SubscribeMay 10th, 2012
snork/giggle_Mayan’s didn’t predict the end of the world
In case you missed the newsflash, the end of days will not be December 21 of this year. You will need to buy holiday gifts after all.
gosh, really? I guess I’m OK because either way I won’t spend money buying shit other people don’t need.
“That is correct, the world will not end,” says William Saturno, the Boston University archaeologist behind a new paper that could help put to rest the long-held myth that the ancient Mayans predicted a 2012 apocalypse—a belief still held by 10 percent of the world’s population, according to Reuters. “A cycle is ending, but a new one begins, according to the Mayans, who regard their calendar as a series of infinite cycles,” he says.
Huh, infinite? I suppose some idiot is now going to use this “new” fact and say that the big bang must be wrong because the Mayans predicted an infinite future.
What remains fascinating about the Mayans, Houston says, is their endless passage of cycles. Their culture “is really about renewal and continuity—and not about the ending of all days.”
Surprise! Another non-Christian civilization.
May 9th, 2012
the task of saving humanity
Did you see Melinda Gates announce her world wide birth control initiative?
Should be uncontroversial? Well, in a world where women were just people that would be true, but that’s not the case.
Still, as long as the oncoming firestorm doesn’t deter her or the Gates Foundation from wading into this new contraception research, I don’t care if she doesn’t realize how much many of her Church leaders hate her very being.
There’s also a good article over at The Daily Beast about the whole thing.
Part of what Gates hopes to do is to re-create the former broad-based consensus behind global family planning, but in a way that’s focused on women’s needs rather than on demographics. “This is about empowering women to be educated and to make a choice that they want to make,” she says. “And if you look at what happens demographically because of that choice, you then get some of these outcomes that people were hoping to get worldwide.”
“focused on women’s needs” – oh that would be nice.
Here’s the other thing–the US government in its Republican form has very largely been responsible for allowing the shut down of a women’s health focus. The current Democratic form has done very little to shift that. Of course they may not be able to since they are fighting decades of misogynistic policy that has shaped the way Americans see each other, and value women. And of course there’s been the racist backlash against Obama, so he’s having to fight just to get Congressional permission to blow his nose. Not a good scenario. But imagine allowing Romney to run things? Gawd.
Money runs things now, and even pays people like Gingrich to stand up an pretend to be a presidential possibility, and money running things appears to be mostly down-side. So it’s nice to see the occasional uber-wealthy woman have concerns for material things like enacted social justice. Ratzy must be gnashing his teeth.
Needing a wealthy woman to fix a world-wide human issue is not democracy by a long shot but this is what we have now. Let the battle of the bank balances begin.
May 7th, 2012
pirate parties, the political kind
I just found out today there is a pirate party in Canada. A reason to rejoice. I would love it if it caught on world wide.
May 4th, 2012
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Yesterday was punctuated by a series of mini mistakes which all added up to one icky day. When I finally got home, I plugged into mindless and then went to bed.
One example: I made what was supposed to be a quick trip across the border. I got to Peace Arch to find the promise of a 50-minute wait in the line up, so like any good citizen, I turn off the car engine whilst waiting. I forget to turn off the lights. The car dies in the line up.
Other cars start blaring their horns at me, but the car battery simply does not have enough juice left to turn over the engine. Sometimes I really do think I am on the slide down to dementia, and that it is going to be a quick trip.
On the bright side, we were right next to the Canadian border station. When my daughter went for help two guards came with a portable jump starter and 45 seconds later, and a series of grateful thank yous the car was functional again.
I mean I like the idea of cars as the ultimate outdoor planter, but not in the middle of the border lane. And not when I’m still dependent on the frakker to get home.
Anyway, the day was like that.
May 2nd, 2012
this is called a trigger
so I’ve been up since 04:30, woke feeling wonderful, went out early, caught the 07:20 ferry and was at my first appointment by 08:30. By then I’d had a stroll around the ferry deck, drunk a lovely vanilla latte, read a bit of poetry (more on that in the next post), worked on my own manuscript and had a nice little drive by the sea.
I mean cool, yes?
The meeting goes really well, have a nice little drive/ferry ride/drive home and take an hour at home to do a few things there.
All good.
Then I go get the bus. There is an angry, very drunk man screaming about “Canadian trash”. Within seconds I have a horrible headache. This is what is called a “trigger.”
I do not like angry drunk people. I loathe them, in fact.
Luckily I’m only going 2 more stops. I get off, take the train downtown, go to my next meeting (at Starbucks). Still have the headache.
I sit with my tea outside and just breathe. It takes 20 minutes to undo the pain.
I do not like angry drunk people.
April 30th, 2012
being mean to P B Shelley
There’s a delightful article about Percy Bysshe Shelley over at The Smart Set. It’s about the kind of man he was – which wasn’t any sort of icon of humanity I’d want advertized as typically human – although his behaviour probably is exactly that – typically human.
I mean, for one thing, the guy had a thing for 16 year old girls. Seriously, I get that this pretty normal for human males, but that doesn’t make it nice. Shitting is normal too. As is infanticide and STDs.
Anyway, the tone of the article is hilarious. I do recommend it should you want a bit of a giggle.
April 30th, 2012
have you ever been so busy
that you find difficulty stopping?
I’ve had a flat-out race to meet deadlines in these last two weeks and as of today I made it.
Wahoooooooo!
But, now, I am trying to come back down, to let my body relax and my mind shut down for a bit.
I know it will just take time, like waiting out a headache, but really, I do sometimes wish I trusted the drug-down route. Like drinking coffee in the morning to wake up the brain, but the shut-down drink. Oh well. I’ll just keep breathing. All will eventually calm.
April 28th, 2012
the problem with time
is that there is only so much of it.
The last couple of weeks have been so full that some things have started to slide. Tailfeather, unfortunately, has been one of them.
I started this blog because I was ill and needed to write to bring myself back into the world of mine and life. It worked.
I don’t intend to let this die, but I’m going to have to work on ways to pack more into less. Time that is.
Do you think there’s a way of compressing work, writing, life into the narrow sleeves of time?
Yeah, probably not.
But I’m going to try anyway.
April 24th, 2012
off to see the tulips
and a good friend up from Utah. Just for the day, but all I plan to do is drive, walk, and smell the flowers.
Heh.
April 23rd, 2012
cats and change
I’ve a severely reduced household. Three of my cats have moved on and the house is weirdly silent.
Here are two of them adjusting (just fine) to change.
Web post flight
Web recovery phase
Thompson post flight
Thompson recovery phase