Resolutions…

…are mostly a pile of junk. I never have been able to figure out why it was so important to make a promise on December 31, rather than some other point during the year when it made more sense, and would thus be met with a greater chance of success. And I usually [...]

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Quote of the day

I have nothing of import to say about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, except that it’s incredibly saddening, and that anyone who believes that Musharref’s government had nothing to do with it, either directly or indirectly (refusing to provide ample security, for example), is a bumbling idiot. But putting insults aside for the moment, [...]

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Back in the Bend

Some of my favorite snaps from the week that was…
T and I took a walk through the woods.

We made studies on the roots that come out of parasitic vines.

I showed him the “Indian Village” where my sister, my cousins, and I used to play. I’m fairly sure that this mossified strap of leather is [...]

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Now this is Christmas…

On the way out last night to meet Joe and his lovely girlfriend, we stopped by a house near Iola and Frankfort. If you’re in Louisville, please do the same, for you will be rewarded with this sight:
This is clearly an excellent way to maximize the surface area afforded by a 1000-sq.ft. house. [...]

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Jokes about violence

I made a cake out of blood this morning.
You can’t prove it’s not blood because you weren’t here. Mwah ha ha.
And then I stabbed the cake to make sure it was dead.
Verdict: not quite.
But it was wounded. And mortally.

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Merry Christmas!

Santa came to our house sometime between last night and this morning, but this is only because he knows that we’re heading out of town and we like to travel light. Santa’s good about respecting our wishes that way. It means, of course, that Spouse’s birthday gets really mushed up with Jesus’ birthday (the [...]

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Wooooo!!!!!!!!!

My Very First Conference Paper Proposal for a national conference has been accepted! So now I get to write a 20-minute paper that has something to do with the professionalization of psychiatry in 19th-c. Ireland and appears historically and methodologically sound! (“appears” is the key word here…)

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Superbug!

Here’s a fun article by science and environmental journalist Michael Pollan, in which we find that at least 70% of all the antibiotics used in the U.S. are fed to animals in factory farms. So if you try to be conscientious user of medical services, and refuse antibiotics for everything except that one time [...]

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Words in praise of Smitten Kitchen

She’s become my one-stop shop for dessert recipes. I needed something sweet to take to the department party last night, and a quick either-or vote by T resulted in a decision for the Peanut-Butter Brownies (against the Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies). These are no ordinary peanut-butter brownies, of course. They have chocolate chips [...]

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Don’t tell Spouse

A new species of giant rat has been discovered in Indonesia. Islamic fundamentalism flourishes in Indonesia? No problem. Tsunamis? No problem. It will be the giant rat that keeps us from ever considering a vacation in that lovely chain of islands between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

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