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Mar. 4th, 2014 01:51 am* " Why Republicans Don’t Want to Acknowledge the Falling Deficit:" http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/why-republicans-dont-want-to-acknowledge-the-falling-deficit/?hp&rref=opinion
* "Genes shed light on pygmy history:" http://phys.org/news/2014-02-genes-pygmy-history.html
* "Humanity's forgotten return to Africa revealed in DNA:" http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24988-humanitys-forgotten-return-to-africa-revealed-in-dna.html#.UxQpn4WwLdh
* "RNA sequencing of 750-year-old barley virus sheds new light on the Crusades:" http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140206111332.htm
* This isn't quite right. There isn't just one Philly accent any more than there is one New york accent. My accent isn't the same as the South Philly accent they are talking about, thought we share the extra vowels I once spent a fascinating few minutes teaching my linguistic professor. (Me: "No, that's New york. There's a subtle, but crucial difference." He picked it up surprisingly quickly. A lot of people out here can't really hear the difference). The accents of Philly aren't just geographical, but class based, and to a certain extent tied to race and ethnicity. People from different countries tended to settle in neighborhoods with other people from there. That was breaking down by the time I was born, but as with places like New York and New Orleans, with similar histories, certain neighborhoods developed accent variations that reflected the immigrant's accents, and while the lines shift and blur as people move around, an educated ear can tell that a person grew up in an area with a lot of yiddish, or Italian, or Irish, or southerners who came North after slavery, etc. even if the person is not from the group or groups that influenced the particular flavor of Philly speak. Still, this article is interesting. "The Sound of Philadelphia Fades Out:" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/opinion/sunday/the-sound-of-philadelphia-fades-out.html?_r=0
* "Intersectionality, A Milestone Theme:" http://arsmarginal.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/intersectionality-a-milestone-theme/
* I am fundamentally uncomfortable with using Oppenheimer's words about the atomic bomb to sell a dating app. Seriously, that shit's creepy. People died. Using it to sell hook ups isn't right.
* All attempts to get a proper sleep before the trip to Mount Vernon failed. Mapquest lied as to the position of the hospital, but my guess that they meant left instead of right was correct, so we were not late. The procedure itself was short, but there are hours of observation afterwards, so it still took all morning. It didn't solve his heart thing, so they are switching his meds and we do it again in a month. The next attempt really needs to work as the thing they try after that is incredibly dangerous, instead of being the not a big deal thing they did today. We went out to breakfast, as he had to fast for the procedure and the only vegetarian thing they had at the coffee shop at the hospital was a nasty greasy pasta salad. (They usually had tasty sounding sandwiches, but they didn't come in the morning delivery.) I can recommend the shockingly good chai, however. So short version, Squirrel needs a couple days rest, but is no worse nor better than he was before.
At this point, all I wanted was to sleep in an uninterrupted segment longer than fifteen minutes, but I dropped Squirrel home, and went to get blood work that needed to happen before tomorrow. It turned out they had not been billing insurance properly, so I spent another half hour waiting in lines and getting things straightened out with the lab and my primary provider. Alas, this took so long I couldn't do the same for the pharmacy as they were out top lunch, and given the impressive pain level and the exhaustion standing in the rain for twenty minutes did not appeal. I picked up my research at the library and went home. There were cat messes and people kept phoning me, but I did get a few hours sleep.
Obviously, I'm getting fuck all done tonight.
* Re: The Academy Awards. The Average age of an Academy voter is 67 and they are overwhelmingly white male, which explains a whole lot about how unrepresentative the Oscars are. Insiders were predicting Gravity getting almost everything as the old white men really liked it, even though they knew they should vote for 12 Years a Slave. I was expecting to be furious this morning. Instead I'm just miffed. I'd have rather they got Best Actor (No offense to Mr. McConaughey, who was excellent and my second choice) and Director, but if they were only to get two major awards, I'm okay with it being best film and Best Supporting Actress, plus best adapted screenplay. (They should have gotten cinematography too, but weren't even nominated, despite how brilliantly shot this film was.)
* This all lead me indirectly to fall into the past Academy Award Documentary hole, which is always disappointing. I found a movie I desperately want to see (14-18) which does not exist on DvD, and a collection of other things I wanted to to see, but also don't exist, a few I could order through the library, and a bunch I clearly should go back and see when I have more emotional energy. I made it to the early '80's this time.
* "No Dungeons, Just Dragons:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/3/2/sunday-sweets-no-dungeons-just-dragons.html
* The Clutch:
* "Genes shed light on pygmy history:" http://phys.org/news/2014-02-genes-pygmy-history.html
* "Humanity's forgotten return to Africa revealed in DNA:" http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24988-humanitys-forgotten-return-to-africa-revealed-in-dna.html#.UxQpn4WwLdh
* "RNA sequencing of 750-year-old barley virus sheds new light on the Crusades:" http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140206111332.htm
* This isn't quite right. There isn't just one Philly accent any more than there is one New york accent. My accent isn't the same as the South Philly accent they are talking about, thought we share the extra vowels I once spent a fascinating few minutes teaching my linguistic professor. (Me: "No, that's New york. There's a subtle, but crucial difference." He picked it up surprisingly quickly. A lot of people out here can't really hear the difference). The accents of Philly aren't just geographical, but class based, and to a certain extent tied to race and ethnicity. People from different countries tended to settle in neighborhoods with other people from there. That was breaking down by the time I was born, but as with places like New York and New Orleans, with similar histories, certain neighborhoods developed accent variations that reflected the immigrant's accents, and while the lines shift and blur as people move around, an educated ear can tell that a person grew up in an area with a lot of yiddish, or Italian, or Irish, or southerners who came North after slavery, etc. even if the person is not from the group or groups that influenced the particular flavor of Philly speak. Still, this article is interesting. "The Sound of Philadelphia Fades Out:" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/opinion/sunday/the-sound-of-philadelphia-fades-out.html?_r=0
* "Intersectionality, A Milestone Theme:" http://arsmarginal.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/intersectionality-a-milestone-theme/
* I am fundamentally uncomfortable with using Oppenheimer's words about the atomic bomb to sell a dating app. Seriously, that shit's creepy. People died. Using it to sell hook ups isn't right.
* All attempts to get a proper sleep before the trip to Mount Vernon failed. Mapquest lied as to the position of the hospital, but my guess that they meant left instead of right was correct, so we were not late. The procedure itself was short, but there are hours of observation afterwards, so it still took all morning. It didn't solve his heart thing, so they are switching his meds and we do it again in a month. The next attempt really needs to work as the thing they try after that is incredibly dangerous, instead of being the not a big deal thing they did today. We went out to breakfast, as he had to fast for the procedure and the only vegetarian thing they had at the coffee shop at the hospital was a nasty greasy pasta salad. (They usually had tasty sounding sandwiches, but they didn't come in the morning delivery.) I can recommend the shockingly good chai, however. So short version, Squirrel needs a couple days rest, but is no worse nor better than he was before.
At this point, all I wanted was to sleep in an uninterrupted segment longer than fifteen minutes, but I dropped Squirrel home, and went to get blood work that needed to happen before tomorrow. It turned out they had not been billing insurance properly, so I spent another half hour waiting in lines and getting things straightened out with the lab and my primary provider. Alas, this took so long I couldn't do the same for the pharmacy as they were out top lunch, and given the impressive pain level and the exhaustion standing in the rain for twenty minutes did not appeal. I picked up my research at the library and went home. There were cat messes and people kept phoning me, but I did get a few hours sleep.
Obviously, I'm getting fuck all done tonight.
* Re: The Academy Awards. The Average age of an Academy voter is 67 and they are overwhelmingly white male, which explains a whole lot about how unrepresentative the Oscars are. Insiders were predicting Gravity getting almost everything as the old white men really liked it, even though they knew they should vote for 12 Years a Slave. I was expecting to be furious this morning. Instead I'm just miffed. I'd have rather they got Best Actor (No offense to Mr. McConaughey, who was excellent and my second choice) and Director, but if they were only to get two major awards, I'm okay with it being best film and Best Supporting Actress, plus best adapted screenplay. (They should have gotten cinematography too, but weren't even nominated, despite how brilliantly shot this film was.)
* This all lead me indirectly to fall into the past Academy Award Documentary hole, which is always disappointing. I found a movie I desperately want to see (14-18) which does not exist on DvD, and a collection of other things I wanted to to see, but also don't exist, a few I could order through the library, and a bunch I clearly should go back and see when I have more emotional energy. I made it to the early '80's this time.
* "No Dungeons, Just Dragons:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/3/2/sunday-sweets-no-dungeons-just-dragons.html
* The Clutch:
