I told you recently about The Conversation. It’s still ongoing, despite attempts to derail it by some folks who just can’t quite seem to understand why sexual harassment is not okay, and that putting policies in place to ensure harassment is handled quickly and appropriately are not, in fact, going to to turn the skeptical …
Monthly Archive: May 2012
May 31 2012
Mystery Flora: A Little Bit Blue
There’s a hilltop above Locust Creek Park in Brier, Washington that’s full of flowers. There were all sorts of delights, some wild, some domestic. I’m not sure which category these fall in to. They were growing on the verge of a driveway, happily overpowering the grass. I see them around quite a bit. They’re always …
May 30 2012
New Rosetta Stones Post: In Memory of the Geologists Who Died in the May 1980 Eruption
I’m not sure how many people know four geologists died on Mount St. Helens. None of us can think of St. Helens without thinking of David Johnston, of course, and the other three deserve to be remembered as well. This was so hard to write. I wanted to do them justice. Very little information on …
May 30 2012
Thomas Paine: “A Calamitous Necessity of Going On”
I’ve been reading the works of 18th and 19th century heretics. I feel cheated. My education elided freethinking. If mention of a freethinker was necessary, textbooks and teachers focused on something else they’d done, not the actual freethinking bit. This allowed Christians to slumber happily in the delusion that in days gone by, not a …
May 29 2012
Unidentified Flying Dinosaur: Batman Among the Blueberries
My supervisor, Shelli, is teh awesome, and has sent me one of the greatest UFDs of all time. Check this birdie out: She says he just sat there while she crept up with her cell phone in hand, tilting his head this way and that, completely without fear. I think he was mesmerized by the …
May 29 2012
Three Beautiful Things and a Funny
I just spent a few moments perusing G+ whilst dinner cooked. For those of you who aren’t on G+ or don’t follow me there, I figured I’d share, because there are three extraordinarily beautiful photographs and something to delight the hearts of current and former English majors. If I remember rightly, there were people who …
May 28 2012
“The Shovel is Brother to the Gun”
Iron by Carl Sandburg Guns, Long, steel guns, Pointed from the war ships In the name of the war god. Straight, shining, polished guns, Clambered over with jackies in white blouses, Glory of tan faces, tousled hair, white teeth, Laughing lithe jackies in white blouses, Sitting on the guns singing war songs, war chanties. Shovels, …
May 27 2012
Sunday Song: Memorials
It’s Memorial Day weekend here in the States. I wrote a memorial last year, and won’t add to it. We’ll just do two songs. This is Iced Earth’s “Ghost of Freedom,” which is quintessentially American and a lovely tribute to those who fought and died for liberty. Every time you think about it It …
May 26 2012
Riverside Ramble, with UFDs and a Cameo Appearance by My Cat
Seattle’s about to do its Memorial Day thing, where it gets all cloudy and probably rains. But today, it graced us with one perfect summery day. So I nipped down to the river for a ramble before coming back to hang out with the cat. The river’s been pretty well tamed down here. There used …
May 26 2012
Snail on Green Stone
Starspider dropped by this evening and graciously allowed me to show off my rocks. This included a ramble by the stone walls between my apartment and hers, which include some nice green stones, which I’m suspecting are actually greenstone. Imagine that. She snapped this photo of a snail on the green stone with her camera …
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