cultural observation
grrlscientist | June 23, 2008tags: language as bullshit, George Carlin, humor, comedy, streaming video
When I woke up this morning, I heard George Carlin talk about language on NPR. What's wrong with using simple, direct and honest language? He wonders. "It's getting so bad that any day now I expect to hear a rape victim described as an 'unwilling sperm recipient'!" [6:55]
grrlscientist | June 23, 2008tags: shit versus stuff, George Carlin, humor, comedy, streaming video
I woke up this morning to hear George Carlin talking about materialism on the radio. You know, stuff. Yes, stuff. "Have you noticed that their stuff is 'shit' and your shit is 'stuff'?" he asks [5:09]
grrlscientist | June 23, 2008tags: pro-life is anti-woman, George Carlin, humor, comedy, streaming video
George Carlin talks about the so-called pro-life people, who use their hypocritical position to legalize and institutionalize their hatred for women. He asks, Why, when it's us, it's an abortion, but when it's a chicken, it's an omelet? [9:50]
grrlscientist | June 23, 2008tags: Religion is Bullshit, George Carlin, humor, comedy, streaming video
As usual these days, I was awake until the sun came up. So in the wee hours of the morning, I learned that one of my favorite people, George Carlin, died. I've always loved George Carlin even though I've never had the privilege to see him perform live. I especially enjoyed George's comments about religion, but he is so brilliant that I "especially enjoy" many things that he had to say. I know that he lived a long and wonderful life, with little mental or physical deterioration to rob him of his dignity and integrity,…
grrlscientist | June 8, 2008tags: Only in America, cultural observation, humor
A friend sent me some interesting cultural observations regarding the odd and ironic behavior of Americans .. of course, I had to share it with you.
Only in America ..
Only in America .. can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
Only in America .. are there handicapped parking places in front of a skating rink.
Only in America .. do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
Only in America .. do people order double…
grrlscientist | June 4, 2008tags: presidential primaries, racism, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Democratic primaries
Image: NYTimes.
It isn't news any longer that Barack Obama has apparently won enough electoral votes to be nominated as this nation's democratic candidate for the presidency. However, what is news is the fact that a fair percentage of Hillary's supporters are, by their own assertions, a bunch of whiney, bigoted pigs because they claim they will either vote for Rethuglican John McCain instead of fellow Democrat, Barack Obama, or they will refuse to vote at all. So, while a lot of people are overjoyed by…
grrlscientist | June 2, 2008I am sitting in my beloved coffee shop as usual for me at this time of the night, using their free wifi. There is a group of men, mostly, in here with me, all of whom are here to watch the Yankees baseball game on the TVs. These men are standing extremely close to each other, and one or two touch each other at times, and all of them have located their mouths approximately 12 -24 inches (between 30.5 and 61 cm, or roughly 4 and 8.35 baseball diameters) away from at least one of their friend's ears.
So my random question is Why are they shouting at each other?
Does anyone know why most men (but…
grrlscientist | June 1, 2008tags: atheism, godlessness, religion, philosophy, Epicurus, The Epicurean Paradox
The Epicurean Paradox
Is God willing to prevent evil, but unable?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
The he is malevolent.
Is he both able, and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God.
~Epicurus (Greek philosopher, BC 341-270)
grrlscientist | May 23, 2008tags: blog writing, navel gazing
Why do people write blogs? I suppose the reasons underlying this activity are as varied as the writers themselves, but according to an article that was published yesterday, writing a blog might actually be good for your health. As a lifelong compulsive writer, it's unexpected good news to me to learn that something I do naturally and derive a tremendous amount of pleasure from is actually good for my health.
Several scientists are studying blog writing using several different techniques to uncover the beneficial aspects of this activity. But in this article,…
grrlscientist | May 13, 2008tags: foot binding, China, social behavior, fashion psychology, streaming video
A friend sent these images depicting foot-binding in China. To say the least, I knew this practice was painful and caused permanent malformations, but seeing the damage makes my own feet scream in agony. How did such a strange and harmful behavior like this ever become a cultural fashion/fad/fetish?
An elderly Chinese woman who was one of the countless victims of foot-binding. She can barely stand or walk, even with assistance. Gee, I wonder why?
An elderly Chinese woman, one of countless millions of female…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2008tags: Creationism-vs-evolution, fundamentalism, religion, culture wars
A friend, Dave, sent me an interesting article that was published several months ago in Science. This insightful and well-written article by Jennifer Couzin is important because it focuses on one scientist's trauma and ensuing lifelong journey with rejecting his evangelical creationist upbringing to accept evolution as scientific fact. Below the fold is a summary of this article for you to read.
Paleontologist Stephen Godfrey, curator of the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland, started out his life incongruously as…
grrlscientist | February 9, 2008tags: gender bias in science, female scientists, science publishing, sexism, feminism
I have been thinking about this problem of reviewer bias against female scientists and have a proposal: all scientists should either choose or be randomly assigned a gender-neutral first name, such as "Lee", "Alex", "Jordan", "Reese" or "Ali" or something like that, followed by the initials denoting the scientist's real first name, along with as many more initials as that person desires, and ending with the surname, spelled out. Thus, if a reviewer is subconsciously biased against his (or her) female…
grrlscientist | January 21, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, Female Scientists, science publishing, science blogging, gender bias, sexism, feminism
A microbiologist at work.
Image: East Bay AWIS.
In the wake of the Science Blogging Conference in North Carolina, which I was unable to attend due to financial reasons, The Scientist's blog published a piece today that asks "Do Women Blog About Science?" This article was written partially in response to the kerfuffle that was triggered last year after The Scientist asked what were their readers' favorite life science blogs. Several women, including me, noticed that they only…
grrlscientist | April 27, 2007tags: disturbing essay, writing, teaching, mental health, freedom of speech
In the wake of the recent Virginia Tech tragedy, it was revealed that Cho, the gunman, had written several essays in his English class that were perceived by his professor as "disturbing." Even though I am aware of the gist of Cho's writings, I haven't read them in full, so I have no way of judging what exactly qualifies as "disturbing," although, as a professor, I'd sure like to know. Apparently, I am not the only person who is confused by what this means.
For example, this week, high-school senior Allen Lee wrote…
grrlscientist | April 24, 2007tags: streaming video, music, the Zimmers, My Generation
This charming and upbeat video just goes to show us all that life (and musical appreciation) don't end at age 30!
grrlscientist | April 18, 2007This streaming video is a history of the USA in a nutshell .. sad, funny and unfortunately quite accurate.
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tags: streaming video, politics, guns
grrlscientist | April 13, 2007If you think things look bad now, what do you suppose the devolved future looks like? Scary, that's what!
grrlscientist | April 12, 2007I hate to say this, but I have often wondered about the future of the human species .. we will certainly keep our technology, but our overall intelligence and ingenuity will diminish, as this video reveals. (clips from the Mike Judge movie, Idiocracy).
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tags: streaming video, evolution, Idiocracy
grrlscientist | March 5, 2007Those of you who agree with the death penalty will rethink your position after you read John Grisham's first nonfiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (NYC: Doubleday; 2006), while those of you who disagree with the death penalty will find your position reinforced after you've read this stunning book.
And stunning it is due to the obvious and egregious miscarriage of justice that was so casually carried out in a small town. This book tells the tragic story of former major league baseball hopeful, Ron Williamson, who was the first major league draft choice from…