thusspakezuska | November 6, 2009You should never, ever criticize something a New Atheist says about science and religion. Never tell them maybe it's not the best idea in the world to just go on about science/evolution + religion in whatever way, at whatever time, in whatever manner, for whatever reasons. In fact, you cannot criticize the speech of New Atheists even if your goal is not to tell them to shut up, but to suggest that they might get their message across better and more effectively if they tried delivering it in a different manner than the one they've been using, because suggestions like that are CENSORSHIP and…
thusspakezuska | October 30, 2009The whole month of October has gone by, and none of the things I promised myself I would finally get around to writing about this month have appeared on my blog. They haven't even made it out of my cranium into rough draft form on my computer. I didn't even manage to get a post up exhorting you all to open your wallets for the good cause of DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge (though there's still one day left should you be so inspired!) I managed somehow to get my giving page set up (and a few of you stumbled across it and donated, with absolutely no help from me - bless your hearts…
thusspakezuska | October 22, 2009Eric Michael Johnson at The Primate Diaries has a beautifully crafted (and very witty) post taking apart the gender bias in a recent paper on Ardipithecus ramidus and human origins. The post has lots to say about the stupid, leering headlines generated by work on meat provisioning in chimpanzees. I particularly loved this bit of prose:
The "meat-for-sex" hypothesis appeared to be flaccid. And yet, strangely, there were few sensationalist news reports touting evidence of bromance among our evolutionary cousins.
Go read the whole post. It is so well done, no wonder it was a Finalist in the…
thusspakezuska | October 22, 2009Announced on the WMST-L listserv:
Women & Science/Technology Policy Seminar in Washington, DC
The Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) will be holding its Women & Science/Technology Policy Seminar January 4-8, 2010 for women science majors who want to explore what life is like as a science advisor.
This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for women students to discover a different way to professionally apply their scientific and technological knowledge - in a career developing public policy. The seminar teachers are women scientists in diverse areas of government and the private…
thusspakezuska | October 15, 2009In August I did some writing about health insurance, and in particular about the Pittsburgh shooting victim whose friends and family held a car wash to help raise funds to pay for her medical expenses. Change.org picked up on that post, and Robin Stelly commented on the Change.org post as follows:
Every person at birth should be issued a big plastic jug. When people become ill, they should tape their most endearing photos and a brief description of their illnesses to their plastic jugs. Then all they have to do is display the official containers at a local pizza shop - or something…
thusspakezuska | October 5, 2009By which I mean, this.
The comix being, as it were, a bit of solace for Him leaving us to wander about this hideous world choked by gender smog.
MAJOR hat tip to Pat at Fairer Science.
UPDATE: And for more turning-the-tables fun and shenannigans, be sure to read Peggy's post on The Sultana's Dream over at Women in Science.
thusspakezuska | October 5, 2009Last night I was watching tv with Mr. Zuska and the loathsome Kohler's "Jo's Plumbing" commercial came on yet again.
Plumbing is one of those trades that have been traditionally dominated by men. Women have struggled to gain access to these well-paying jobs. It is a job that takes a women out, often on her own, into the houses of strangers, where she might be vulnerable to sexual assault, not to mention the harassment and discrimination she might have to put up with on the job from colleagues.
In this commercial the young plumber is, of course, hot and sexy, dressed in tight clothing to…
thusspakezuska | September 4, 2009Among other reasons....
You can have a rational soul like Laura provide a comparison of her personal experience with the U.S. and Canadian health care systems, like this:
Let's cut the crap and put it this way:
System #1: When I worked in the US, patients would come in and present their insurance cards; we would call the insurance company and wait on hold for 30 minutes (if we didn't get disconnected) to verify that they had officially chosen me as their primary care physician. They might pay a copay, or they might pay a percentage of the fee, for which they would be billed after the…
thusspakezuska | September 3, 2009Two years ago I wrote about taking my mother to Cape Hatteras, and how great it was to have the use of a beach wheelchair that allowed my sister and I to take her right onto the beach. I wanted to call your attention to a comment recently left on that post by Jerry Nasello:
We thought you might like to know about how our little motorized beach wheelchair company is doing. We opened for business in April of this year. We rented a grand total of one motorized beach wheelchair in the month of April.
However, in the month of May we were booked solid for almost the entire month. In April we had a…
thusspakezuska | September 3, 2009JustaTech commented last night:
Zuska, I saw this story [about the carwash for the shooting victim] on MSNBC last night (9/1) (The Rachel Maddow Show). So at least the liberal-leaning national media has also noticed.
I suppose this falls under tootin' my own horn, but one of Rachael Maddow's producer's contacted me by email in response to my original post on this story. They wanted help in getting in touch with the young woman, which I could not do, but I did provide them with the link to the story done by local news outlet WPXI - which is excerpted in the segment on the 9/1 Maddow show…
thusspakezuska | August 31, 2009Tim Foley at Change.org has picked up on the post I wrote about the Bridgeville shooting victim whose friends and family sponsored a car wash to help her pay her medical bills (with a link to a news story about the car wash). His take on the story is well worth reading.
Meanwhile, on my original post, commenter ABM gripes:
What if that uninsured shooting victim wasn't a young woman shot by a misogynist, but a grumpy, sexist, racist old man with no friends who didn't attend church and was generally unliked by all his neighbours? He doesn't get helped out because of who he is? I doubt the…
thusspakezuska | August 26, 2009I have a friend. She has a daughter. While in college, the daughter was covered on the parents' health insurance policy.
Well, sorta. As part of her college program, the daughter had to do an internship. Hey, that's great! Great experience, maybe a great chance to get a permanent job! Except, as it turns out, the internship does not count as being a full time student for the purposes of health insurance.
My friends, being responsible parents, and additionally being parents with enough disposable income to afford it, took out a health insurance policy for their daughter. They…
thusspakezuska | August 26, 2009In the contentious health care reform debate that has raged on lo these many months, one of the cries of protest we've heard has centered around how we might be infringing upon the rights of young, healthy American citizens. Young healthy people don't need to access the health care system the way old folks [who, we know, Obama wants to shovel in front of death panels] do! Young folks should not be forced to waste their precious dollars on health insurance premiums for coverage they don't really need just because you libruls think that would help bring down the cost for everybody else! That…
thusspakezuska | August 26, 2009The other night I made a chive sauce from a recipe off the internet (I regret that I did not keep track of the source) that was just beautiful.
One cup minced chives. Saute in some olive oil. I sauteed them until they were starting to get just on the verge of crispy, almost like frizzled leeks, but not that far gone. Just nicely sauteed. Add one quarter cup chicken broth. Then the recipe called for 1.5 cups cream but I only used one cup. I just couldn't imagine pouring in 1.5 cups of cream...anyway, I added it slowly, a little at time, with much stirring, over a lowish heat. Then stirred and…
thusspakezuska | August 25, 2009Perhaps you might have wondered why I don't blog so much lately. That would be because my full-time job these days is navigating the The Best Health Insurance System In The World!TM on behalf of my elderly mother.
You may recall that a few weeks back, her wallet was stolen, necessitating cancellation of her existing Blue Cross insurance number and issue of a new number and card. If you will recall, I explained that it appeared to providers in the interim as if my mother had no coverage.
Well, I finally received the new card with the new number. I spent a good deal of time this morning…
thusspakezuska | August 21, 2009One of my daily pleasures is to spend some time reading the Philadelphia Inquirer with a nice cup of coffee. Some days I read thoroughly, other days I skim, but no matter what I always read the comics. I just can't get through a day without reading the comics. (And let me here digress to say that I have been reading the comics in the newspaper since I was a very little girl. I do not want my newspaper comics taken away from me. So all you evil forces conspiring to destroy the daily newspapers: I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, for this and many other reasons. And please don't tell me…
thusspakezuska | August 15, 2009I am a fan of Oliver Sacks, and will read just about anything he has written - though, interestingly enough, I find myself so far unable to make my way through Migraine. Perhaps this has something to do with the cover illustration of a mosaic aura, which twice induced an aura (scintillating fortification) and subsequent migraine in me. If you are not a migraine sufferer, you might find this slide show of migraine art interesting, for it does depict the migraineur's experience at the onset of aura. Migraineurs, be warned: viewing the paintings in the slideshow could possibly be triggering…
thusspakezuska | August 14, 2009Via Female Science Professor, 'Study: Women create 'their own glass ceiling':
A new study shows female managers are more than three times as likely as their male counterparts to underrate their bosses' opinions of their job performance.
The discrepancy increases with women older than 50, the study states.
"Women have imposed their own glass ceiling, and the question is why," said Scott Taylor, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management who conducted the study.
No, no, no, it should read this way:
A new study shows male managers are more likely than…
thusspakezuska | August 14, 2009As I recently reported, my mother's wallet was stolen last week, containing her bank card, driver's license, and insurance and Medicare cards. This has resulted in hours and hours of work for me to deal with replacing the cards, working with the bank to contest the fraudulent charges on her account, etc.
I'm going to tell you something the health insurance company probably won't, because I'm not sure that the people who answer the phones even understand that their system works like this.
When you call to report your lost or stolen insurance card, the insurance company will naturally want…
thusspakezuska | August 5, 2009Regular readers may know that my mother has been living in an assisted living home since January of 2008. Making the move to the AL home was agonizing for her and everyone in our family. Previously, my mother had been living still in the same house that she had been born and raised in, the house her husband, my father, moved in to when they were married, where all of us kids were born and raised.
We had a difficult time finding a place for her - the choices are limited in southwestern Pennsylvania. And while my mother is fortunate to have enough money to afford some reasonable care, she…