squirrel monkeys are really funny, they have nothing on donkey monkeys, or even donkeys alone. For we all know that donkeys are the end-all, be-all deity of Josh’s world. Blue, he might add. Yes, blue donkey wiggle sky.
Be still, my beating heart! I love
this machine.
We got the invitations completely done late last night— although I need four more envelopes! They turned out well, and we are happy with them. Check one more thing off that long list! Josh mailed them this morning with happy little “love” stamps. :) I am glad we’re not doing a huge wedding— we’ll have more fun if we’re not stressed about details. I’m looking forward to it.
I was pondering this morning about what a great guy my baby brother is. I hope my son turns out to be a lot like him. I know he’s going to be smart, and silly, and hopefully not too introverted. :) He can’t help but be a computer geek, and hopefully he will absorb some of Josh’s technical and science skills, balanced with the art, music, and creative things that I want to expose him to. Oh, he’s also going to be really TALL! I think dark hair is a dominant gene…? Although my brother has light hair like my dad, while Rachel and I have my mom’s dark hair…. so I guess there’s no telling. It would be neat if baby has Josh’s blue-grey eyes and my dark hair and eyelashes. Who am I kidding? We’ll think it’s the most perfect child ever, no matter *what* it looks like… hehe
I’m scattered today. It’s so beautiful outside, and I am just far too happy today— what a shame to be stuck at work! ;) Fortunately, I got a lot done last week, so there’s not too much pressure at the time being. I want to go outside and play…
OMG!! The doctor says that it’s a boy! Wow. Of course, Josh is LOVING this, as is CrackmonkeyMatt… yeah, yeah, so we still have four months to see whether or not I’m wrong. ;) We do have a videotape of the sonogram, so as soon as we can capture some stills from that, I’ll post ‘em. I’m still not completely convinced that it’s a boy… but then I’ve never been one to readily accept being wrong, have I? :)
So, now, we have to start looking at boy’s names again… and, whether it turns out to be a boy or a girl, I’m happy. The nursery is all stars and moons, so that will do either way.
The only problem with having a boy is deciding on the circumcision thing… I can see benefits both ways. Josh says we shouldn’t, and I’m just not sure either way. Help!
Oh, other strangeness… I’ve only gained 2.5 pounds this month, which makes for 8.5 pounds total pregnancy weight gain. WEIRD! We soooo thought I’d gained like 10 pounds… I’m MUCH bigger than I was at last month’s visit. Baby is really moving a lot now, too… it’s kinda cool. Josh got to feel him kick really big last night… (ooooh, it’s weird to think of baby as him… I’ve been thinking her for so long now). We’re at 22 weeks now… just 18 weeks to go!
Josh gets a free Olive Garden lunch… no fair! I need to go find some foooood.
Today is the big day— pictures for baby! :) Will probably post a pic and/or animated gif later.
This is a very interesting progression. I like it. It’s one of those things that I would like to adapt to my own mind and life, but I need more time and depth of thought than is available while I’m at work. Note to self: ponder this later.
In that same blog, alt text (which is worth reading– amusing, interesting, but not at all pretentious or contrived), Ben starts listing things–High Fidelity style. I’ve always been a big fan of lists. In fact, I’ve got far too many of them within arm’s reach at this very moment…. but anyway, he has a list of his Top 7 Favorite Things (at the top of which is is wife… wow! that’s cool!) under his March 2 entry. Made me start thinking… what’s on my Top 7 list?? It seems easy at first… but if you’re thinking top 7 Favorite Things, and you’re considering all things EVER and all things possible, it gets pretty difficult! Now here is where I wish I had BlogVoices set up, so that I could get some responses from the 2.5 people who read this semi-regularly (thanks, dad!). [30 mins later… ok, BlogVoices has been set up! Finally… :) Just click on the “discuss” link at the bottom of the post, and a new window will open. So, um, write things and post them.]
My Top 7 Favorite Things:
- Josh, and his snuggly-goodness
- Dad, Mom, Rachel, and Matt
- My friends
- The web, computers, and the everything that they’ve opened up for me!
- Music– all kinds. :)
- Good design– I can appreciate good design in just about any form–and sometimes it makes me giddy!
- Good books, especially long ones
What are your favorite things?