Detritus*

Thursday, September 1, 2011
We still suck

From my friend Jenn, who is a social worker in Utah:
So reading a great PR piece on doctors doing free surgeries overseas for walk right, face this or that, or hearts....but a guy in the shelter lost his foot to gangrene because the awesome hospitals here kept sending him to 4th street clinic without seeing him...see we should have sent him overseas...silly us...no PR in helping poor people here in Utah.
Yes, we still suck. Because after all we've been through, we still embrace a for-profit health care system, and there's no margin in providing health care services to the poor. U.S.A! We're #1! In leaving people by the side of the road, I mean.

In more ways than one

Turns out that the so-called "gender gap" that we see here in the good ole U.S. of A. disappears in cultures where women are empowered. Our ladybrains really are suited to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and our inability to find a place there is a cultural problem. I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you! No, I'm not.

The scarlet "A"

For "Atheist," that is. There's a new (or old) whackadoodle in town - one Michael Stahl, a Christian chat-room stalker, and he has a FABULOUS IDEA. He thinks that I should have to register with the Federal Government as an ADMITTED ATHEIST. You know - like a convicted sex offender. That way all the God-Fearing Folk can try and show me the error of my ways. And if I refuse to change my mind (presumably because I'm too busy being a contributing member of society, respecting others' points of view and knitting for charity), then they'll know exactly where I am so they can persecute me with ease. I'm sure Teh Gayz, the Jews and the Muslims will be next. I'm so glad I won't be alone.

I have a short attention span

I participate in "BOINC," which is a volunteer distributed computing program where anyone with a computer can help crunch data for a variety of scientific endeavors. Previously I ran projects for SETI and the LHC, but I wanted to expand my projects, so recently I signed up for Malaria Control and Climate Prediction, as well. DUDE! Climate Prediction projects are like 350 hours long. Yes, yes, climate modeling is complex and takes a long time. Whatever. 350 hours long. I'm only running them one at a time so that I can also run short projects simultaneously in order to satisfy my need for instant gratification. I'm such an American.

Are you still reading?

If so, you only have until Monday to log your reading in the Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men 1st Annual Summer Reading Program page. Then entry for the prizes will be CLOSED. CLOSED FOREVER.** How sad will you be in you miss out a prize because you neglected to log your reading? VERY, VERY SAD.

_______
*The detritus of my mind, not the Troll in
Disworld.

**Not actually "forever." You'll get another chance next summer.

6 comments:

Megan said...

Oh, CRAP. I love contests, and I missed this one. And I have no idea how many books I've read. I should just win by default.

Nathan said...

I'll be updating the list later today. I've read a bunch of stuff and forgot to make note of it.

Bad Nathan.

Phiala said...

350 hours sounds about right. I've got some stuff going that takes longer than that. (You should hear the cursing when the power goes out.) I'm working on a smaller area (12 Northeastern states) but at a finer resolution (30m) than the climate models use.

I've been logging my books on Goodreads, as always, but haven't entered them in anyone's contests. Maybe I should, but I always feel weird about entering readings contests because I read so many more books than average. Last vestiges of the "girls can't look smart" cultural stupidity?

Janiece said...

Yes, Phiala, that's stupid. If you read more than six books a year you read more than average, and as an avid reader you're MORE in need of Amazon bucks. Get cracking and enter!

My total for the program will end up being about 28, I think.

Phiala said...

"Yes, Phiala, that's stupid."

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Looks like 23 for the period, which is a bit light for me but I'm entirely swamped. I'll see about entering them, but...

trolltala: book I just finished

Carol Elaine said...

I've been a very, very bad book reader this year. It's taking me forever to finish the one slim volume I've been reading for months. I'm going to finish it this weekend, by gum! And start on my next book which is sitting on my end table, tapping its foot impatiently (as are all the other books I haven't gotten around to reading).