happy mother’s day

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Old skool tells it best

philosophyisms

My Philosophy teacher is one of those guys who randomly insert strange comments in the middle of pretty serious intense talks. Makes one think though.

On In vitro Fertilization
“There are some couples who have nefarious methods for obtaining eggs for their own nefarious uses.”
“Maybe in the future, we’ll see children as shuttles of DNA.”

On Genetic Counseling
“It’s not like embryos have a seat at the table, or fetuses are the ones to call the shots around here.”
“This argument would not cut… much ice?”

On Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis & Selective Abortion
“Imagine a world without women. Let’s just say reproduction is solved hydroponically, like tomatoes.
“They would have reached those criteria very swimmingly.”

palaioslithos

I just found out that I would make a horrible prehistoric Neanderthal. We were learning how to make flakes (basically shards off of stones; arrowheads and Clovis points and stuff), in which I severely injured myself (’severely’ is being used very loosely here). So to make a flake, you’re suppose to use a stone or antler to hit the platform of another larger rock at a little less than 90° angle, and shear off a flake (and then make that into an arrowhead of dart point or whatever).

Not only did I learn I sucked at making flakes, but I also learned that I had extremely bad aim with rocks. Naturally, I received a bunch of cuts and bruises on my fingers/hands/leg/arms. I mean seriously how do you even have enough strength to break a rock with another rock?

After making a passable flake, we were suppose to pound that bad boy into certain types of points (mine was just the basic stem with a long point). We were using obsidian because that’s one of the easiest rocks to work with (the easiest to be broken… but still not that easy), because its got almost the same texture as glass. Oh, and isn’t glass super sharp? Yeah… now I have battle scars from making a 1 inch long tool, great. I guess I’m a klutz when it comes to making points for hunting (who knew, honestly?), but it doesn’t matter because women in those ages probably just picked veggies and weaved baskets. Whew.

train-spotting

Riding a train always makes me stop and stare outside at the moving 3-D picture outside. Especially so with the Vancouver,Canada-to-Seattle train. First it’s a fifteen minute introduction of urban art, where amateur graffiti artists are trying to thrive on motionless abandoned train car canvases (the basic ‘I’m going to write my name in crazy bold letters’ style).

Then a half-hour of masterpieces-in-tunnels-and-more-daring art, which immediately transitions over a bridge to the industrialized nation of factories and quiet towns.

Following that sad little area, is three hours of crossing through the middle of wide lakes and random bodies of water and nature. It’s the landscape you see in calendars, postcards, and sometimes religious websites emblazoned with “The Wonders of God’s Creation” (or something to that effect). You can see for miles of blue water to one side enclosed by mountains far off in the distance, and cloud formations filling up the spaces in between.

(These are the exact islands we passed… I know this because I get to do some sort of coastal archaeology there)

The other side is almost identical, but instead of water, there’s flat, rolling hills that remind me of some non-existent land that would probably rival the landscape of J.R.R. Tolkein’s fantasy worlds.

VS.

I was so busy staring (probably with a vacant look) that it wasn’t for a while until I noticed this weird fuzzy black-and-white stuffed animal apparently looking out the window with the same blank stare I had on my face. Same position, same angle, same intensity, a little freaky for a lifeless little dog/cow/sheep/whatever it is.

It turns out that a little girl had left him in that position when she went somewhere else on the train for 2 hours. Trains make me think more than class lectures do, sadly.

(P.S. I didn’t take these pictures, but they are quite dead-on.. Just trying to give visual aid here)

déjà vu

I feel like I’ve shown you this already (I’m pretty sure its in one of the older posts), but I watched this last night and I felt that the message was even more powerful the second time around (or as powerful as it can get at three in the morning). I had the same feeling that you get after watching An Inconvenient Truth (a.k.a. GUYS LETS SAVE THE WORLD RIGHT NOW).

Oh, completely unrelated, is this clip from NPR reporter David Gilkey:

“I really don’t smile that much. It’s not that I am unhappy or depressed. It’s just not in my nature. I tend to take life a little seriously.

But, as part of my coverage for NPR in China, I visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and Director Zhang Zhihe. He’s a gentle man who speaks about the giant pandas as if they were his own family. At the end of our time together, I asked him why he thought the giant panda bears are so popular. A simple answer from the director: “Because they make you smile!”

I fully agree. I edited this piece for the blog smiling and laughing out loud the whole time. This footage is a preview of a full report with Melissa Block that will air in May. Enjoy.

time lapse: “studying”