INTERESTING THOUGHTS

I recently received this e-mail from a friend. It was just like this - all in black caps with INTERESTING THOUGHTS in the subject line:

LET ME SEE IF I HAVE THIS STRAIGHT:HIS FATHER WAS A KENYAN, MUSLIM, BLACK - WE HAVE SEEN PICTURES OF HIS AFRICAN 'FAMILY.

HIS MOTHER IS A KANSAN, ATHEIST, WHITE. WHERE ARE THE PICTURES OF HIS KANSAN, WHITE MOTHER AND HIS WHITE GRANDPARENTS WHO RAISED HIM?

HIS FATHER DESERTED HIS MOTHER AND HIM WHEN HE WAS VERY YOUNG, AND WENT BACK TO HIS FAMILY IN KENYA.

HIS MOTHER MARRIED AN INDONESIAN MUSLIM AND TOOK HIM TO JAKARTA WHERE HE WAS SCHOOLED IN A MOSLEM SCHOOL.

HIS MOTHER RETURNED TO HAWAII AND HE WAS RAISED BY HIS WHITE KANSAN GRANDPARENTS.

HE LATER WENT TO THE BEST HIGH DOLLAR SCHOOLS, HOW?

HE LIVES IN A $1.4 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE THAT HE ACQUIRED THROUGH A DEAL WITH A WEALTHY FUND RAISER. HOW?

HE 'WORKED' AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST IN CHICAGO- HAS NEVER HELD A PRODUCTIVE JOB. THE PRESIDENCY IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHTS POST NOR IS IT SUBJECT TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SET ASIDES.

HE ENTERED POLITICS AT THE STATE LEVEL AND THEN THE NATIONAL LEVEL WHERE HE HAS MINIMAL EXPERIENCE.

HE IS PROUD OF HIS 'AFRICAN HERITAGE', BUT IT SEEMS THAT HIS ONLY AFRICAN CONNECTION WAS THAT HIS AFRICAN FATHER GOT A WHITE GIRL PREGNANT AND DESERTED HER. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT SPERM CARRIED A 'CULTURAL' GENE. WHERE IS THE PRIDE IN HIS WHITE CULTURE?

HE GOES TO AN 'AFROCENTRIC' CHURCH THAT HATES WHITES, HATES JEWS, AND BLAMES AMERICA FOR ALL THE WORLDS PERCEIVED FAULTS AND THEN HE REPEATEDLY COVERS UP FOR THE PASTOR AND THE CHURCH.

HE CLAIMS THAT HE COULD NOT CONFRONT HIS PASTOR BUT HE WANTS US TO BELIEVE THAT HE CAN CONFRONT NORTH KOREA AND IRAN, RIGHT!!!

YEAH, I THINK I SEE HOW HE COULD BE A UNITER AND BRING US TOGETHER... I THINK HE HOPES NO ONE WILL PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER.

I happened to be in a bad mood when she sent it, so she got an earful involving several e-mails in response:

LET ME SEE IF I HAVE THIS STRAIGHT:HIS FATHER WAS A KENYAN, MUSLIM, BLACK - WE HAVE SEEN PICTURES OF HIS AFRICAN 'FAMILY.

HIS MOTHER IS A KANSAN, ATHEIST, WHITE. WHERE ARE THE PICTURES OF HIS KANSAN, WHITE MOTHER AND HIS WHITE GRANDPARENTS WHO RAISED HIM?
His mother DIED in 1995, so there wouldn't be any contemporary photos of her. There are lots of photos with him and his mother. Just google it. His father was an atheist and his mother was skeptical of organized religion and may have been an atheist. Is there something wrong with being an atheist? (I came this close to coming out of the closet in my e-mail) I believe his grandfather is dead, too, but if you google 'Barack Obama grandparents," you'll see several photos.

Of course you would see his "black" family. He's married to a black woman, which would mean his kids are most likely black, and he has several half siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles on his father's side in Africa. Who are black.

HIS FATHER DESERTED HIS MOTHER AND HIM WHEN HE WAS VERY YOUNG, AND WENT BACK TO HIS FAMILY IN KENYA.
And he's responsible for something his father did?

HIS MOTHER MARRIED AN INDONESIAN MUSLIM AND TOOK HIM TO JAKARTA WHERE HE WAS SCHOOLED IN A MOSLEM SCHOOL.
So? My son was schooled in a Catholic school. Does that make him (or me) Catholic? No.

HIS MOTHER RETURNED TO HAWAII AND HE WAS RAISED BY HIS WHITE KANSAN GRANDPARENTS.
Again, he's responsible for something his mother did?

HE LATER WENT TO THE BEST HIGH DOLLAR SCHOOLS, HOW?
I don't know. Maybe his grandparents or his mother paid? I paid through the nose to send my son to Catholic school, and that doesn't make me rich. It actually made me poorer.

HE LIVES IN A $1.4 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE THAT HE ACQUIRED THROUGH A DEAL WITH A WEALTHY FUND RAISER. HOW?
Um...Didn't you just answer the question? This I'll have to research more, but I'm sure it is googleable.

HE 'WORKED' AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST IN CHICAGO- HAS NEVER HELD A PRODUCTIVE JOB. THE PRESIDENCY IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHTS POST NOR IS IT SUBJECT TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SET ASIDES.
Not even worth commenting on.

HE ENTERED POLITICS AT THE STATE LEVEL AND THEN THE NATIONAL LEVEL WHERE HE HAS MINIMAL EXPERIENCE.
As several people have pointed out, both he and Hillary Clinton are "novices" in the Senate. Does living in the White House while your husband is president give you that much more experience? The main experience Hillary has over and above Barack is Bill.

HE IS PROUD OF HIS 'AFRICAN HERITAGE', BUT IT SEEMS THAT HIS ONLY AFRICAN CONNECTION WAS THAT HIS AFRICAN FATHER GOT A WHITE GIRL PREGNANT AND DESERTED HER. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT SPERM CARRIED A 'CULTURAL' GENE. WHERE IS THE PRIDE IN HIS WHITE CULTURE?
Oh, come on. GOT A WHITE GIRL PREGNANT. I'm sure the writer could have been more racist. Also, it is falsely presenting the facts. It makes it sound as though he knocked her up, and then immediately left her to give birth on her own. Barack was actually two when his father left. And sperm from his father did give him a dark complexion, which in this country still carries some sort of stigma. It shouldn't, but it does.

HE GOES TO AN 'AFROCENTRIC' CHURCH THAT HATES WHITES, HATES JEWS, AND BLAMES AMERICA FOR ALL THE WORLDS PERCEIVED FAULTS AND THEN HE REPEATEDLY COVERS UP FOR THE PASTOR AND THE CHURCH.
So it would be better if he went to a "white" church? The Church hates whites, Jews, etc.? Or just one of the ex-pastors hates whites and Jews? He wouldn't even be in the running if he didn't go to church at all, which I would personally prefer.

HE CLAIMS THAT HE COULD NOT CONFRONT HIS PASTOR BUT HE WANTS US TO BELIEVE THAT HE CAN CONFRONT NORTH KOREA AND IRAN, RIGHT!!!
Why does he need to confront him? If I were Obama, I would just ignore the racist idiot. (Actually, I believe he completely severed ties with the man today)

YEAH, I THINK I SEE HOW HE COULD BE A UNITER AND BRING US TOGETHER... I THINK HE HOPES NO ONE WILL PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER.
The pieces that someone has tied together with lies, half-truths, and inuendos.

I'm still voting for him if he runs against McCain, as I'll vote for Hillary if she's the Democratic nominee.

Me, mountain bike?

Well, since I hadn't hurt myself enough last week when I went skiing, I let myself get talked into going on a death ride mountain biking with a friend yesterday. I rented a bike where the guy helpfully and cheerfully told me that I would probably fall down a couple of times, and that the $900 bike was fairly fragile, and of course, I would have to pay for any damage done. Isn't fragile mountain bike an oxymoron?

He didn't know that my friend is a seasoned mountain biker who gave me a very thorough tutorial on such things as changing gears - if you've never mountain biked, the number of gears the thing has and how to change them is a little bewildering. She told me to just use middle and bottom. She then took me to what she called "the easiest trail around." I would hate can't wait to see what a harder one looks like. She yelled back at me when I was supposed to change gears, and she made me get off and walk through rocky areas. Well...tried to make me, anyway. At one point I asked her how many gears there actually were. "Just two. Middle and bottom. Now GET OFF AND WALK IT!!" I stressed her out because I was having a little trouble following orders...

There's me and the fragile bike. It had better disc brakes than my car:There may still be snow in the Sierras, but down in the Sacramento Valley the very short flowering season is almost over. I took some photos while gasping for air pausing to take in the view along the scenic trail. Here are some purple flowers. I don't know what they are, but they were pretty. (Dammit Jim, I'm a fisheries biologist, not a botanist...)
And here are some purplish-blue ones with what my friend thought were owl's clover (she's a fisheries biologist, too)
Here are some of the purple flowers next to a rock. My attempt at artsy-fartsy. You can see why I am a fisheries biologist.
Oooh, oooh, I know this one! Lupine. Darn flowers kept moving, so they came out blurry......
Any west coast field biologist can identify THIS one. Poison oak. Lots and lots of it.
And the State Flower, California poppy.
Ok, I cheated on that one. We didn't actually see those while riding. These flowers are growing in the front yard of the house about two doors down from ours.

Here is a picture of what most of the trail looked like. It is a fairly typical live oak/valley oak woodland with lots and lots of poison oak.
I didn't fall down. I didn't break the fragile bike. I did have a great time! When can we go again?

State tartan?

I was looking up information for a future post, and I came across this list of California State Symbols. Most of these I knew already, having gone through the California state school system, and being interested in odd trivia, but some are a little obscure.

I've always thought it was interesting that the State Animal is the California grizzly (Ursus arctos califoricus(?)) that was hunted to extinction by 1922. I think it should be re-named the State Mammal, because there are a few other state animals. For instance:

California has TWO, count 'em, TWO state fish! The golden trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss aquabonita - the website is about 20 years out of date with the Latin name), a beautiful subspecies of rainbow trout, and the garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus), a stunning bright orange coastal marine damselfish. When I was first going to college, there was a debate about whether the garibaldi should replace the golden trout as the State Fish. It was settled when the legislature created a separate designation of State Marine Fish for the garibaldi.

Oh wait. The bear will have to be the State Terrestrial Mammal, because there is a State Marine Mammal - the California grey whale (Eschrictius robustus). Oops. There is also another extinct mammal - the sabre-toothed cat (Smilodon californicus) is the State Fossil.

The State Bird is the California Quail (Callipepla californica) - recently renamed Valley Quail, which doesn't really have the same ring. The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is the State Reptile. We even apparently (I didn't know this one) have a State Insect, the California dogface butterfly (Colias eurydice Boisduval). Sounds...uh...cute?

See? Many other State Animals. I'm surprised there isn't a State Amphibian (California newts are orange) and I think I want to start a campaign for State Aquatic Insect... golden stonefly.

The State Flower is blooming like crazy right now, and I've been trying to remember my camera so I can get a photo for my blog. California poppies, sometimes called golden poppies, are about the same colour as the garibaldi, and the California Department of Transportation has been seeding them along the freeways, so the commute is a little more colourful. Until everything dies and turns brown, as usual. Golden-brown of course, because this is the Golden State (State Nickname).

State Song - I Love You California. Never heard it. The lyrics look really sappy. I would personally much prefer California Here I Come.

Eureka is the State Motto, and has been part of the Great Seal of the State of California since 1859. It refers to the discovery of...the State Mineral, gold (surprised?). I like this - Eureka beat out a move to have In God We Trust as the State Motto in 1957.

We have a State Tartan? I looked it up. Apparently several states have their own official tartans. I'm not quite sure why. Sorry Kia, Indiana doesn't seem to be one of them.

Motivational poster

Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist has posted a new contest this week.

"Create a poster/saying about atheism or faith that becomes humorous with a *slight* change in spelling."

He also gave a link to a really cool Create-your-own-motivational-poster website.

I don't think I am following the rules exactly, but this is what I came up with:Anyone else want to try?
Update: WOO HOO!! Third place!! Thanks Hemant!

Ouch!

Warning: this is a feeling a little sorry for myself post.

Well, I finally hurt myself (not too badly) yesterday on my very last day of skiing (Andrew - I know, I know. You warned me). I had had one of the best days skiing all year. Conditions were really good (for April) and the slopes were almost completely empty, so I didn't have to worry about being run over by a snowboarder. I skied all over Heavenly Resort, starting on the California side and ending up at the bottom of the Nevada side.

I was skating forward to get on the lift, and I caught my ski on a post, and went flat on my face, landing really hard on my knees. Those same knees that hurt in general all the time, anyway.

I heard a chorus of, "Woah, Duuude. That huuurt!" from the kids running the lift and then, "DUCK!" as the chair swung around toward my head. I had seen the chair, and was wearing my helmet, so I just lay there and let it go by.

I was in pain and embarrassed and I wasn't thinking clearly. I jumped up and said I was ok. One of the guys helped me on with my ski that I hadn't realized had come off, and I caught the next chair up. As soon as I was on the chair, my right knee started to hurt badly enough that I started feeling sick, and began to wonder how I could throw up without falling off the lift. Then I felt faint, and was afraid I was going to pass out and fall off the lift, so I wove my arm through the slats in the back of the chair just in case. Luckily it was very cold yesterday, which helped. I then began to wonder what I would do if my knee didn't work when I got to the top because it REALLY hurt.

Luckily it did. Work, that is. I had a choice of skiing back down (now that I was thinking more clearly) and catching a bus over into California, or making my way back across the mountain. I decided that, since my knees both still seemed to work, and I had been having so much fun, I would ski (carefully) back. This was the shortest route. Seriously:


Almost an hour and six lifts later, I had made it back to California and my car. And more importantly, the BAR. The bartender was kind enough to make me an icepack, and I sat, ate lunch, drank a Long Island Iced Tea, took some Advils, and iced my knee for a long time. The bartender then refilled my ice, and I then drove two hours back home with the bag tied to my leg with a scarf. The bruise is coming up nicely! It should be all kinds of pretty colours soon. You can't really see the swelling in this photo...
Self portrait. Note the same red fuzzy blanket backdrop.

Falling over in the lift line is very embarrassing, but at least I didn't break anything (at least I don't think I broke anything) like our governator did when he fell over on the ski slope supposedly while standing still a couple of years ago.

Very well said

Or maybe it's just the English accent...

This was posted on the Fleeing Nergal, Seeking Stars website back on March 22nd, but I think it's worth re-posting.

Un-cloaking device?

Can you find the “stealth” pin in this photo of my corkboard at work?Is it the rainbow trout? No. Is it the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew keychain? No. Is it the Scarlet Letter A? No. I am talking, of course, about the communicator badge. It doesn’t seem to work, though. I’ve tried. Even though Starfleet Command and Starfleet Academy are only about 90 miles away, nobody will beam me up. I really wish they would. This planet is too illogical.

Live long and prosper.

Expelled!

PZ Myers tells me I have a job to do . As he commands, I must obey. Rather than help trigger a Google Bomb flag, though, I’m linking that IDiot Ben Stein and No Intelligence Allowed to the Expelled Exposed website.

I’ll link the word “Expelled” in a day or two. Oh, shoot! I just did it anyway. Twice, actually... Google Bombs away!

All is not lost, part II

I recently did a post about an 11 year old who caught a mistake at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, AND got them to change it.

Here is another story that makes me feel as though all is not lost in this country. A 14 year old girl is trying to do something to mitigate the zebra and quagga mussel invasion of California. Brenna Callero has invented a compound that she is hoping will deter the mussels from clinging to anything it is painted on. She's using a concoction she created for a science fair project last year to kill mosquitoes, and adding a glue-like (and I assume waterproof) substance so it will stick to plastic and concrete. She came in 4th-place in the state with last year's project.

I love this quote: "I love science," said Brenna, a ninth-grader at La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks. As opposed to my 17 year old step-daughter who recently vehemently stated, "I hate science."

Scientists at the California Department of Fish and Game are taking her very seriously and helping out with the study.

"She wanted to use all natural ingredients because she has allergies and didn't want to sneeze while all the science was going on." That only means she's not allergic to marigolds and lemon rind, the active ingredients in her compound. She's smart enough to eventually figure out that most things that cause allergies are natural...

She apparently wants to try out for the Ladies Professional Golf Association. If her golf career doesn't pan out, she should definitely consider a career in science. Maybe she could do both.