Ice Cream Assassin

11:45 pm - Sunstone NW

Last weekend I attended Sunstone NW, a symposium put on by the Sunstone Foundation, an independent organization that encourages free and open discourse in relation to Mormon scholarship, literature, and social issues. They try to provide a community that is faith-promoting but where people can discuss controversial issues in an intellectually honest way. This sometimes feels subversive in a church that whitewashes negative aspects of its history in official lessons, discourages exposure to media that contains any profanity, violence, or sexual content, and asks members to avoid contact with anyone or thing that might be considered "anti-Mormon." I was especially impressed by Margaret Young's talk on Mormon Literature, and by the closing Pillars of my Faith session. I plan to post summaries of the talks in the near future.

Overall, I was impressed at the openness and honesty of the speakers and attendees, and their acceptance of the paths others choose despite their own commitment to the church. If I still believed and accepted the church's major doctrines, these are people I would definitely be hanging out with on a regular basis. It's wonderful to have a community that supports both faith and intellectual honesty in a church that sometimes acts as if they cannot coexist. The talks addressed some of the problematic aspects of church history, the expectation that Mormon authors should avoid some subjects, speculations about the resurrection, new research on the Old Testament, and how to believe in the LDS gospel in spite of all the problems.

During the Pillars of my Faith session at the end of the conference, three bloggers who write for By Common Consent shared their heartfelt testimonies about the purpose of the church and the meaning it brings to their lives (two of the three speakers posted their talks from the conference online, here and here). I felt what I've always called the Spirit strongly and teared up a little at the end of these powerful talks. Experiences like this always make me wonder whether leaving the church was the right decision, as I was taught to place so much emphasis on the influence of the Spirit and its power to manifest truth. Walking home, I thought about all the times I've felt the spirit (or whatever it is) recently, and they include Alex Steffen's inspirational talk on sustainability and challenge to make Seattle the first carbon neutral city, heart to heart talks with Chris and close friends, and times when my parents shared meaningful experiences with me. I think as humans we crave community, and we respond to inspirational messages that make us believe we can be better than we are now, that we can change our communities and our world. None of what I heard at Sunstone makes the LDS church any more true, but some of it gives me hope for the church's future and for the people who find meaning in its teachings and in their connection to a worldwide community of believers.

Attending Sunstone reaffirmed to me the complexity of people from all walks of life. Sometimes it's easy to simplify people based on the groups they belong to and the labels they wear. One of the things I admire most about my Dad is that he rarely judges anyone before thinking through possible motivations for their behavior or beliefs, even when he strongly disagrees with their position. I hope someday I'll be as open-minded.

And I'll end this before I get too sappy...

01:10 am - Engagement

As many of you have heard, Chris and I have recently become engaged, the prospect of which is frightening and exhilirating and not all that surprising. We formalized our engagement at the conclusion of a lovely camping trip at Deception Pass State Park by exchanging simple rings on a secluded beach the morning of October 25th. It was lovely, and simple, and very mutual. We celebrated in Seattle all that day: a tea service at Remedy teas; a lovely long wander through the rooms of the Elliott Bay Book Company; a visit to Discovery Park; a lovely quiet dinner at Brad's Swingside Cafe. It was the sort of giddy romantic mood that has one skipping down streets with hands entwined and stepping into fancy art studios where colorful windows display pretty things that one would never be able to afford. After dinner, we walked home and read by the warm fire. It was very cozy. Chris has posted some photos of our camping trip here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theazureshadow/sets/72157622766275224/

We have now been home to tell our families, and are getting used to referring to each other as fiance, and it's rather less scary. We're planning on a summer wedding in 2011 to give us plenty of time to plan without going insane, and so that we can honeymoon in the Canadian Rockies when the chances of inclement weather are low. While I don't believe that marriage needs to happen to validate a relationship, it can be a meaningful declaration of love and a symbol of the unification of two lives and the lives of their families and communities. I am very happy to call Chris my fiance, my lover, and my partner for life and am looking forward to taking this next step with him.

04:18 pm - Summer Dawn

Just as the day breaks, it may be time
To slip away on foot
Carrying no belongings,
Leaving even your shoes behind
In some rooming house,
Or wherever you've hidden yourself away,

To look for another refuge,
Preferring at the moment
The open country, the interstate highway
Empty at this hour,
Or small-town cemeteries, where the birds
In the trees have fallen silent,

The minister has left the church unlocked.
You could enter and rest in its pews,
Or you could wade into a cornfield,
Swap clothes with a scarecrow,
Stretch out on the grass and have a long talk
With the first cloud of the new day.

- Charles Simic

06:53 pm - Wild Geese

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

~Mary Oliver

02:52 pm - Hooray!

I passed my defense! Woot!

07:32 am - Adopt a Highway

My favorite patrons of the adopt a highway litter control system, as seen on signs in Western Idaho:

The Lone Inventor

Llama Joy

Yahweh's 666 Warning Assembly (these guys took three consecutive highway segments)


*For those who are confused, adopting a highway means you get your name on a sign and you're supposed to regularly clean up litter along that stretch of road. My church youth group had one.

08:31 pm - update

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted. Probably all summer, actually. I broke my laptop a few days ago. Well, not really broke it, but it has lost its ability to recharge the battery or run off of outlet power (due to an unfortunate incident involving a universal adapter whose voltage setting slipped to the wrong place). It's going to cost $300-400 to fix it, which is half of what I paid for it... I thought about just getting a new one, but if I did it wouldn't be anything significantly different from what I have now, and I like my computer. I don't want to have to get used to a new one and redo all the settings and such yet. So, besides only working half the summer, that will deplete my bank account further. Bleh. Anger.

In other news, I'm finishing up my research. I took down the last experiment last Tuesday and have to extract chlorophyll and write. Hopefully my computer will be fixed soon, as I can't really put statistical software on a thumb drive along with all the other files I need. Due to my committee members traveling for months at a time, it looks like I have to suddenly switch one of them around, but I should be giving my thesis defense around the end of August/beginning of September. Took Smurf to the airport in Spokane this morning and he'll be gone for about a week. On the drive back to Pullman I saw three roadkill porcupines on a short stretch of highway. They must be really active this time of year.

10:29 pm - Government claims immunity from lawsuits

I just read this article and wanted to share my concern: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/06/obama/index.html

In summary, when Congress granted immunity to telecom companies for illegal wiretapping, they implied that if anyone was offended they were welcome to sue the government responsible for said wiretapping. The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) took them at their word and filed a lawsuit. Recently, they got this response from Obama's Department of Justice:

"the Obama DOJ demanded dismissal of the entire lawsuit based on (1) its Bush-mimicking claim that the "state secrets" privilege bars any lawsuits against the Bush administration for illegal spying, and (2) a brand new "sovereign immunity" claim of breathtaking scope -- never before advanced even by the Bush administration -- that the Patriot Act bars any lawsuits of any kind for illegal government surveillance unless there is "willful disclosure" of the illegally intercepted communications."

This is an insane new application of the Patriot Act that effectively legalizes massive government spying on U.S. citizens, since no one can hold the government accountable for these actions. This administration promised a new era of government transparency and accountability, and indeed they've made some bold moves in that direction. However, some of their actions make me wonder if those moves are merely symbolic, while government retains every ability to spy on and suppress anyone it might deem threatening. In my view, erosion of civil liberties was the worst excess of the previous administration and one of the major reasons I voted for this one. I've been e-mailing whitehouse.gov about these issues and encourage anyone else who feels strongly about them to do the same.

08:28 am - A note on breakfast

I have discovered that regular oats taste better than quick oats, and they both take the exact same amount of time to cook.

08:25 pm

At the gym this evening I walked past a huge muscly guy, the sort whose shoulders are so big it looks like he has no neck. He was wearing a shirt that said "Hugs not drugs." Ehehe...

05:36 pm - Geekiness

Waves of rain and hail wash across the roof of the library, where I am working on my thesis. Water pours out of the downspout draining the gutters. I wonder about the possibility of measuring rates and amounts of precipitation using an auditory index. Could you make a regression to calibrate rainfall to the sound it makes on a particular surface, and thus turn an oscilloscope into a rain gauge? It's probably much more complicated than it's worth, but it would be so frickin' cool...

10:44 am

Today's Wondermark made me chuckle:

10:08 pm - More crafting

My parents gave me some cushioned folding chairs when I moved into my own apartment so that I'd have something to sit on while getting settled. I recently decided to cover the cushions with new fabric to update them a little. Here's the before and after:

before:


after:



The pattern on the fabric is small black flowers. I got it on sale for $2 and have also made a rice pillow and two skirts from it so far. The chairs now look like they'd be great extra outdoor seating for a tea party or something of the sort. The reupholstering wasn't difficult, but my thumbs are really sore now from pressing in all those thumbtacks.

03:57 pm - Men: scary deranged beasts? I think not.

I'm TAing a class called Biology of Women this semester; it's cross-listed in the Biology, Anthropology, and Women's Studies departments. We cover specific biological processes in development and reproduction as well as more controversial topics such as the basis for sexual orientation and political and societal issues.

The variety of student backgrounds can make it difficult to grade their assignments, some of which can be very opinionated. Today, I responded negatively to one student's assignment, in which they claimed that men are programmed by evolution and society to want to have sex with as many partners as possible from adolescence onward. According to the student, men who fail to be promiscuous will be looked down on by their peers.

Now, in addition to this student's misinterpretations of evolutionary theory, I have a problem with the view that guys are slaves to instinct and unable to control their actions. I got a second opinion on the grading for this particular assignment, because I want to be fair to other people's opinions, but it really bothers me that so many people have negative views of men and their ability to, well, control themselves and be decent. Most of the guys I know are really great people who think (and sometimes overthink) about the consequences of their actions and try to make good decisions.

Anyway, I'm posting this because I want to say thanks to all the great guys I know who've contributed to my positive opinion of humanity and of men. Thanks, guys; I love you.

09:23 pm - Crafty

I've been planning to build a coffee table for a couple months now, and the drill I got for Christmas enabled me to follow through. I think it turned out pretty well:







The top is a piece of particle board that I got for free from a giveaway event at the University of Idaho's college of natural resources. The map that checkers the top is from the same place. The legs are transplanted from a stool I bought at a thrift store, which is also where I got the paint. I painted the bottom with two coats, screwed the legs on, painted the top, cut out squares from the map (of the Coeur D'Alene area) and attached them to the top with Mod Podge. I think I'll get some clear acrylic sealer to spray over the top as well. Cost of materials was about $5. Not bad, except that the color clashes with my red couch. I've never built anything resembling furniture before, and this makes me want to do more. Ehehe...

10:14 pm - Dentistry

I barely got in to see my dentist over winter break; my mother is currently working in their office and called me when they had a no-show. One of the things that is most frustrating to me about visiting the dentist is the lack of background information. You sit in your chair, they lean you back, make obscure measurements in your mouth, and then sternly inform you that, while you have lovely teeth, more flossing is in order (with the implication that if this warning is not heeded, dire diseases will be your fate). Without any specific information about the benefits of flossing or the demerits of the diseases, how is one to discern between an overzealous dentist who delivers the same warning to every patient, and an actual health concern?

Asking a lot of questions helps, though this can be difficult when your mouth is clogged with sharp metallic instruments. After my dental hygienist took my x-rays, she looked at them worriedly and went through the standard "more flossing" fare, but when the dentist himself came in for his brief consult, I asked to see what specifically was wrong with my teeth and why flossing would help. The two of them showed me what look like tiny dings on the sides of both teeth surrounding two of the spaces in the back of my mouth. Because the dings do not extend all the way through the enamel, which is the hard white substance on the outside of the teeth, they don't need to be filled. If the indentations get deep enough to eat through the enamel and into the softer dentine, the cavity will spread rapidly and need an immediate filling. Flossing removes bacteria that build up between teeth and on residual food particles, but the bacteria themselves aren't the main enemy facing the teeth. The body's own immune system fights the bacteria, causing inflammation and cavities and breaking the bonds between the teeth and the gums. By removing the bacteria daily through flossing, they are prevented from building colonies large enough to trigger much of an immune response. Apparently fluoride can sometimes trigger remineralization of the tooth and reverse the process, so there is hope for my neglected teeth.

I thought it was interesting, and so far it's been far more motivational than the standard fare: I've been flossing my teeth every day since. Mostly because I have my own medical insurance now, and cavities are expensive.

01:55 pm - Scary things

There has been a lot of new research about substances affecting human health recently, and I thought I'd share. Some of these articles are frightening, and if reading such things is likely to make you stressed and paranoid, then you should avoid reading them. Stress is bad for you. However, if you're interested in ways to make better choices about health and can avoid getting too stressed about the things you can't control, you may find this helpful.

Melamine: Melamine, the chemical that has been linked to infant deaths in China recently, is used in many fertilizers in the U.S. and has recently been detected in certain baby formulas. Levels that the FDA approves are calculated for a 132-pound person, which may put children and some adults at risk.
Our Home-grown Melamine Problem: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mcwilliams.html
Test Results for Baby Formula: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/melamine/testresults.html

Parkinson's Disease: A UCLA study found exposure to the fungicide Ziram was a common factor in 400 cases of Parkinson's disease in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Ziram is commonly used on grapes, and agricultural workers were at especially high risk.
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1016795.html

BPA: BPA is a chemical found in many plastics, including Nalgene water bottles, baby bottles, and microwave-safe food containers. It was recently banned in Canada due to health concerns. Studies have found that even at extremely low levels, BPA causes neurological, behavioral, and birth defects in laboratory animals and possibly breast cancer. A recent study showed that amounts that cause damage in laboratory animals commonly leach from plastics heated in microwaves and ovens, even when these plastics are labeled microwave-safe.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/34532034.html

Teflon: Inhaling the fumes from heated non-stick pans coated with teflon can cause flu-like symptoms.
http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200812050678

Cancer: Eating processed meats has been linked to increased incidence of colorectal cancer. The American Institute for Cancer Research claims that any amount of processed meat (which includes sausage, salami, pepperoni, ham, etc.) increases your risk, and they recommend you only eat them for special occasions.
http://www.aicr.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12898&news_iv_ctrl=0&abbr=pr_

The Media: A cumulative look at many studies shows that increased exposure to television, music, and movies in youth is correlated with childhood obesity, drug and alcohol use, and early sexual activity. The article also claimed that these risks are highly correlated with what type of programming is being viewed. They didn't look at internet or social networking use.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/01/AR2008120102920.html?hpid=sec-educat

And some positive news:

In the San Francisco area, a group called Food Runners will pick up leftovers from farmer's markets and even private parties and take it to the hungry. If you live in that area, you can even call them and they'll give you an address of people to take your food to.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97360726&ft=1&f=1053

Health insurance companies near Madison, Wisconsin are giving members cash rebates for investing in local community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms. The idea is that those members are making an effort to eat healthy food.
http://www.madisoncommons.org/?q=node/563

Anyway, hopefully this didn't depress you too much.

04:24 pm

Sometimes real things are so crazy-looking that it's difficult to believe that the world isn't photoshopped.



Tonight's sunset, though the photo doesn't do it justice.

11:00 pm - elections

Tuesday evening, I watched the election coverage with a group of friends, and we toasted when Obama was announced as President elect. I don't expect any presidency to be as perfect as their campaign makes them sound; even giving the presidency enough power to keep all their campaign promises would be a frightening departure from the system of checks and balances imposed by our constitution. I know the new presidency will disappoint me at times, but right now all the signs are pointing to a much more hopeful world.

One of the most heartening signs is President elect Obama's commitment to involving people. I was heartened by the sentiments he expressed in his victory speech Tuesday night:

"There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people."

10:04 pm - Update

I haven't been posting much lately, so here's a brief update:


-Fish are eating my snails. This was the result I was hoping for. Yay!
-Smurf, Josh and I went friend-visiting in Seattle last weekend. We also spent some time looking at the Lucy exhibit and early hominid fossils in the Pacific Science Center there, which was quite awesome.
-Went to a movie last night called 'For the Bible Tells me so,' which is a documentary about religious families with homosexual children. Highly recommended, but bring tissues. I wonder how some of my family members would react to this.
-If you missed unofficial International Cephalopod Appreciation Day (OCTOber 8th), you need to acquire some calamari and belatedly celebrate.
-I haven't done laundry in weeks.
-Don't ever agree to do multiple time-intensive experiments at a time. It really sucks.
-It is far too cold outside.