Opining Online

First is Gene Expression. Second is Assistant Village Idiot. And… I do not want my audience, however limited it may be, to think I disparage either for my monetary expenditure. I don’t call it a monetary loss because it isn’t. Sure, my pocketbook suffers, but my knowledge grows beyond that cost. Result = gain.

Currently I am reading The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, because it was recommended on Gene Expression. This follows several books I was introduced to by the Assistant Village Idiot by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Though I am susceptible to suggestions by those two bloggers, I cannot remember who/where I came across suggestions to From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present
or Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: a Cultural History)
– both books that I refer to often.

Do you find it odd that I do not buy books from Instapundit’s or Althouse’s link? Why do you think that is so? Personally, I think it’s because they often recommend books they have not themselves read.

Though he touched my life much less than either Farrah Fawcett or Ed McMahon, I feel almost obligated to post about him and his obviously premature death. The premature part is what sets it apart from the other two even though Farrah was also too young to die.

Farrah Fawcett had a disease that’s, in reality, impossible to defeat. While it is a shame that she got it while so young, her death was not a surprise or a puzzle. Her life was much more of an open book to the public, therefore it did not create quite the buzz that Michael Jackson has for the last 20 or so years.

Poor Michael. That’s really all I can say. He apparently had a horrendous celebrity childhood and suffered even more as an adult celebrity. It’s far too possible that he was never allowed to be human. He has my sympathy.

But… none of the three have my worship or can garner enough caring from me for more than this post, acknowledging their celebrity. Really, they were only people I did not know but had heard of. None of them, except Farrah, made the slightest bit of difference in my life and her only contribution was a determination for a few months to copy her hairstyle. Quite unsuccessfully.

If I sound harsh and cruel, then go read the obituaries in any newspaper and tell me you’d hold a candlelight memorial for any of those people you have never met and whose families you do not know.

Aunt Carol was right.

And I love crow.

Everyone seems to be able to understand tears of joy and tears of sadness, but — men especially — seem unable to understand tears of anger.

If I am truly angry, I cry. And it’s a lot harder to stop these tears of anger because I then become angry with myself that I am crying because I’m angry. It’s a vicious cycle.

I know I’m not alone in reacting to anger with tears because I inherited this unfortunate tendency from my mother. Surely there are others beside the two of us?

Hello Everly Charlotte!

Are there two distinct “political” or “worldview” tendencies based on biology?

The current Democratic and Republican parties do not define either liberalism or conservatism in terms other than the liklihood of re-election. The political parties exist only for their own self-interests, the public’s interest be damned.

The political parties are too self-centered to actually realize and put into play what might actually work in their interest because of the “public be damned” attitude of both.

The two party system has rendered “the house divided” a reality.

Both parties have doubled down on their ill-considered bets and the house will win.

But what is the house betting on? It’s safe to say the house is betting on both losing, but when the house wins, who wins? My guess is ultimately nobody because that is who the house ultimately represents… if all have placed their bets on one side or the other.

What happens to those who didn’t bet? These are the ultimate losers. Or, if some definition of political unity could be written, they would be the ultimate winners… and as such could lessen the penalty of the losses on the extremes.

So perhaps the middle — those who do not place a bet — are the ultimate winners. And because they are, those who did place a bet will not suffer the extreme punishment of winner take all.

Why and how could this be so? Precisely because the middle bet simultaneously that the extremes were both right and wrong. The only way is for one or the other of the extremes to be completely correct. How likely is that?

It’s not very likely because the extremes are, in reality, very similar. Let us take for example the extreme ID view that all reality was created at once and universal truths can therefore never change AND the opposite extreme view that reality is always changing and that there are no universal truths.

At least, I think these views are presented as opposite. Is that correct?Opposites are very unique things in that they have nothing in common and when combined yield something neutral.  It is only by accepting grey as the outcome of all colors that opposites make sense.

Thus grey would be the color of utopia, would it not? It is, as well, the color of moderation. Therefore there might be a connection between moderation and utopia. Is it as much a fantasy to wish for a moderate world, accepting of all as it is to wish for one ruled by either liberal or conservative values? Which of the three would be the worst? The second worst?

Is the thing most wrong with the middle is that it lacks conviction and the fire of certainty? Is that lack what makes it appealing to some?

I’m currently reading The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II and it is one of the most difficult books I’ve ever read.

Oh, it’s not overly footnoted or heavy on scientific terms. It’s just that I have about a 40 minute tolerance of the sheer human depravity depicted. It is perhaps more depraved than the holocaust, even though the numbers do not compare. Why is this so? It is because the depravity of the Rape of Nanking was much more personal.

It is the difference between industrial killing and experiencing first hand the spurt of blood and dying moan from each victim. The Nazis, though killing many more people, were not, for the most part, individually involved in the killing of individuals.

I do not mean to imply that assembly line killing is a lesser evil. It is, I think, the greater evil. What I am saying is that is does not involve as many killers and it is spared the grotesque experience of massive blood and guts. The resemblance lies in the requirement of the agreement of many people to acquiesce. The difference lies in the actions of those who acquiesce.

Is it less moral to herd prisoners onto a rail car not knowing for sure (though cognizant of the possibility) that are on their way to die or is it less moral to personally rape, tortue, disembowel, and kill a prisoner? Is there, in fact, a moral difference?

Does the fact that the more personal killing is based on the fact that the prisoners could not be fed therefore they must die (a painful and humiliating death) a more moral position than one that says the prisoners are inferior human beings and therefore must die to preserve a perceived genetic preference?

Why were the Germans prosecuted with the utmost zeal and the Japanese were prosecuted with negligible fervor after WWII?

Which do we rally against? Why has it been so much easier for most of humanity to rally against the industrial style? Is that because our governments are getting bigger and bigger and more controlling?

Or is it because it is simply easier to protest government actions than it is individual actions — even when those individual actions are at the behest of a government?

The bottom line to me seems that individual action is likely to kill fewer people but do so more gruesomely. State actions are much more efficient and bloodless thus more people are killed.

Which is better? Individual violence or government violence? That is one question. There are many others.

Though it couldn’t have been said in a nicer way, I think my favorite bartender would like for me to get a life. Or something. Something like he way overestimates the blogging value of my accumulated sticky notes.

The most meaningful one (but one I actually threw away) was a series of question marks. I will reproduce it here for you:

?????

“WTF” would have been somewhat more informative. I think. Perhaps what I really need is to spend more time drinking in bars employing really great and wise bartenders.

As noted here, I seem to express myself better in comments on others’ blogs. I hope that’s a passing phase.

Bite Me!

Happy Anniversary to all my girls. It’s shameful to admit that I don’t remember the exact dates except for one. I hope the others will forgive me, but that date was seared, seared into my mind as that was my deadline for six bridesmaid dresses and a wedding gown to be finished. After five years, even that one is getting fuzzy in my head.

Please forgive my poor memory for dates. I love you all and celebrate the occasion of your marriages each time I think of you and my wonderful sons-in-law. I don’t know which is greater — my daughters’ taste in men or my son’s-in-law taste in women. Possibly both?

Though even Hallmark hasn’t marketed a card for this, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the parents of those wonderful men who married my daughters. I hope that you are as grateful for your daughters-in-law. Whatever their (minor faults may be, they love your sons.

Now, a note to my sons: one of you has found a wonderful woman. Whether you eventually choose to get married or not, I’m glad you found her. To the other — never give up, but don’t fret about it either.

To my children: I love you all.

We’ve had quite a bit of rain here in NW Louisiana for several weeks now. This means our lawns are lushly green. This afternoon, three of my neighbors mowed their lawns and the scent was marvelous.

It mingles with the scent of my star jasmine which is nearing the end of it’s yearly blooming. It will be replaced by the scent of my asian lilies soon — the buds are large now.

After that, sometime in July, the gardenia will start blooming.

My small front porch garden is doing well. This is where the star jasmine reigns supreme, but I also enjoy the blooms of the impatiens, the begonias, the hostas, and far too infrequently, the gerbera daisies. I just don’t have much luck with those.

For Mother’s Day, I was sent a small azalea, which I’m going to try in this small garden. I hope it works… it’s mostly a shade garden and it has some drainage problems which I’ve worked on correcting over the years.

This garden is also where I put my rocks. I love rocks. All the rocks in my front porch garden carry a special memory for me. Some are from my step-mother’s collection, some are from the home in Arizona where my granddaughter was born, some are from Alaska, one is from the clinic where my father is receiving radiation for his lung cancer… some are from my back yard.

Wherever I visit, I’m likely to ’steal’ a rock.

I’m not a doctor or scientist, just a science junkie and have been ever since I picked up a Scientific American in 1983. As a result, I’m slightly better equipped than the average Jane when it comes recognizing woo.

About this same time, a co-worker gave me a book on homeopathy and well… you know at the time, parts of it almost made sense? A good background in English helped me out there as much as any knowledge of science. Bad writing often equals bad logic.

I was also influenced by my family doctor - John Ellis. Whether his research on B6 is worthy, I honestly don’t know, but he was a good GP. He didn’t prescribe B6 for anything I ever went to him for. He was basically a country doctor in a small town, who people called on for advice about their cattle as quickly as they did their children.

I wanted to believe that everyone promoting a vitamin or herbal remedy was the same kind of person — well-intentioned at the very least. That is simply not a workable everyday ideal. Some people are out to make a buck by selling you worthless concoctions or contraptions. Unfortunately some may even be harmful.

I have a nephew with severe autism and developmental disorders. He’s a beautiful boy and I was well aware of the anguish my brother-in-law and his wife were going through trying to help their daughter raise him. After seeing Jenny McCarthy on TV, I emailed them about her book. I didn’t research it, I was grasping at straws for them. While they may have read the book, they stuck with their doctors and never mentioned it to me. For that reprieve, I’m grateful.

Do you see how even a not really quite completely stupid person can be so easily taken in? I swear I’ve learned my lesson! I question everything now and try to apply what little learnin’ I’ve got. I thank Orac and PalMD (and others) for the lessons. In my defense, the episode about Jenny McCarthy I saw concerned restricting gluten, not blaming vaccines.

I remember waiting in line in the 50s for my polio vaccine. I remember older relatives who got the disease instead of the vaccine. No one has to convince me that vaccines are worthwhile. But gluten restriction? To a layman, that sounds like something sort of reasonable.

What do you do about people like me? I’m not an enemy of evidence-based medicine (though I am leery of government bureaucrats deciding what evidence is worthy) and I’m certainly not a believer in something as silly as crystals and pyramids. How do you get the word out to people who are basically like me, but not necessarily science junkies? Look how long, how much it took, for me to really learn to discern. (I must add that it’s anthropology that really grabs my interest.)

Most of the stuff on HuffPo that Orac and PalMd post about would not fool me. My goodness, these people are not only scientifically illiterate, but also logically illiterate to the point that anyone with a minimal understanding of the logic of language should be able to see through their non-valid arguments.

I should also point out that I don’t necessarily agree with scientists about everything. I often wonder how their superior abilities at logic lead them to lean strongly toward the left politically. This doesn’t mean I’m right wing (because their logic is also less than superior, IMHO). Basically, I can’t find a political ideology that fits my ideas. Perhaps I’m a centrist, if that can mean I find both “sides” equally unappealing.

This post is probably no help at all in the quest to find a way to present evidence-based science to the general public, but I hope that it will give the scientists some idea of how at least one small part of the public reasons.

Alphecca recently commented on how the AP defines “assault rifle” or weapon. Basically, it’s a rifle that looks mean, or “military” and it really doesn’t matter how you define the terms. It’s been my experience that where the media is concerned, AK-47 and assault weapon are synonymous.

Well, darned if the media didn’t have it right this time. Although I doubt they were any more aware of their correctness than I was.

It seems that the AK-47 was designed by copying certain features of the original “assault rifle”, the Sturmgewehr 44. It seems Hitler was highly impressed by that precursor to the AK-47 and gave it a name “satisfying his demented dream of eternally attacking the world”. (p.331)

The book is due out in the U.S. in a few days. I was fortunate to have been given a paperback of the UK release by my sister on her recent visit to the U.S. When she gave it to me, she warned “it’s gory and graphic, but I think you’ll like it.”

Gory it is. I’d give it a 10 on the gore scale as it is a book that contains chapters you might not want to read while eating. The methods of torture (not necessarily used to gain information, but used to prolong the suffering of death) aren’t new. They are likely accurate descriptions, which is more chilling than if they were made up.

What is distinctly NOT made up is the archaeology in the book. Gobekli Tepe definitely exists and the linkages between it’s location and biblical events are fairly well documented, extremely interesting, and intriguing.

Christian fundamentalists and young earth creationists are going to hate this book. While the link between Gobekli Tepe and the Yezedis is somewhat tenuous as presented, the idea of the evolution of ancient religions and myths is not. If Gobekli Tepe is “the Garden of Eden” of old, it’s certainly been upgraded many times.

It’s been well over a month since I read this book and I still find myself wondering about ideas and simple facts brought up in it. Whether you love it or hate it, this book will likely stay with you. 

There is nothing that you do that does not require the use of stomach muscles. This includes moving your eyeballs from left to right.

What gives relief from pain in one area will eventually cause pain in another.

After you wake up a bit from the surgical anesthesia and get a dose or two of strong narcotics, you may be fooled into thinking everything is going to be just fine and want to go home.

A small incision is one that runs from the bra line to the belly button.

They don’t serve margaritas in the recovery room, but they’ve got some really good stuff in syringes.

Eating a cracker with zero saliva is very unpleasant.

I will survive.

Tomorrow I will finally have the hernia surgery that I’ve been putting off for a year or so. When I’ll feel like sitting in front of the computer again, who knows? Probably several days.

All day I’ve been wondering why it isn’t called a hisnia.

When freezing garden products for later use, it is extremely important to label the packages. Labeling them correctly would be even better.

I had a nice crop of peppers last year, mild red and purple bell peppers, mild jalapenos, and so very NOT-MILD habaneros. I chopped them up and froze them in little baggies. The purple bell pepper and the jalapenos were easy to tell apart. Not so the red bell peppers and habaneros, which I’d let ripen to the red stage.

But, because I think I will never forget which is which, I didn’t label the packages. Oh sure, the red bell peppers were thicker and bigger chunks, the habaneros thinner and tinier because you just don’t need a big chunk of habanero.

Today, I made clean-out-fridge fried rice. Yep, you guessed it, I thought that last 1/8 cup or so of frozen red pepper were of the mild bell pepper type, so I dumped them all into the skillet.

oops.

The fried rice is good, but it’s hot. Really, really hot. The kind of hot that stays with you, clinging to your lips, tongue, and cheeks. For hours.  

I only get to see this guy when my assigned PCP is overwhelmed at the MTF (Military Treatment Facility) to which, as a Tricare Prime patient, I am enrolled.

I want to make it clear that any of the following which might seem derogatory toward military health care is derogatory only toward SYSTEMS. The people involved are wonderful and trying their very best to be the best medical providers. What I criticize are the rules/regulations/etc.,  and the hoops they and their patients must jump through.

This guy is good for me. He’s emotionally and professionallly honest with me. He calls me on my bullshit, but doesn’t make me feel like a moron. This is probably personality more than medical training — but we are able to communicate with each other.

This ability is priceless. MasterCard, Universal Health Care, Electronic Medical Records and all the other technological advances in medical care cannot replace the physician/patient relationship.

My MTF assigned PCP has this ability too, but she’s restricted in her ability to follow-up and follow-through with her patients. It’s just too damned hard to get an appointment with her and she has as little input into the availability of appointments as I do. This is a system failure, not a physician failure.

I got lucky. Through conversations with the non-MTF appointment person and billing agent, I learned which hoops I needed to jump through within the MTF referral process. Oh yeah, the MTF appointment clerk I worked with after learning the right words — ie, words she could “respond to” without repercussions led to EIGHT (that’s right, 8!) referral numbers, each with four authorized follow-ups. Folks, that translates to almost unlimited access to this non-MTF physician.

This freedom of medical treatment comes at a price. I must pay $12 bucks each time I see my new favorite PCP. (Please don’t tell Congress or the DOD that I consider that one fantastic deal.)

If you’re not reading Behind The Stick every weekend, you’re missing out. 

Amba is blogging hot right now. Just keep scrolling, you’ll find everything from anthropology to zoology. Her comments are very good too. Just skip any made by me.  

Art and Mirrors.

Men and Belly Button Lint.

Sippican Cottage (whose furniture I want) is running a series called Whose House. Check out the essays while you’re there, he’s always interesting.

Having trouble comprehending the magnitude of the bailouts, stimulus, and budget? Assistant Village Idiot puts it into perspective.

How the International Space Station Crew prepares and eats peanut butter and honey.

Lucy in the Sky with Lemons.

Let’s end on this note: Follodor and Farts.

And how? I got the following info from a 1998 posting to a DuBose Forum:

First cousins share a common Grandparent.
Second cousins share a common Great Grandparent.
Third cousins share a common Great Great Grandparent.
Fourth cousins share a common three times Great Grandparent.
Fifth cousins share a common four times Great Grandparent.
Etc., etc.

1st cousins share a common Grandparent.
1st cousins once removed are children of your 1st cousins.
1st cousins 2 times removed are children of your 1st cousins once removed.
1st cousins 3 times removed are children of your 1st cousins 2 times removed.
1st cousins 4 times removed are children of your 1st cousins 3 times removed.
Etc., etc.

2nd cousins share a common Great Grandparent.
2nd cousins once removed are children of your 2nd cousins.
2nd cousins 2 times removed are children of your 2nd cousins once removed.
2nd cousins 3 times removed are children of your 2nd cousins 2 times removed.
2nd cousins 4 times removed are children of your 2nd cousins 3 times removed.
Etc., etc.

This Cousin Tree from Wikipedia is a nice graphic version that helps a lot. If those don’t help you, this is even less likely to: Cousin Chart from the State Library of North Carolina.  

I certainly hope that one of these can settle the argument of how my husband’s brother’s grandchild is related to my husband’s daughter and her children.  

UPDATE: Here’s an even better family relationship chart.

Also, it should be noted that my husband remains unconvinced that any of this is factual and currently considers me and all other genealogists to be out of our minds.