I have made four slots on the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2009 — Green, Madness of Flowers, Other Earths and "On the Human Plan".
Blue whales are singing in a lower key — Scientists don't know why, but some think the baritone voices reflect the security of their greater numbers.
Detailed updates on the shift in space priorities — Per Tobias Buckell, who has politely and correctly chided me for my simplistic approach to yesterday's report about the changes in the NASA budget.
Is The US Afraid To Admit That China Declared War On It? — Not sure I agree with the premise of this article, but it's interesting. (Via
lillypond, a/k/a my sister.)In Portland, Growing Vertical — A project to literally green a Federal building here in Portland. Ok, this is cool for a bunch of reasons. Naturally, Republican senators are opposed. (Thanks to my Dad.)
Trees grow at fastest rate for 200 years — The actual headline on this story is misleading, but the story is still interesting. Another one of those liberally biased facts too embarassing for the GOP. Confidential to the Republican party: consider aligning your policies with reality instead of wishing away reality to align with your policies.
Paul Cornell on Christians and civil rights — I wish more prominent Christians would speak up as he does. He's opposing Christianism, and that special, privileged bigotry in the name of Jesus that is so prevalent here in the US, and apparently in the UK as well.
The Golden Girls: How One TV Show Turned A Generation Of American Boys Into Homosexuals — And people wonder why I think conservatives are basically nuts. (Via Eschaton)
The Illuminati — Speaking of conservative idiocy, Slacktivist on Christianist worldviews, specifically with respect to the Satanist panics of the past decades. I can understand enduring the strain and the dissonance it requires to pretend to believe a comforting lie, one that offered some illusory solace that might seem worth the price of self-deception. But what on earth motivates millions of people to prefer a horrifying lie that makes the world out to be even worse that it is? Why do millions of people respond to such tales of satanic conspiracies and bloody rituals as though they were reassuring?
tongodeon with Prop 8 Lawyers Have No Idea How Same-Sex Marriage Could Harm Anything — Uh, yeah. Hard to demonstrate that bigotry is a compelling state interest, isn't it? Nice try, conservative America. You might yet win this one on points, but you're still irredeemably and immorally wrong.?otD: What are the politics of dancing?
2/2/2010
Writing time yesterday: 75 minutes
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
Hours slept: 6.5
This morning's weigh-in: 228.0
Currently reading: [between books]