Books Read

Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum, William F. Ruddiman - I wrapped this one up months ago, at the encouragement of my friend Brian, and I highly recommend it. It is an excellent, brief, explanation of global warming starting, literally, with the beginning of the planet. It includes lots of rotational pattern information that span thousands and thousands of years. Stuff I haven't seen in other global warming arguments and, I think, lends credence to Ruddiman's. It helps that he comes off as quite agenda-less (though perhaps I'm just being naive). The last section on plagues includes his weakest arguments and conclusions, but still interesting food for thought. At only a few hundred pages long you can finish it up in a weekend and then almost sound like an expert at dinner parties.*

The Confusion and The System of the World, Neal Stephenson - thus endeth my long commitment to Stephenson's trilogy The Baroque Cycle. Three very dense but thoroughly enjoyable novels that purport to be sci-fi/fantasy, but really veer much closer to historical geek fiction. There's lots of British royalty espionage, much of which I'm sure went over my head, some dabbling in alchemy, a fair bit of economics, and, my favorite, several important plot points revolving around major characters Liebnitz and Newton and their argument over who invented The Calculus. Even more satisfying - Stephenson got an ending right for once.

Currently Reading

The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason - enjoyable popcorn fiction of the dork variety (allegedly similar to the Da Vinci Code; about a 500 year old novel and ensuing mystery), chosen to cleanse the palate after The Baroque Cycle, but making slower progress than I'd like.

*at my bowling team dinner party last night (did I mention our team name is Snakes on a Lane?) I made the classic error of not only discussing politics, but having said discussion with a stranger (teammate's previously unmet girlfriend). I think everything went ok, but I tend to get all uppity about politics and sometimes lose my sense of social decorum. Such behavior is ok around forgiving and understanding friends, but tends to make you look like an asshole around strangers.

No sometimes means no?

Feministing was all over this months ago, but I only got as far as folding down a page of my Ms. and then burying it in a pile of other things about which I keep meaning to blog. In Maouloud Baby vs. state of Maryland the court ruled that

JURY INSTRUCTIONS; COURT’S RESPONSE TO JURY QUESTION REGARDING WHETHER PRIOR CONSENT VITIATES CRIMINAL CHARACTER OF POST PENETRATION WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT; BATTLE V. STATE, 287 MD. 675 (1980); QUESTION POSED BY JURY, “IF A FEMALE CONSENTS TO SEX INITIALLY AND, DURING THE COURSE OF THE SEX ACT TO WHICH SHE CONSENTED, FOR WHATEVER REASON, SHE CHANGES HER MIND AND THE . . . MAN CONTINUES UNTIL CLIMAX, DOES THE RESULT CONSTITUTE RAPE?” WAS NOT AMBIGUOUS AND THUS REQUIRED A SPECIFIC ANSWER AND, NOTWITHSTANDING WEIGHT OF AUTHORITY TO THE CONTRARY, SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANSWERED IN THE NEGATIVE UNDER THE MOST
CURRENT MARYLAND LAW TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE.

In other words, once sex begins, it really doesn't matter if you change your mind or he starts to hurt you or for any of a million other valid reasons you decide not to finish the matter. You're in it until he's finished. Jeebus.

US Social Forum

Through Doctor's for Global Health and the People's Health Movement I have gotten involved with the local planning committee for the US Social Forum, coming to Atlanta in July. Go here for a short YouTube blurb about the forum. Of course, if any of y'all wanted to come, you'd have a free place to crash!

Not Dead

So I am typing to you on a brand-spanking-new laptop! Hooray! Granted, it's a laptop with Vista, with which I have thus far been unimpressed, and in fact, displeased (I can download and install Mozilla and Eudora but not AIM or a basic flash plugin? WTF?), but hey, it's logs onto the internet and checks my e-mail, so I'm a pretty damn happy camper. Added bonus - it makes noise! Literally - I had forgotten the little sounds at boot up and new e-mail rings. It's quite fun. Current minor downside - I apparently type faster than the keyboard can keep up. Who knew? Hopefully at least one of us is trainable.

In other news, I just wrapped the conference this morning (poster was a smashing success, thanks for asking), which was generally pretty good (definitely got my wheels rolling on a few problems and made some progress in thinking about what I want to be when I grow up and met some useful people, etc. etc). But I'm still feeling a bit disoriented and in need to getting back in touch with my real life. Hopefully a quasi-normal schedule tomorrow will do the trick.

Full update with nerd facts from the past few days to come shortly.