Aug. 14th, 2007

1. If you moved away from Ohio, where would you like to go?

People are the single biggest pull for me. I like Ohio because it's pretty central to all sorts of people I care about, but I think these days I'd be tempted to move a bit further toward the east coast; there are people I miss a great deal living in NY, PA, and MD. Purely on a "the area appeals to me" level, though, I'd have to go with the northwest, probably Seattle or Portland (it doesn't hurt that there are a bunch of excellent people out that way, too, but it does mean moving radically further away from all my people on this side of the country).

2. What was your favorite year of your life, thus far?

Hooboy. That's a really hard one, because most of the ones that were really great were also really awful and full of drama and pain, too. I'd say for the best balance of stability, fun, and discovery, probably my junior year of college. No real life responsibility yet, a great social network, lots of interesting things to do, roadtrips to make, classes to take. You still couldn't pay me to be myself at 19 again, though, regardless of how good the year was. Life was good, but I was messy.

3. How do you feel about sports, in general?

Aside from Ninja Warrior?

I rarely even know what major sports season it is. Frankly, I'm not sure now. I guess it's baseball, given the Bonds drama. People mention teams, even in my home city, and I have to stop and think which sport they play (this is especially ridiculous given that I can actually see the fireworks from Jacobs field from my street). I get into aspects of the Olympics some, and once in a while some very random "competitive chainsaw balancing" or the like while channelflipping, but that's about it.

4. Where is the farthest from home that you've been?

Must be San Diego, geographically speaking. I've been across and over the majority of the continental US (excepting Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Maine, New Hampshire, and Louisiana), but aside from a few brief hops into the tourist traps on the Mexican border, and some time in Montreal, Toronto, and Windsor, that's it. I haven't traveled much internationally for two reasons. The single biggest is finances; they're always a mess, I suck at saving, and traveling out of the country costs more than traveling within the country to see the people I love and miss (ok, that's a combo of finances and priorities, I guess). Secondly, I have some weird and mixed feelings about being a tourist. I've always wanted to see the world from a more useful perspective, by doing something like working with Doctors Without Borders or something. Sometimes I feel hopelessly provincial for being 32 and not having been off the continent. Other times I think about how much I've seen of this continent, and how amazing that is, both in the context of how much traveling most of the planet gets to do today, and especially compared to how much I would've gotten to see of the world 50 or 100 years ago, and I'm just awed.

5. Monkeys: yay or nay?

Yay, even though they're generally nasty-tempered and bitey. I don't romanticize 'em, but I do dig 'em. Then again, I dig pretty much any critter that isn't actively parasitic, and I'm kind of impressed even by a few of those.



If anyone would like me to ask them questions, I'll do the first five that reply.
I did go back through the stack of papers after all (at least part of it).

Loss of Oestrus and Concealed Ovulation in Human Evolution (pdf file) -- this is pretty fascinating, particularly in relation to my post a week or so ago (actually, I found the article when I was looking for more info in relation to those questions). I haven't finished it yet, and the comments at the end look at least as interesting (challenges to some of his interpretations), but I figured I'd toss the link up while I'm thinking about it.

Home Sweet Nursing Home -- new models for humane and positive nursing homes may actually be more cost-efficient! This gives me some hope that maybe these changes have some possibility of being applied more broadly.

Our Assumptions About What Causes Chronic Diseases Could Be Wrong -- an interesting article about the potential uses of toxicogenomics to determine how different environmental factors may affect people in extremely diverse ways, depending on their genes. When I first started reading it, I thought it was going to be another overly alarmist and unscientific polemic about whatever the risk-of-the-day is, but it turned out to be both reasonable in its approach, and a fascinating insight into newer research techniques.

HBO Airs A-Bomb Footage Kept From Media for Decades -- depressing, but well worth reading. I need to set this to tape, if it's still playing.

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Media Soap Opera -- I think I mentioned the documentary a while back, when I caught it on TV, but this includes a bit more, including a link to a YouTube short of some sort (can't see it from work, and obviously can't read it on the hard copy). And really, it is some damned great soap -- wonderful for camping, especially, since it can be used for everything, and it's biodegradable, and the bottle is perfect shower entertainment, too.

Fare-Free Public Transit Could Be Headed to a City Near You -- I'm sure it's just shocking that I think this is a brilliant idea, and should be happening more.

Bloomberg Thinks You Should Pay to Photograph New York -- Yeah, just plain offensive. Because all the artists I know have oodles of cash to throw around for insurance.

Five Ways Bush's Era of Repression Has Stolen Your Liberties Since 9/11

Emails Detail RNC Voter Suppression in Five States -- one really just doesn't have to be a conspiracy theorist anymore.

Why Do Doctors Get to Decide When a Woman Is Old Enough to Have Her 'Tubes Tied'?

Do You Live in One of the World's 15 Greenest Cities? -- a quick little read about ways in which various cities are making progress.

The Key To Good Health That No One Is Talking About: Money -- a brief little snippet about the correlations between income disparity in a community and health outcomes (it's only addressed obliquely here, but I wish I could find the article from a while back that really got into specifics about how experiences of hierarchal powerlessness and stress were highly correlated with health outcomes).

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