It's been a while since I've posted any actual information about my life, so here goes.
Art fairs went okay, but not great. Bad weather for both of them. Earnings just barely covered expenses. But we learned a lot about running an art fair booth, and we'll be better prepared whenever next time is. Someday soon we'll become members of the Stevens Square Center for the Arts, so we can have our stuff in their gallery and make some connections in the art community. Looking forward to meeting more artists.
Birthday was fun. Spent it with various people, doing various things. Age getting close to 30, but at least it's mathematically satisfying. Goodbye, cube number 27; hello perfect 28, see you soon prime 29.
Going to Lake Superior over 4th of July weekend. Planning to stay in the Mathew S. Burrows bed & breakfast, which looks like a surprisingly nice place for as little as $95 a night. I'll let you know how we like it. But we'll try to spend most of our time outdoors. Hope to get in some serious rock hunting. I'm running low on good agates for my jewelry projects.
Anyway, enough boring real world details. I'll get back to you later when I have something totally weird to talk about.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Penguin parenting
You know how they say that penguins can recognize their babies' calls? How, in an ice field full of hundreds upon hundreds of penguins, mother and baby miraculously find each other by voice alone?
John and I have been wondering something. Do the penguins actually have the auditory acuity to distinguish each other's voices? Or is this all just a by-product of their well-known devotion to the community above all individual interests?
Think about it. In Antarctica, no penguin can survive alone. Cooperation is vital, even if it means putting aside one's own interests for the moment. When penguins huddle together to keep warm, each one takes its turn on the outside of the huddle to keep others warm, as well as taking its turn at the middle to warm itself. If a penguin community ever had a large number of individuals that were, well, individualistic, that community and its gene pool would die.
And it's documented that mother penguins whose babies have died will actually fight over a baby to adopt. They have no problem with raising babies that aren't their own.
So the question John and I are asking is, has anyone actually done a tagging or gene-testing study to determine that the penguins do find their own babies? Or is it possible that they just call out and adopt the first baby that answers?
I mean, that way, pretty much every baby gets a mother, and it happens faster than it would if they took the time to seek out their own young. From the point of view of the community, which is what matters for penguins, it would make sense.
I'm really curious. Any thoughts?
John and I have been wondering something. Do the penguins actually have the auditory acuity to distinguish each other's voices? Or is this all just a by-product of their well-known devotion to the community above all individual interests?
Think about it. In Antarctica, no penguin can survive alone. Cooperation is vital, even if it means putting aside one's own interests for the moment. When penguins huddle together to keep warm, each one takes its turn on the outside of the huddle to keep others warm, as well as taking its turn at the middle to warm itself. If a penguin community ever had a large number of individuals that were, well, individualistic, that community and its gene pool would die.
And it's documented that mother penguins whose babies have died will actually fight over a baby to adopt. They have no problem with raising babies that aren't their own.
So the question John and I are asking is, has anyone actually done a tagging or gene-testing study to determine that the penguins do find their own babies? Or is it possible that they just call out and adopt the first baby that answers?
I mean, that way, pretty much every baby gets a mother, and it happens faster than it would if they took the time to seek out their own young. From the point of view of the community, which is what matters for penguins, it would make sense.
I'm really curious. Any thoughts?
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Art Fair!
John and I will be at 2 art fairs this spring. If you want to see our art in person, and maybe buy it, feel free to show up.
Not much in other news. Except that yesterday morning I had a dream that my mom had sent me to Mexico in order to improve my social standing and thus her public image, and I was absolutely miserable, and then I woke up and my brain was like "Ha ha! April Fool! You actually are still in Minnesota and your mom is not actually a horrible person!" and I was like "Shut up, brain."
Anyway, I had a kind of sucky day from then on, but today is a lot better.
Not much in other news. Except that yesterday morning I had a dream that my mom had sent me to Mexico in order to improve my social standing and thus her public image, and I was absolutely miserable, and then I woke up and my brain was like "Ha ha! April Fool! You actually are still in Minnesota and your mom is not actually a horrible person!" and I was like "Shut up, brain."
Anyway, I had a kind of sucky day from then on, but today is a lot better.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Hairectomy
In January 2009, I went from having 21-inch-long hair to having 1-inch-long hair. It's taking a lot of getting used to. I haven't had hair under 15 inches since my teens. But it's much more convenient, much cooler and cleaner-feeling.
I decided to do it after I read that hair can sell for up to $1000. My plan was to sell the hair and donate part of the proceeds to charity, thus accomplishing more good than I could by donating the hair itself.
But it didn't work out so well. It got hopelessly tangled during the haircut, and the person who had offered me money for it on Hairtrader.com never got around to telling me for sure whether he still wanted it. So I think I'm going to send it to Locks of Love and hope they can still use it.
I don't regret it, though. I'm very happy with the haircut. It's versatile-- I can look like my mother-in-law or I can look like a lesbian or I can look like a punk rock star, depending on how I style it. Works for all sorts of social situations I get into.
I keep reaching back to adjust my hair every time I shift position, and then realizing I don't have to. No more pulling my hair through after me every time my head goes through the collar of a t-shirt. John likes it better too-- he says it even used to get in his way. We'd be sitting on the couch and he'd accidentally lean on my hair. But now that, too, is a problem of the past. I should have done this a long time ago.
I decided to do it after I read that hair can sell for up to $1000. My plan was to sell the hair and donate part of the proceeds to charity, thus accomplishing more good than I could by donating the hair itself.
But it didn't work out so well. It got hopelessly tangled during the haircut, and the person who had offered me money for it on Hairtrader.com never got around to telling me for sure whether he still wanted it. So I think I'm going to send it to Locks of Love and hope they can still use it.
I don't regret it, though. I'm very happy with the haircut. It's versatile-- I can look like my mother-in-law or I can look like a lesbian or I can look like a punk rock star, depending on how I style it. Works for all sorts of social situations I get into.
I keep reaching back to adjust my hair every time I shift position, and then realizing I don't have to. No more pulling my hair through after me every time my head goes through the collar of a t-shirt. John likes it better too-- he says it even used to get in his way. We'd be sitting on the couch and he'd accidentally lean on my hair. But now that, too, is a problem of the past. I should have done this a long time ago.
A fun shop in Minneapolis
Today John and I went into a little store we had seen a whole bunch of times. We'd been curious about it before, but usually hadn't had the time to check it out. Well, today we did, and we're glad.
It's called Sunny Day Earth Solutions. When you first walk in, you may not be all that impressed-- right now it doesn't have a whole lot of interesting things sitting around in plain view-- but if you look closely, you'll start finding stuff.
I got myself a little bowl made out of recycled chopsticks:
that folds up really flat:
John got himself an LED flashlight:
that you charge by pulling a string:
It gives you about a minute of bright light per pull:
and when you're done pulling the string, it clips neatly onto the end of the flashlight:
So, kinda neat. But that isn't the really, really cool thing about this place. When you talk to the people there-- wow, then you'll get interested.
The guy we talked to is amazing. If you've ever been thinking about setting up solar power in your house or apartment, or switching out your light bulbs for LEDs, he can give you more information about those things than you ever knew existed. Take a look at his credentials page to see all the stuff he's done.
And you can buy those things in the store, too-- all sorts of solar panels, and LED lamps that screw into ordinary light bulb sockets.
We're definitely going to try and talk to him some more. Even though we already light our apartment with fluorescents, we could probably cut our electric bill down to a fraction of that by using LEDs instead. They're expensive when you buy them, but they sure pay for themselves. It would be really cool to run a least some of our electric equipment on solar power, too. And after going to this place, that doesn't seem as far out of our reach as it used to.
Trouble is, they're not getting much business lately... so I really want to spread the word about this place. It's Sunny Day Earth Solutions and it's at 1000 26th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414. Check it out sometime if you're in the area.
It's called Sunny Day Earth Solutions. When you first walk in, you may not be all that impressed-- right now it doesn't have a whole lot of interesting things sitting around in plain view-- but if you look closely, you'll start finding stuff.
I got myself a little bowl made out of recycled chopsticks:
that folds up really flat:
John got himself an LED flashlight:
that you charge by pulling a string:
It gives you about a minute of bright light per pull:
and when you're done pulling the string, it clips neatly onto the end of the flashlight:
So, kinda neat. But that isn't the really, really cool thing about this place. When you talk to the people there-- wow, then you'll get interested.
The guy we talked to is amazing. If you've ever been thinking about setting up solar power in your house or apartment, or switching out your light bulbs for LEDs, he can give you more information about those things than you ever knew existed. Take a look at his credentials page to see all the stuff he's done.
And you can buy those things in the store, too-- all sorts of solar panels, and LED lamps that screw into ordinary light bulb sockets.
We're definitely going to try and talk to him some more. Even though we already light our apartment with fluorescents, we could probably cut our electric bill down to a fraction of that by using LEDs instead. They're expensive when you buy them, but they sure pay for themselves. It would be really cool to run a least some of our electric equipment on solar power, too. And after going to this place, that doesn't seem as far out of our reach as it used to.
Trouble is, they're not getting much business lately... so I really want to spread the word about this place. It's Sunny Day Earth Solutions and it's at 1000 26th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414. Check it out sometime if you're in the area.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Speeches
We're happily settled in at our new apartment in St Anthony. I'm working at the downtown Target, and enjoying it quite a bit. We've gotten a car, which allows us some flexibility to find friends in the area. Meetup.com and its Speculative Fiction group at http://scifiwriting.meetup.com/2/ have provided some opportunities for social life.
Four speeches are now scheduled: one in Duluth on Oct 25, one for the Autism Society on Nov 12th, one for Fairview Community Center on Nov 19th, and one at Peace Church in Eagan on March 14th. The last is particularly significant, because the organizer has specifically told me:
"Please feel free to add this engagement to your web site as we will
welcome the general public and have room for up to 500 people in our
sanctuary!"
So, if you'd like to see us speak but you've never happened to be part of any of the groups we've spoken for, March 14th is your chance. It's open to anyone who wants to come. The speech will begin at 2 pm, and will go on until about 4 pm once you include the time that will be devoted to questions and book signings. Peace Church is at the following address:
2180 Glory Drive
Eagan, MN 55122
Hope that gives you enough time to make room in your schedule!
Note: If you do come, be sure to have $5.00 ready to pay the entry fee.
Four speeches are now scheduled: one in Duluth on Oct 25, one for the Autism Society on Nov 12th, one for Fairview Community Center on Nov 19th, and one at Peace Church in Eagan on March 14th. The last is particularly significant, because the organizer has specifically told me:
"Please feel free to add this engagement to your web site as we will
welcome the general public and have room for up to 500 people in our
sanctuary!"
So, if you'd like to see us speak but you've never happened to be part of any of the groups we've spoken for, March 14th is your chance. It's open to anyone who wants to come. The speech will begin at 2 pm, and will go on until about 4 pm once you include the time that will be devoted to questions and book signings. Peace Church is at the following address:
2180 Glory Drive
Eagan, MN 55122
Hope that gives you enough time to make room in your schedule!
Note: If you do come, be sure to have $5.00 ready to pay the entry fee.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
An ad on MySpace...
...since when is Naruto a graphic designer?
And a web designer, and a fashion designer? I mean, Naruto? I'm speechless here. The spiky yellow hair, the forehead protector, the fox whiskers (or something on the cheeks, anyway, too small to tell)... are they just trying to attract fangirls' attention? It isn't even an anime-related ad.
Screw this. I'm going to bed.
And a web designer, and a fashion designer? I mean, Naruto? I'm speechless here. The spiky yellow hair, the forehead protector, the fox whiskers (or something on the cheeks, anyway, too small to tell)... are they just trying to attract fangirls' attention? It isn't even an anime-related ad.
Screw this. I'm going to bed.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Moving
John and I are moving yet again-- this time into the city of St. Anthony, Minnesota.
Like Richfield, where we live now, St. Anthony is on the outskirts of Minneapolis... but it is closer to John's workplace, and on better bus lines. We'll save on gas, and may even be able to go without driving for long periods of time.
For a while, I'll probably have to take an hour-long bus ride to my current workplace (the Bloomington Target)... but eventually I hope to be transferred to the Northeast Target or the downtown Target, both of which are much closer.
Our new apartment will be ready for move-in around July 11th. I really hope this will be more long-term than our previous apartments. It's a lovely place.
Like Richfield, where we live now, St. Anthony is on the outskirts of Minneapolis... but it is closer to John's workplace, and on better bus lines. We'll save on gas, and may even be able to go without driving for long periods of time.
For a while, I'll probably have to take an hour-long bus ride to my current workplace (the Bloomington Target)... but eventually I hope to be transferred to the Northeast Target or the downtown Target, both of which are much closer.
Our new apartment will be ready for move-in around July 11th. I really hope this will be more long-term than our previous apartments. It's a lovely place.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Happy Namesday to me
May 18th is the feast day of Saint Eric, and therefore the closest thing to a namesday that I have, since there is no Saint Erika.
I was never very interested in St. Eric himself; I just liked it when my parents made me a cake for my namesday when I was a kid. Austrian heritage is good. You can get a personal cake two days of the year.
I've always liked my name, though it always has annoyed me when people spell it wrong. It's very strange, but I actually get "Erika" misspelled more often than "Hammerschmidt." I guess it's just that when people don't know how to spell "Hammerschmidt," they ask, but when they don't know how to spell "Erika," they guess. There are three common spellings of "Erika." There are no common spellings of "Hammerschmidt," since it's not a common name at all.
Another strange thing: when I studied in Mexico and Spain, nobody ever misspelled my name. This is strange because the usual misspelling I get around here is a replacement of the "K" with a "C," which is exactly what one would expect in a Spanish-speaking country, seeing that the Spanish language barely ever uses the letter "K" in any word, and always uses a "C" instead. But they didn't actually make that mistake, ever. I guess it's the same issue as with "Hammerschmidt"... the name "Erika" was so unfamiliar to them that they always asked when they didn't know how to spell it.
And it turns out neither "Erika" nor "Hammerschmidt" is really that bad, relatively speaking. When I decided to marry John Ricker, I thought about taking his name, since it seemed like an easier name to spell and pronounce than "Hammerschmidt." But after knowing him a while, I started to notice that "Ricker" actually got misspelled and mispronounced way, way more often than "Hammerschmidt." Seriously. I've seen him get called Richter, Riker, Stricker, Bicker... I've never figured out what is the deal with that.
So I kept "Hammerschmidt." "Erika Ricker" would sound silly anyway.
Anyway, in honor of my namesday, here is a song from the poetry page on my website:
Oh, beautiful for E and R,
for I and K and A,
Oh, beautiful for all of these,
Especially the K!
I'm Erika, I'm Erika,
God shed his grace on me,
But not on those who write my name
And spell it with a C!
I was never very interested in St. Eric himself; I just liked it when my parents made me a cake for my namesday when I was a kid. Austrian heritage is good. You can get a personal cake two days of the year.
I've always liked my name, though it always has annoyed me when people spell it wrong. It's very strange, but I actually get "Erika" misspelled more often than "Hammerschmidt." I guess it's just that when people don't know how to spell "Hammerschmidt," they ask, but when they don't know how to spell "Erika," they guess. There are three common spellings of "Erika." There are no common spellings of "Hammerschmidt," since it's not a common name at all.
Another strange thing: when I studied in Mexico and Spain, nobody ever misspelled my name. This is strange because the usual misspelling I get around here is a replacement of the "K" with a "C," which is exactly what one would expect in a Spanish-speaking country, seeing that the Spanish language barely ever uses the letter "K" in any word, and always uses a "C" instead. But they didn't actually make that mistake, ever. I guess it's the same issue as with "Hammerschmidt"... the name "Erika" was so unfamiliar to them that they always asked when they didn't know how to spell it.
And it turns out neither "Erika" nor "Hammerschmidt" is really that bad, relatively speaking. When I decided to marry John Ricker, I thought about taking his name, since it seemed like an easier name to spell and pronounce than "Hammerschmidt." But after knowing him a while, I started to notice that "Ricker" actually got misspelled and mispronounced way, way more often than "Hammerschmidt." Seriously. I've seen him get called Richter, Riker, Stricker, Bicker... I've never figured out what is the deal with that.
So I kept "Hammerschmidt." "Erika Ricker" would sound silly anyway.
Anyway, in honor of my namesday, here is a song from the poetry page on my website:
Oh, beautiful for E and R,
for I and K and A,
Oh, beautiful for all of these,
Especially the K!
I'm Erika, I'm Erika,
God shed his grace on me,
But not on those who write my name
And spell it with a C!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
New book is out!
I've been dead to the blogosphere for a while, because many things have been happening... but one of them is that the new edition of my book has come out from AAPC! This means you can buy it from their site, and you do not have to buy one of the secondhand older editions that are being sold exorbitantly on Amazon. (Man, the laws of supply and demand can do some crazy things.)
I mean, you still can buy it there, if you think having a first or second edition is a good investment in case I get so famous that my early books become collectors' items. But personally, I doubt my early editions will ever get up to $70 again. (Plus, I'm pretty sure that if you buy off that Amazon listing, you will not know whether you are getting the first or second of my early editions. It says "second edition," but probably some of the people who put their books up for sale there did not know if they had a second or first edition, since the two look exactly alike and the only way to tell the difference is the presence of one new chapter in the second edition.)
Anyway, this latest edition from AAPC is very different from the two editions printed by my old publisher. The first of my old publisher's editions was 121 pages, the second was 123. AAPC's edition is 198 pages. I've added several new chapters: some about things that happened since the first printing, like my semesters abroad, my job and my marriage; some about earlier things I hadn't gone into before, like the series of semi-boyfriends I had in junior high school; and some about ideas and insights regarding the autism spectrum, like how extreme honesty in autistics is mistaken for pathological lying, and whether the Sally-Anne test really works.
Anyway, feel free to go check it out, and have a great Spring.
I mean, you still can buy it there, if you think having a first or second edition is a good investment in case I get so famous that my early books become collectors' items. But personally, I doubt my early editions will ever get up to $70 again. (Plus, I'm pretty sure that if you buy off that Amazon listing, you will not know whether you are getting the first or second of my early editions. It says "second edition," but probably some of the people who put their books up for sale there did not know if they had a second or first edition, since the two look exactly alike and the only way to tell the difference is the presence of one new chapter in the second edition.)
Anyway, this latest edition from AAPC is very different from the two editions printed by my old publisher. The first of my old publisher's editions was 121 pages, the second was 123. AAPC's edition is 198 pages. I've added several new chapters: some about things that happened since the first printing, like my semesters abroad, my job and my marriage; some about earlier things I hadn't gone into before, like the series of semi-boyfriends I had in junior high school; and some about ideas and insights regarding the autism spectrum, like how extreme honesty in autistics is mistaken for pathological lying, and whether the Sally-Anne test really works.
Anyway, feel free to go check it out, and have a great Spring.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Random link of the week
The Rice Ball Page is a delightful combination of broken English and hideous web design. I highly recommend it. And yes, it even has some useful information about rice balls, though that's not the main attraction.
In other news, my comic Abby and Norma got a bit of an overhaul a while back. I think it looks quite nice now.
In other news, my comic Abby and Norma got a bit of an overhaul a while back. I think it looks quite nice now.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
double pterodactyls
"Higgledy Piggledy, My Black Hen" isn't really a Higgledy Piggledy-- but shouldn't it be? Here's my attempt to make it one.
Higgledy piggledy,
Gallus domesticus,
Feathered in ebony
blackness intense,
Hastens to ovulate
(Oft decatuply) for
Aristocratically
Pedigreed gents.
Higgledy piggledy,
Gallus domesticus,
Feathered in ebony
blackness intense,
Hastens to ovulate
(Oft decatuply) for
Aristocratically
Pedigreed gents.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A segue into humility
My pride as a language major has just been dealt a crippling blow. I've suffered a defeat at the hands of the word "segue."
I spelled it wrong, and my husband, who has only the most basic knowledge of spelling, knew that I had spelled it wrong.
My mistake was not for lack of having encountered the word before. I had read plenty of written examples of a word that meant "transition" and was spelled "segue," and I had heard plenty of spoken examples of a word that meant "transition" and was pronounced "segway."
Yet, somehow, I had never figured out that the two were the same word.
I had assumed that the word that was pronounced "segway" was spelled "segway" (I don't think it was because of the vehicle; I think my misconception of the spelling dates back to before the vehicle existed). And I assumed that the word that was spelled "segue" would be pronounced "seg," or "seeg," or "sayg."
The latter was because, to my knowledge, all words in the English language that end in "gue" pronounced it as a simple hard G. Spanish and French, two languages from which English has gotten many words, follow the same rule. Up until then I had found no exception to that rule in any language, and supposing that "segue" might be pronounced "segway" would require assuming an exception.
So my misconception was caused by my knowledge of a somewhat obscure spelling rule-- while my husband, who knows only the most basic spelling rules, had figured out the correct pronunciation of "segue" by sounding it out phonetically-- a technique that any literate fourth-grader knows you can't trust in this language.
I feel I've been punished for knowledge, and my husband has been rewarded for ignorance. I can't help but think life has been unfair to me. But I guess it just means I have to keep gaining more knowledge.
I spelled it wrong, and my husband, who has only the most basic knowledge of spelling, knew that I had spelled it wrong.
My mistake was not for lack of having encountered the word before. I had read plenty of written examples of a word that meant "transition" and was spelled "segue," and I had heard plenty of spoken examples of a word that meant "transition" and was pronounced "segway."
Yet, somehow, I had never figured out that the two were the same word.
I had assumed that the word that was pronounced "segway" was spelled "segway" (I don't think it was because of the vehicle; I think my misconception of the spelling dates back to before the vehicle existed). And I assumed that the word that was spelled "segue" would be pronounced "seg," or "seeg," or "sayg."
The latter was because, to my knowledge, all words in the English language that end in "gue" pronounced it as a simple hard G. Spanish and French, two languages from which English has gotten many words, follow the same rule. Up until then I had found no exception to that rule in any language, and supposing that "segue" might be pronounced "segway" would require assuming an exception.
So my misconception was caused by my knowledge of a somewhat obscure spelling rule-- while my husband, who knows only the most basic spelling rules, had figured out the correct pronunciation of "segue" by sounding it out phonetically-- a technique that any literate fourth-grader knows you can't trust in this language.
I feel I've been punished for knowledge, and my husband has been rewarded for ignorance. I can't help but think life has been unfair to me. But I guess it just means I have to keep gaining more knowledge.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Abby and Norma Latest News!!
Abby and Norma is now on a new website, with automatic updating so that I will never, ever be late in posting a strip again! Also, there is now an Abby and Norma Merchandise Page, with various shirts, hats, mugs and bags bearing these pictures:
(inspired by strip #42)
(inspired by strip #15)
(inspired by strip #51)
(inspired by strip #39)
(inspired by strip #36)
(not inspired by any strip, just a random idea I had)
(just a simple Abby and Norma logo).
Any ideas will be welcome.
(inspired by strip #42)
(inspired by strip #15)
(inspired by strip #51)
(inspired by strip #39)
(inspired by strip #36)
(not inspired by any strip, just a random idea I had)
(just a simple Abby and Norma logo).
Any ideas will be welcome.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Four weeks of bad luck
I'm posting while lying on my back with the laptop on my stomach, which is a very awkward typing position, so this may not be a long post.
Week before the week before last: busy helping a friend move out of her house and clean up/recycle/ebay a basement full of computer paraphernalia that her husband left her and refused to help get rid of when he divorced her.
Week before last: busy moving our own stuff (and leftover computer crap from helping this friend) into our new townhouse.
Last week: on vacation at Lake Superior. Husband broke his leg on second day of trip. Spent most of it in cabin taking care of bedridden husband. We will be a single-income family until he recovers in 4-6 weeks.
This week: busy unboxing and putting away stuff in new townhouse, until my back gave out last night. Today we are a no-income family. Hope I can go back to work tomorrow.
You see why I have been so quiet lately?
Week before the week before last: busy helping a friend move out of her house and clean up/recycle/ebay a basement full of computer paraphernalia that her husband left her and refused to help get rid of when he divorced her.
Week before last: busy moving our own stuff (and leftover computer crap from helping this friend) into our new townhouse.
Last week: on vacation at Lake Superior. Husband broke his leg on second day of trip. Spent most of it in cabin taking care of bedridden husband. We will be a single-income family until he recovers in 4-6 weeks.
This week: busy unboxing and putting away stuff in new townhouse, until my back gave out last night. Today we are a no-income family. Hope I can go back to work tomorrow.
You see why I have been so quiet lately?
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Ah, college days... and grade school days...
I'm reminiscing about college a bit today.
I took an education class once in college, more just to pass the time than because I was interested in learning about education. But there was some interesting stuff there... some of which just made me laugh at how silly people can be.
One article talked about a project in which hundreds of children were encouraged to write poems. A couple paragraphs of it were devoted to talking about a child whose poems were "disturbing"... specifically, that he wrote about "shooting his teachers, and killing his mother and flushing her head down the toilet." He was removed from the class and put in counseling.
Now, I don't know if his teachers had ever been children. I know I was a child once, and I remember it very well, and I remember that when I was a child, at least half of the other children I knew sang some variation of a song that went:
"Joy to the world, [insert name of victim here] is dead.
What happened to her head?
I took it from her body
And flushed it down the potty
And around and around it goes..."
And they also sang some variation of a song that went:
"On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese,
I shot my poor teacher with a 40 MC
Thirty years later he rose from the dead
And I took my bazooka and blew off his head."
I strongly suspect that the poems written by the boy in the article were these ones, or something like them, and that the reason he wrote them was because he had heard them from other children. So he shouldn't have gotten in trouble for "disturbing writing"-- he should have gotten in trouble for freaking plagiarism.
Not that I approve of those songs, mind you. They're so unrealistic. You can't flush someone's head down a toilet. The only toilets that a human head would fit down are outhouses and porta-potties, and those don't flush.
But I digress...
I took an education class once in college, more just to pass the time than because I was interested in learning about education. But there was some interesting stuff there... some of which just made me laugh at how silly people can be.
One article talked about a project in which hundreds of children were encouraged to write poems. A couple paragraphs of it were devoted to talking about a child whose poems were "disturbing"... specifically, that he wrote about "shooting his teachers, and killing his mother and flushing her head down the toilet." He was removed from the class and put in counseling.
Now, I don't know if his teachers had ever been children. I know I was a child once, and I remember it very well, and I remember that when I was a child, at least half of the other children I knew sang some variation of a song that went:
"Joy to the world, [insert name of victim here] is dead.
What happened to her head?
I took it from her body
And flushed it down the potty
And around and around it goes..."
And they also sang some variation of a song that went:
"On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese,
I shot my poor teacher with a 40 MC
Thirty years later he rose from the dead
And I took my bazooka and blew off his head."
I strongly suspect that the poems written by the boy in the article were these ones, or something like them, and that the reason he wrote them was because he had heard them from other children. So he shouldn't have gotten in trouble for "disturbing writing"-- he should have gotten in trouble for freaking plagiarism.
Not that I approve of those songs, mind you. They're so unrealistic. You can't flush someone's head down a toilet. The only toilets that a human head would fit down are outhouses and porta-potties, and those don't flush.
But I digress...
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
long essay on random topic
There's a lot of talk about how many of our personality traits come from genes, and there's a lot of dispute over it, especially when the question comes up of whether, and how strongly, any of these traits are connected to gender or race. Basically, I believe that many of our behaviors are genetic-- but also that many people take the idea of genetic traits too far, and that we have to recognize the dangers that come with this kind of thought.
First of all, I do believe that many of the personality traits we associate with gender are genetic, and that there is a basic tendency for these traits to follow the genders we expect them to follow. After all, practically every animal species that has genders exhibits behavior differences between them-- differences that often resemble the gender differences we see in humans-- and nobody doubts that they are genetic when found in animals. We share over half our genes with most animals; why should we think that we're the only species that doesn't have any inherent instincts (or at least any that tend to follow the gender lines)?
However-- and this is a big "however"-- we must be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking that such genetic traits always, or even almost always, follow the gender lines. They do not. They are tendencies, no more. Within the human species there is enormous variation in what instincts we experience, and also in whether we choose to act on our instincts. For any generalization describing human behavior, there are so many exceptions that the rule is barely any use.
When I was little, I was obsessed with frilly dresses, princesses, ballerinas and jewelry, and my brother was obsessed with cars, tanks, submarines, airplanes and guns. No one knew where this came from. Our parents had made an enormous effort to raise both of us in a gender-neutral environment, encouraging both of us equally to play with traditionally "feminine" toys, traditionally "masculine" toys, and gender-neutral toys. We couldn't have learned traditional gender roles from our parents' example; they were as far from the traditional gender roles as any parents can be. We had barely any friends, and mostly avoided our peers; I doubt we learned anything from them. We were isolated from almost everything outside the family. We didn't even watch TV. And at that age, we saw our mother as the ultimate authority on everything, and she said gender didn't matter, so we wouldn't have listened to anyone who said otherwise.
And yet, somehow, we had developed stereotypical masculine and feminine interests. The only explanation seems to be that it was an inherent instinct.
Yet it's also clear that such inherent instincts do not always appear in the genders they're expected from. At the same time that I was obsessed with princesses and ballerinas, I also played with worms and centipedes in the backyard. At the same time that he was fascinated with war machines, my brother also devotedly loved kittens and puppies.
And of course, time and time again throughout history, a mother has brought her daughter up with nothing but dolls and tea sets to play with, forbidden her to associate with anyone who went against gender expectations, and still found the girl becoming a "tomboy," developing interests in traditionally masculine activities. Such a girl's interests must be genetic-- there's no place else they could come from-- and yet they do not follow our expectations of where such a genetic instinct would appear.
There are similar issues with race. I believe it is quite possible that there are some genetic behavioral tendencies associated with race-- after all, evolution has caused different races to have many different physical characteristics depending on what is useful for survival in the environment where each race originally developed. It's not too much of a stretch beyond that to suppose that we might also have evolved different genetic leanings toward behaviors that were beneficial in our ancestors' original habitats.
However, this idea poses the same dangers as the thought of gender-related genetic tendencies. First, it sometimes leads people to believe that some races are genetically "inferior" to others. Obviously, this is not true. There would never have been any reason for a race to evolve a behavior that was inherently harmful. The only traits that could have been evolved are ones that are helpful in certain environments.
For instance, it's been shown that members of cultures that live in cold climates tend to be more introverted, while members of cultures that live in warm climates tend to be more extroverted. It's quite possible that this is just cultural, but I also wouldn't be surprised if there were some genetic factor. After all, the ability to enjoy being alone is very useful in an environment where snow and cold may often prevent you from going out and spending time with people... while the ability to enjoy other people's company is useful in an environment where warm weather brings everyone outside most of the time.
In contrast, I do not believe that there is anything genetic behind the fact that some races in the United States have higher crime rates than others. There would be no reason to evolve a tendency toward crime. The most likely explanation is that such tendencies come from the economic situations that some races are forced into.
And again, as in the case of gender, it is dangerous to start making assumptions about people based on the idea that there are genetic behavior traits linked to race. It is possible that there are such links, but if so, they are weak links; remember that we haven't even found proof of them yet. And even the most reliable generalizations about human beings have enough exceptions to get you in trouble if you use them as your basis for understanding people.
Using generalizations may increase your chances of guessing correctly about people's personalities, but it's better not to guess at all. There will always be times when your generalizations will cause you to guess wrong and offend someone, and those times will cause a lot more problems than the times when you start out with no assumption at all.
For instance, I would be very upset if everybody looked at me and said, "She's a woman, therefore she probably has a strong maternal instinct-- let's all ask her to baby-sit our kids." They would be wrong. Most women (and most men, for that matter) do have some parental feelings, but I'm different. I panic if I have to look after a child, and I'd be offended if people assumed otherwise just because of my gender. Similarly, I'd be very upset if people looked at me and said, "She's part Norwegian, and Norway is a cold place; therefore she's probably a loner. She'll be happier if we all avoid her and don't talk to her." I am introverted, but that doesn't mean I want everyone to ignore me... and I certainly don't want anyone to make assumptions about me based on my ethnicity.
So, the conclusion I've come to is that each race or gender may carry a somewhat increased likelihood of having certain genetic behavior traits, but even if that's true, it's irrelevant to the question of what's the moral way to treat people. Such traits, if they exist, are not universal or even close to universal within the given gender or race. The best thing we can do for society is to act as if there were no connection between behavior traits and race or gender... and simply avoid making assumptions about people until we get to know them.
First of all, I do believe that many of the personality traits we associate with gender are genetic, and that there is a basic tendency for these traits to follow the genders we expect them to follow. After all, practically every animal species that has genders exhibits behavior differences between them-- differences that often resemble the gender differences we see in humans-- and nobody doubts that they are genetic when found in animals. We share over half our genes with most animals; why should we think that we're the only species that doesn't have any inherent instincts (or at least any that tend to follow the gender lines)?
However-- and this is a big "however"-- we must be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking that such genetic traits always, or even almost always, follow the gender lines. They do not. They are tendencies, no more. Within the human species there is enormous variation in what instincts we experience, and also in whether we choose to act on our instincts. For any generalization describing human behavior, there are so many exceptions that the rule is barely any use.
When I was little, I was obsessed with frilly dresses, princesses, ballerinas and jewelry, and my brother was obsessed with cars, tanks, submarines, airplanes and guns. No one knew where this came from. Our parents had made an enormous effort to raise both of us in a gender-neutral environment, encouraging both of us equally to play with traditionally "feminine" toys, traditionally "masculine" toys, and gender-neutral toys. We couldn't have learned traditional gender roles from our parents' example; they were as far from the traditional gender roles as any parents can be. We had barely any friends, and mostly avoided our peers; I doubt we learned anything from them. We were isolated from almost everything outside the family. We didn't even watch TV. And at that age, we saw our mother as the ultimate authority on everything, and she said gender didn't matter, so we wouldn't have listened to anyone who said otherwise.
And yet, somehow, we had developed stereotypical masculine and feminine interests. The only explanation seems to be that it was an inherent instinct.
Yet it's also clear that such inherent instincts do not always appear in the genders they're expected from. At the same time that I was obsessed with princesses and ballerinas, I also played with worms and centipedes in the backyard. At the same time that he was fascinated with war machines, my brother also devotedly loved kittens and puppies.
And of course, time and time again throughout history, a mother has brought her daughter up with nothing but dolls and tea sets to play with, forbidden her to associate with anyone who went against gender expectations, and still found the girl becoming a "tomboy," developing interests in traditionally masculine activities. Such a girl's interests must be genetic-- there's no place else they could come from-- and yet they do not follow our expectations of where such a genetic instinct would appear.
There are similar issues with race. I believe it is quite possible that there are some genetic behavioral tendencies associated with race-- after all, evolution has caused different races to have many different physical characteristics depending on what is useful for survival in the environment where each race originally developed. It's not too much of a stretch beyond that to suppose that we might also have evolved different genetic leanings toward behaviors that were beneficial in our ancestors' original habitats.
However, this idea poses the same dangers as the thought of gender-related genetic tendencies. First, it sometimes leads people to believe that some races are genetically "inferior" to others. Obviously, this is not true. There would never have been any reason for a race to evolve a behavior that was inherently harmful. The only traits that could have been evolved are ones that are helpful in certain environments.
For instance, it's been shown that members of cultures that live in cold climates tend to be more introverted, while members of cultures that live in warm climates tend to be more extroverted. It's quite possible that this is just cultural, but I also wouldn't be surprised if there were some genetic factor. After all, the ability to enjoy being alone is very useful in an environment where snow and cold may often prevent you from going out and spending time with people... while the ability to enjoy other people's company is useful in an environment where warm weather brings everyone outside most of the time.
In contrast, I do not believe that there is anything genetic behind the fact that some races in the United States have higher crime rates than others. There would be no reason to evolve a tendency toward crime. The most likely explanation is that such tendencies come from the economic situations that some races are forced into.
And again, as in the case of gender, it is dangerous to start making assumptions about people based on the idea that there are genetic behavior traits linked to race. It is possible that there are such links, but if so, they are weak links; remember that we haven't even found proof of them yet. And even the most reliable generalizations about human beings have enough exceptions to get you in trouble if you use them as your basis for understanding people.
Using generalizations may increase your chances of guessing correctly about people's personalities, but it's better not to guess at all. There will always be times when your generalizations will cause you to guess wrong and offend someone, and those times will cause a lot more problems than the times when you start out with no assumption at all.
For instance, I would be very upset if everybody looked at me and said, "She's a woman, therefore she probably has a strong maternal instinct-- let's all ask her to baby-sit our kids." They would be wrong. Most women (and most men, for that matter) do have some parental feelings, but I'm different. I panic if I have to look after a child, and I'd be offended if people assumed otherwise just because of my gender. Similarly, I'd be very upset if people looked at me and said, "She's part Norwegian, and Norway is a cold place; therefore she's probably a loner. She'll be happier if we all avoid her and don't talk to her." I am introverted, but that doesn't mean I want everyone to ignore me... and I certainly don't want anyone to make assumptions about me based on my ethnicity.
So, the conclusion I've come to is that each race or gender may carry a somewhat increased likelihood of having certain genetic behavior traits, but even if that's true, it's irrelevant to the question of what's the moral way to treat people. Such traits, if they exist, are not universal or even close to universal within the given gender or race. The best thing we can do for society is to act as if there were no connection between behavior traits and race or gender... and simply avoid making assumptions about people until we get to know them.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Domain name etc.
I know I haven't been posting on this blog every week as I said I would-- that's partly because I'm reconsidering whether some of the things I was going to post are too controversial, and also whether they may be boring.
In any case, I'd like to announce that I've bought the domain name www.abbyandnorma.com, which now redirects to my comic page. The comic is getting more and more hits, and I wanted to be sure I got that domain before anyone else did.
Which may mean I'm smarter than the government, which didn't even think of buying the domain names "whitehouse.com" and "whitehouse.org" until they'd already been bought by a porn site and an anti-Bush parody site.
This is why I don't trust any decisions the government makes regarding computers. Every government is made up mainly of old men who have spent their whole lives in careers almost completely unrelated to technology-- so expecting them to be tech-savvy is expecting too much.
In any case, I'd like to announce that I've bought the domain name www.abbyandnorma.com, which now redirects to my comic page. The comic is getting more and more hits, and I wanted to be sure I got that domain before anyone else did.
Which may mean I'm smarter than the government, which didn't even think of buying the domain names "whitehouse.com" and "whitehouse.org" until they'd already been bought by a porn site and an anti-Bush parody site.
This is why I don't trust any decisions the government makes regarding computers. Every government is made up mainly of old men who have spent their whole lives in careers almost completely unrelated to technology-- so expecting them to be tech-savvy is expecting too much.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
What. The.
Someone just found my website by searching for "how to fix baby's pointy ear."
Obviously without the quotes, because that sentence is not on my website. I may have used the words "how to," "fix" and "baby" a few times, but my only reference to pointy ears was about a costume piece I made that you can wear in order to look as if you have pointy ears.
So, fat lot of help they got for Poor Pointy-Eared Baby. I hope they buy one of my pointy ear headbands. That'll at least make Baby look like he has two MATCHING pointy ears.
Obviously without the quotes, because that sentence is not on my website. I may have used the words "how to," "fix" and "baby" a few times, but my only reference to pointy ears was about a costume piece I made that you can wear in order to look as if you have pointy ears.
So, fat lot of help they got for Poor Pointy-Eared Baby. I hope they buy one of my pointy ear headbands. That'll at least make Baby look like he has two MATCHING pointy ears.
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