Under the Skin

I try to pay attention in church, but I don't always succeed.  This last week, I was trying to listen to a very long, very rambling testimony and failing, and my mind wandered to FDR. I'm sure there was some sort of thing that triggered this thought, but I don't, for the life of me, have any idea what it was. Did you know that Franklin Delano Roosevelt couldn't walk, but the majority of the country was not aware of that?  He would have people bring him to the podium before the press arrived, stand him there with his leg braces, and then bodily hold himself up to the podium for the duration with his arms?  He put a plank on the side of the president's desk so that he could hide the fact that he was in a wheelchair.  He didn't want to appear weak.  Why?  Why do we hide weakness?  I mean, I know it's an evolution thing.  But, why now?  Why do we do this? I don't know that I have a really strong and insightful response to this, but I thin...

It seems that fake news is, shall we say, in the news.  And today, I want to talk about a piece of fake news that really bothered me.  And no, this isn't about Trump, though we can have some lengthy discussions about that man as well.  This is about bananas. About a month ago, someone posted an article on facebook about how eight children had contracted HIV from bananas at Walmart.  What's worse, someone posted this on a facebook group for scientists.   Immediately, I knew that this was a prank.  How?  Because HIV can't be transmitted by eating a banana.  And because HIV is a virus that infects primate cells, bananas don't get HIV.  But it's just a prank, right?  Anyone who believes it is stupid, right? Wrong.  And I'm not talking about the possible hit to Walmart's public image, because let's be honest, Walmart having bad produce isn't really news.  I'm talking about HIV knowledge.  I wasn't born for this, but my unders...

I used to say, "I don't like SciFi." In the past few years, I've learned something very important.  I actually love SciFi. I'm just very particular about my SciFi.  Sometimes, I summarize it by saying, "There's no shame in fantasy." I actually love fantasy too.  But fantasy demands suspension of disbelief.  SciFi rejects it.  I just need SciFi that isn't actually fantasy.  Every once in a while, I'll find SciFi I can accept. For well-known ones, The Martian did it, Ender's Game did it, Gattaca did it. Just some examples.  For some completely unknown reason, I also accept Firefly (though how, I don't know.  Maybe it's just good enough that I'm willing to accept its scientific pitfalls).  I'll admit that I'm still learning what SciFi I'm okay with.  For example, I haven't attempted Asimov yet, but I'm told that it will fit my criteria. All this said, I found a new SciFi movie which spits on science (an...

I am going to share with you all a quick thought from a phrase that I have found to be indispensable when talking with others about our approach to sin:  "God Burned Sodom and Gomorrah."  I love this phrase because it can mean opposites that are both important to remember, depending on how you say it. 1) God burned Sodom and Gomorrah.  Sin is real. Sin is not okay.  Sin has consequences. God forgives unsuccessful attempts, but in the end, Yoda was right.  Do or do not, there is no try.  God didn't say, "Well, Sodom and Gomorrah, you're in luck.  Because I'm kind of a permissive kind of God."  No, he burned it. 2) GOD burned Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot didn't burn Sodom and Gomorrah.  God did.  Lot prayed for those in his city.  He did his best to love them. And then when he was told it was time to peace out, he did, and then God burned Sodom and Gomorrah.  It's not your job to dole out judgment and punishments.  God will ta...

About a week ago, I was having a discussion with a friend. One thing that you have to know about some of my friends.  Being a Mormon, I have many Mormon friends. And as much as I love Mormonism, there is an unfortunately large swath of Granola people in Mormonism. The Church officially embraces science, and there are a lot of Mormon scientists (in fact the Quorum of the Twelve apostles includes retired medical researchers, physicists and nuclear engineers). And The Pew Forum has found that Mormonism is a rare religion in that as its members become more educated, they become more religiously active.  The Church has repeatedly endorsed modern medicine and vaccines, and funds a fair bit of science research through Brigham Young University.  All of this aside, there is a disturbingly large group of Mormons who love their essential oils, gluten-free or paleo diets, and shun vaccines. This is actually a fascinating historical question having to do with Thomsonian Medicine, Jose...

As per tradition, it's time to check in and update on all of the New Year's Resolutions! How are we doing.  What resolutions do I need to remember and do better on.  What is going well? Health Eat a meal a day AND have a 100-200 calorie snack once between each meal: I am doing better at the meal thing, but the snacks are failing. I'm getting better at having snacks with me though, so when I get super hungry because I forgot about food for awhile, I have something to solve that problem. Carry around a water bottle : When I'm on campus, this goes well. When I'm not...I could be better. A big problem I have with it is that I empty it and then don't refill it, so it still isn't enough water.   Writing Finish first edit of War To End All Wars: I am making progress on this.  I think it needs to speed up just a little bit, but at least I'm fairly consistently doing it. Finish first draft of Legend of Jael: For after the first is done. Do NaNoWriMo 201...

When I was a child--even when I was a teenager--I knew that both of my parents have engineering degrees.  I knew that both of my parents have completed graduate degrees.  I knew that my mother had a master's in engineering.  And I just figured that some people's mothers have master's degrees in engineering.  Basically, I didn't really think there was anything unusual about a woman getting an engineering degree in the early 1980s.  Because it had never been a big deal--my mother just had a degree. Just like my dad.  Then, I was in my twenties when I realized that my mother is a freaking feminist.   Women didn't just get masters degrees in engineering in the early 1980s.  It wasn't a thing women did.  My mother is a feminist. Here's the other interesting part:  my mother doesn't fight with people.  She doesn't argue with people.  In fact, she'd really rather not talk to people.  Maybe, hence the engineer thing. As such...