-
A Litany for Agnostics
In the beginning… We start as a DNA blueprint, a set of instructions for how to construct the magic of consciousness from nothing more than the molecules that surround us. The environment is not just a soup that we swim in. It’s what we are made of. We are built entirely from materials that we…
-
My Exact Words Were…
So I said, ” As long as the peas are staked by the time I get home, I don’t care if there is a giant pair of pants in my front yard…”
-
High tech/low tech
After I wrote my very long post extolling the virtues of cake (1), I went out to obtain ingredients for supper (2) and arrived home to discover that the power was out. After a couple of minutes (3), I realized that there was an easy solution to this problem, picked up the not-cordless phone (4)…
-
Weekly Photo Challenge: Ocean
Oooh! Ocean! I have one of those! (You know, the same way that one can have a sky, or a constellation, which is that I can look at one with a reasonable expenditure of energy) Our ocean is moody and cold: There is honesty in naming in action, at the Polar Bear Beach. I didn’t…
-
Once More With Feeling!
On the occasion of my 39th birthday, allow me to wax philosophical. Really, how are you going to stop me? I’ve made it around the sun one more time. This is apparently an accomplishment that warrants cake. Go, me. Just keep breathing, breathing, breathing. Don’t get me wrong; I love cake. But it is an…
-
More different YouTube
Well, I’ve written 1700 words so far, but I’m not finished and it’s 11:56. So, in lieu of a MASSIVE post, an argument: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y&feature=player_profilepage#t=53s] What’s different about it is that it is NOT a copyright infringement. That’s right. It’s the honest to goodness Monty Python channel! On YouTube. With links on which they encourage us…
-
Review: Keeping the Bees
Why is that young man serenading the blueberries with his guitar? Why are cactus spines as likely as stings for many bee researchers? What can each of us do to improve the situation for pollinators in our world? What I didn’t know about bees could fill a book. Fortunately, Laurence Packer has provided exactly that…
-
On Pickles, Particle Physics, and Work-Life Balance
When I started writing this post, I felt pretty good. I had a great day. I made the pickles that have been sitting in brine for the last 5 days. I wrote about nuclear physics for 2 hours, refreshed my memory on alpha and beta decay, and came up with a good analogy. I had…
-
The books that haunt me
Can’t write, reading! Books on the desk… Books on the wee table next to the desk: The books I removed from the end table that have no shelf to go to: The books I added to the end table: And to finish it all off, the blank books that await filling:
-
Weekly Photo Challenge: Spring Cleaning
It is the time of the year when young beekeepers minds turn to thoughts of honey. Not harvesting honey, not honey for people, but… whether there is going to be enough honey left in the hive to keep the bees alive until the flowers are in bloom. It is a great sadness to get the…
-
The Troll and the Farmers Market
alternately titled: “Be Careful, She Might Have a Blog.” Today somebody walked up to my table at the market, picked up a jar of my spices, said, “That’s too expensive,” and banged it back down onto the table. This was the first time that somebody has been that abrupt about it in three years, and…
-
You know what stat I really want?
This is a self-referential post, although I have managed to avoid making it recursive. For now. Check back later. I have been watching the stats on my blog with interest. (Oh, c’mon, bloggers. You know you do it, too.) They have been increasing consistently since I started posting on a regular basis last fall, and…