Posted in Other, tagged adoption, biracial, NPR, race, srsly, Thoughts on June 29, 2013| 5 Comments »
Twelve and a half bucks, that’s what it cost my parents to adopt me. Would they have had to pay more for a white baby? We’ll never know, but according to NPR’s article on the issue, ‘Black Babies Cost Less To Adopt’, a skin-color based fee structure isn’t uncommon today. Not to mention how incredibly expensive the process is across the board.
/wtf, world?
Honestly.
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged carl sagan, home, inspiration, pale blue dot, photography, science, space, Thoughts on June 28, 2013| 1 Comment »
From an NPR article on a global “self-portrait” scheduled for July 19th. Thank you, Carl, for putting us all in perspective.
Posted in Other, tagged fauna, get outdoors, i should be working, inspiration, Motivation, nature, Thoughts, vacation, work, Writers, writing, yay on June 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »
[written from The Bush, as they say]
Greetings from Northern Ontario, where I sit at a table in a cottage overlooking a broad grey lake. Most mornings the lake sits still and calm, its surface and the encircling hills a chalice in which to hold mist. Like so many others in this region, this lake is surrounded by birch and pine, underpinned by the heavy, flat bedrock of the Canadian Shield. A small grassy lawn surrounds the house, illuminated by daisies and orange hawkweed.
It’s beautiful here, in the stark, almost frantic way of northern climes in summer. The sky warms around five o’clock in the morning and doesn’t fade until almost ten at night. Local wildlife takes full advantage of the long days, and I try to do the same.
Speaking of local wildlife, in addition to the usual chipmunks, rabbits, hawks, etc. I have seen the following in northern Ontario:
It’s raining now, providing me with the perfect reason to stay in and keep working. But even work is better in the woods!
Posted in Other, Science!, tagged atoms, awesome, human body, iain banks, illness, Motivation, neil degrasse tyson, physics, science, stars, Thoughts on June 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Now might be a good time to spend a little time with everyone’s favorite physicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, as he revisits the origins of the atoms that make up the human body.
From stars we came and to the stars we must return.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains Where Our Atoms Came From
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged arts, awesome, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, literature, Motivation, science, sff, Thoughts, Writers, writing on June 4, 2013| 2 Comments »
In a broader sense, all science fiction prepares young people to live and survive in a world of ever-continuing change by teaching them early that the world does change.… In a more specific sense, science fiction preaches the need for freedom of the mind and the desirability of knowledge; it teaches that prizes go to those who study, who learn, who soak up the difficult fields of knowledge such as mathematics and engineering and biology. And so they do! The prizes of this universe go only to those able and equipped to reach out for them. In short, science fiction is preparing our youngsters to be mature citizens of the galaxy… as indeed they will have to be.
— Robert A. Heinlein (in “Turning Points: Essays on the Art of Science Fiction” by Damon Knight, ed., pp. 26-27)
Posted in Other, tagged behavior, car stickers, family, information, kids, parenting, privacy, stalkers, star wars, Thoughts on May 31, 2013| 1 Comment »
Is it just me or do those family car decals everyone’s suddenly sporting seem like a stalker’s dream? True, some of those stickers (check out the Star Wars version) are super cool. I still wouldn’t use them, though, and not just because my cat might object to being depicted as an Ewok. With all the discussion around privacy issues related to social media and other online activity, I’ve been surprised not to see more reaction to this sort of off-line behavior.
Perhaps I’m oversuspicious but ask yourself this: would you broadcast your partnership status and number of children to physically proximate strangers under other circumstances? Wear a T-shirt with that information on it, for example, or add a sign to your front door? Probably not. Imagine yourself alone at home, when you hear a creak from the darkness outside and realize that anyone with eyes to see your car knows that you are a single mother with one small child and no pets.
Of course, you could always line your car window with the whole Clone Army.
Posted in Writing, tagged arts, books, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, literature, Motivation, reading lists, rejection, sff, speculative fiction novels, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on May 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Check out io9’s entertaining new list of classic speculative fiction novels originally rejected by publishers. It’s like a mashup of English reading lists from school and some of my favorite books.
Just goes to show, eh? Keep writing!
Posted in Other, tagged DIY, finishing, home, house, inspiration, Mark Twain, Motivation, ouchies, power tools, projects, summer, Thoughts, work, yay on May 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »
“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”
— Mark Twain
We spent the weekend refinishing the deck. The wood was a mess, half covered with multiple layers of thick, splintering stain and half exposed to the elements. It was time. The only problem was that I’d never refinished a deck before.
Did I let that stop me? Nope. It helps that Mr Man is ridiculously handy but still. I took Mark Twain’s quote to heart and jumped in, and now, days later, the splinters and uneven steps and flaking are no more. I learned how to use an industrial sander, tons of power tools, and now know that Onion Goggles are perfect for jobs that result in large clouds of airborne particulates. The wood is now smooth, the finish even.
Is it perfect? Well, no. But it’s done. And that’s much better than not doing anything at all.
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