Things that are not particularly useful, unless of course they are:

[thanate]

(I am trying to expend my thinking on this story I'm trying to write, but as my brain is churning out story-worthy sentences at a ridiculously slow rate, this is a more uphill battle than it's been in years. Phoey. Anyway, have some other things on the internet that might be interesting.)

Silly video on the hexaflexagon. Geometry is fun.

Daniel Pinkwater as Surrealist. Aside from reminding me to order a copy of the Neddiad, this article makes me think that perhaps I ought to look into Surrealism as a thing, as the juxtapositions of odd things are very much related to how my sense of humor works. (As opposed to overplaying stereotypes or people just being stupid, which aren't funny. Grauwulf tells me I just have no sense of humor, but this fails to explain the moments when I start giggling so hard I can't read aloud the thing that was so funny...) In any case, I always thought of Surrealism as mainly a visual art thing (despite probably having enough pieces I ought to have know better) and as I'm not much impressed with most arealistic "modern" art I never really looked further. But Pinkwater, and also Duck Soup. Any suggestions on what else to investigate?

In honor of this year's Viable Paradise, tasty things to do with cooking greens. (see also the comments) I made a large plate of swiss chard for (part of) dinner, baking 15 minutes rather than 20-30. Grauwulf thought it smelled like freshly mown hay coming out of the oven (which it sort of did) and tasted like nothing at all; I don't understand his taste buds. Oh well; more for me. Also fudge, though I haven't done this one as making sweetened condensed milk without can liner contamination seems like more work than making another box of brownies.

Things you thought you knew: Actually, the idea that moving towards the poles requires one to lose skin pigment to maintain vitamin D isn't supported by non-european populations. Interesting. Also slightly creepy if you start overthinking possible implications...

A Day of Glass (also a video) Corning glass on near-future possibilities. Pretty, very cool, and there's *no way* I'm synching my phone to whatever's in the wall of a public bus stop. Um. But I definitely want that window...

It amuses me that people who claim to embrace a religion of selflessness, who loudly and persistently claim that the United States itself is a county based on that same religion of supposed love and shared sacrifice, who profess to follow in the footsteps of a prophet who supposedly preached selflessness above all else, would use “Am I better off” as their political compass. (Which is to say, an interesting take on why this is kind of a stupid question to be asking in the context of the next election.)

Photoshoot of an air burial. Lots of pictures of vultures; if you're squicked by human remains, you probably shouldn't click. I'm not much upset by dead things I don't have to smell these days, but I find myself vaguely disturbed by the creation/existence of the photoshoot. Also, my previous impressions of air burial as a thing hadn't included so much interaction on the part of the living-- I thought it was more along the lines of leaving your dead in the specified place up the mountain & then come back in a month. Not sure if this is a modern thing, different traditions for different places, or just me being delusional.

And on the subject of *not* dying, two supreme court cases & a recent OH court decision agree that failing to vaccinate your child is not freedom of religion. Actually, it's negligence & a public health hazard. (Also, I was pretty impressed to learn that while it's not quite as good long-term, the modern whooping cough vaccine is safe to start at two months.)

Comments

[dragonvyxn.livejournal.com]

we just did the first dtap shot at 8 weeks. she nursed through it - cried during the poke and resumed nursing right after and was very tired the next 2 days, but it didn't seem like her leg was sore. our doc is letting us do the vax as we like - 1 at a time, in the order of most important first. she gave us a list to go off of. after that, we'll probably just go by what she says anyway... our doc is very cool, willing to take time to let lilit's immune system grow. i don't know if you know about this type of stuff, hospital will automatically give the baby the hep b vax at birth unless you opt out ahead of time. our midwife's prospective was that it's just not needed for a newborn, really, and you can do it anytime. speaking of shots, we did oral vit k since we had no medical reason not to, and that was super easy. :-D

[l. blankenship (from livejournal.com)]

As I was reading the skin color article, sexual selection was the first thing that crossed my mind. Then again, people get turned on by stranger things than pale skin and blue eyes... :)

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Yeah, given the other completely useless things we've selected for (more delicate features in females come to mind) it does seem like the obvious answer. I just had a moment of disquiet contemplating the social dynamics of how a population goes from middle eastern colorations to northern european ones in a couple millennia.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

I just missed the changeover between this and having the first round of shots be at 6 months. Which is a lot scarier in the face of recurring outbreaks of potentially fatal diseases.