We've given them a sudden feast of scraps, but all three of them have had equal access to that. What would cause just one of their eggs to be so big all of a sudden?
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Zydeco lays a jumbo egg
We've given them a sudden feast of scraps, but all three of them have had equal access to that. What would cause just one of their eggs to be so big all of a sudden?
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
genetically modified corn news
(because [noun] appears to be [verb]ing [noun] more quickly than scientists expected)
NPR Story says Bt corn might not be the miracle it was touted as...
Is it too late to reconsider releasing a gene for pest-resistance out into the big biotech case study people used to call Mother Earth?
Yep.
No problem, right?
I'm sure we'll have a high-tech fix to this problem in no time.
(Available exclusively from Archer Daniels Midland
)
NPR Story says Bt corn might not be the miracle it was touted as...
Is it too late to reconsider releasing a gene for pest-resistance out into the big biotech case study people used to call Mother Earth?
Yep.
No problem, right?
I'm sure we'll have a high-tech fix to this problem in no time.
(Available exclusively from Archer Daniels Midland
)
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Lord Hackerbimbo
I hate to pile on to somebody who is down, especially on Christmas, but am I the only one that noticed that the recent picture of Michael Brodkorb in the Pioneer Press looked a lot like Tom Marvolo Riddle?
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
ESPM 3011W final exam
Please answer each of the following 3 (three) questions in a minimum of 250 words each (for a minimum of 750 total words).
1. Write a personal mission statement or set of guiding principals that you can use to help you make decisions about important choices in your life. What strategies will you employ to live these principals?
2. How have the assigned texts or moodle readings influenced you? Document two selections that you thought were surprising, stimulating, and provided you with food for thought. Tell how each selection has changed your thinking in some way, helped your ethic to develop, or taught you something you might not have otherwise learned.
3. Describe an environmental dilemma in your life (a disagreement or ongoing argument, or an active dialogue happening with family and friends). Tell both sides of the dilemma, and why it has been hard to solve. Are you still stuck? Describe how you might be able to use what you’ve learned in Ethics class to help advance the dialogue or possibly solve the dilemma.
1. All of life on earth is intimately and inextricably linked to – and dependent on – the myriad of other living things around it. Humans are no different from any other animal in this regard, with the exception that we have the seemingly unprecedented ability to delude ourselves into believing otherwise. I will constantly seek ways to reduce the prevalence of that and other harmful cultural beliefs, while also working to mitigate the damaging effects of actions taken under the guidance of these beliefs.
I will not let my acceptance of the truth of the nature of our current situation become or be mistaken for acquiescence to its continuance. I will not let my despair at the magnitude of the challenges we face lead to depression and inaction. I will not let the strength of my convictions lead to a paralyzing rigidity and closed-mindedness.
The most important thing to allow me to live by these principles is to surround myself with people who will support me in that effort. The world is full of messages telling me that it's not the culture at large that is misperceiving the nature of the world and our place in it (of course!) but rather I am. It is not necessary that everyone playing such a support role share all of my beliefs. What is crucial is that they are open to the possibility that views other than their own may also be valid and worthy of respect. The other strategy I plan to use is to apply the knowledge that habits shape beliefs – in other words, it really works to fake it until you make it.
2. The two readings that have stuck with me the most are the Oyinesa reading and the Ecclesiastes reading from the Bible from the very beginning of the class. Both interest me because they view into disregarded or forgotten perspectives. The selection from Oyinesa is the most detailed and comprehensive account of a Native American world-view that I have ever seen that was actually written by someone who lived within a functioning Native society. It is important to hear these voices which are not distorted by the distance of time or the remove of being an outsider to the culture in question. In a time when the dominant culture is so far removed from a time when living in harmony with the natural world seemed normal, these voices are particularly precious.
The chapter of Ecclesiastes contains both one of my favorite familiar passages from the Bible, and one of my favorite new discoveries. The first – the portion regarding the time for sowing and reaping, to every season, and so on – has long struck me as a beautiful acceptance of the cycles and resistance to control of the natural world. The second – the portion regarding man's status as a beast and the vanity of thinking differently – was perhaps the most startlingly (and encouragingly) unexpected things I've ever seen in the Bible. This sentiment stands in stark contrast to familiar verses about man's dominion over other living things. Yet, it made it into the accepted canon of Christian scripture. The gap between the actual subtle and contradictory views of nature in the Bible and the commonly accepted interpretation of a clearly dominant role for humans seems to me to be a key barrier to a healthier and more realistic relationship between humans and the natural world.
The Story of Stuff, the similar RSA Animate videos, and the TED Talks stuck with me as a format, as much as for the actual content. I am in awe of how much meaning they are able to convey, at such a high level, in such a short amount of time.
3. I struggle with deciding whether to eat meat, and if I am going to eat meat, whether I should avoid certain meat and eat other kinds. I have friends nearly everywhere on the carnivore spectrum. My former college roommate has been a strict vegan for the past ten years. My sister is a vegetarian. I have friends and especially family who seem to care nothing about meat beyond whether it tastes good and perhaps how many calories (or how much fat, carbohydrates, cholesterol, sodium, etc.) it contains. For them of course, there is no dilemma beyond how to prepare food for their younger relatives' strange food choices. At times in the past I have been vegetarian briefly, and eaten very limited amounts of meat at other times. More recently I fell into a more typical American (especially where I was) diet with meat at nearly every meal, perhaps excepting breakfast. My goal is to try as much as possible to limit how much meat I eat and, at least when I'm making the purchases, purchase meat as much in line with my ethics as possible. The problem is so intractable because people don't agree on even the basics like, “Who and what deserves consideration when deciding what, if any, meat is ethical to eat?”
I think that the Q methodology we studied in class could be incredibly useful to make progress on any number of issues where groups view the question in ways so different that compromise seems impossible. Our exercise trying to pass laws and implement programs was not nearly as in depth or rigorous as would be necessary in a real, meaningful conflict. However, the idea is extremely powerful. Even on a subject and in a class as divided as ours, there were important ideas that had universal support. It seems that Q is a tool that, used properly, could have profound impacts in a multitude of areas.
1. Write a personal mission statement or set of guiding principals that you can use to help you make decisions about important choices in your life. What strategies will you employ to live these principals?
2. How have the assigned texts or moodle readings influenced you? Document two selections that you thought were surprising, stimulating, and provided you with food for thought. Tell how each selection has changed your thinking in some way, helped your ethic to develop, or taught you something you might not have otherwise learned.
3. Describe an environmental dilemma in your life (a disagreement or ongoing argument, or an active dialogue happening with family and friends). Tell both sides of the dilemma, and why it has been hard to solve. Are you still stuck? Describe how you might be able to use what you’ve learned in Ethics class to help advance the dialogue or possibly solve the dilemma.
1. All of life on earth is intimately and inextricably linked to – and dependent on – the myriad of other living things around it. Humans are no different from any other animal in this regard, with the exception that we have the seemingly unprecedented ability to delude ourselves into believing otherwise. I will constantly seek ways to reduce the prevalence of that and other harmful cultural beliefs, while also working to mitigate the damaging effects of actions taken under the guidance of these beliefs.
I will not let my acceptance of the truth of the nature of our current situation become or be mistaken for acquiescence to its continuance. I will not let my despair at the magnitude of the challenges we face lead to depression and inaction. I will not let the strength of my convictions lead to a paralyzing rigidity and closed-mindedness.
The most important thing to allow me to live by these principles is to surround myself with people who will support me in that effort. The world is full of messages telling me that it's not the culture at large that is misperceiving the nature of the world and our place in it (of course!) but rather I am. It is not necessary that everyone playing such a support role share all of my beliefs. What is crucial is that they are open to the possibility that views other than their own may also be valid and worthy of respect. The other strategy I plan to use is to apply the knowledge that habits shape beliefs – in other words, it really works to fake it until you make it.
2. The two readings that have stuck with me the most are the Oyinesa reading and the Ecclesiastes reading from the Bible from the very beginning of the class. Both interest me because they view into disregarded or forgotten perspectives. The selection from Oyinesa is the most detailed and comprehensive account of a Native American world-view that I have ever seen that was actually written by someone who lived within a functioning Native society. It is important to hear these voices which are not distorted by the distance of time or the remove of being an outsider to the culture in question. In a time when the dominant culture is so far removed from a time when living in harmony with the natural world seemed normal, these voices are particularly precious.
The chapter of Ecclesiastes contains both one of my favorite familiar passages from the Bible, and one of my favorite new discoveries. The first – the portion regarding the time for sowing and reaping, to every season, and so on – has long struck me as a beautiful acceptance of the cycles and resistance to control of the natural world. The second – the portion regarding man's status as a beast and the vanity of thinking differently – was perhaps the most startlingly (and encouragingly) unexpected things I've ever seen in the Bible. This sentiment stands in stark contrast to familiar verses about man's dominion over other living things. Yet, it made it into the accepted canon of Christian scripture. The gap between the actual subtle and contradictory views of nature in the Bible and the commonly accepted interpretation of a clearly dominant role for humans seems to me to be a key barrier to a healthier and more realistic relationship between humans and the natural world.
The Story of Stuff, the similar RSA Animate videos, and the TED Talks stuck with me as a format, as much as for the actual content. I am in awe of how much meaning they are able to convey, at such a high level, in such a short amount of time.
3. I struggle with deciding whether to eat meat, and if I am going to eat meat, whether I should avoid certain meat and eat other kinds. I have friends nearly everywhere on the carnivore spectrum. My former college roommate has been a strict vegan for the past ten years. My sister is a vegetarian. I have friends and especially family who seem to care nothing about meat beyond whether it tastes good and perhaps how many calories (or how much fat, carbohydrates, cholesterol, sodium, etc.) it contains. For them of course, there is no dilemma beyond how to prepare food for their younger relatives' strange food choices. At times in the past I have been vegetarian briefly, and eaten very limited amounts of meat at other times. More recently I fell into a more typical American (especially where I was) diet with meat at nearly every meal, perhaps excepting breakfast. My goal is to try as much as possible to limit how much meat I eat and, at least when I'm making the purchases, purchase meat as much in line with my ethics as possible. The problem is so intractable because people don't agree on even the basics like, “Who and what deserves consideration when deciding what, if any, meat is ethical to eat?”
I think that the Q methodology we studied in class could be incredibly useful to make progress on any number of issues where groups view the question in ways so different that compromise seems impossible. Our exercise trying to pass laws and implement programs was not nearly as in depth or rigorous as would be necessary in a real, meaningful conflict. However, the idea is extremely powerful. Even on a subject and in a class as divided as ours, there were important ideas that had universal support. It seems that Q is a tool that, used properly, could have profound impacts in a multitude of areas.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Final PSY3135 Forum Post
In Wright's words, “We aren't designed to stand on crowded subway platforms, or to live in suburbs next door to people we never talk to, or to get hired or fired, or to watch the evening news. This disjunction between the contexts of our design and of our lives is probably responsible for much psychopathology, as well as much suffering of a less dramatic sort.” Given that assertion, and the alarming rise of many mental health diagnoses (ADHD, bipolar, depression, anxiety, etc.), is psychology due for a re-examining of its goals and assumptions?
Generally, mental health diagnoses are treated with the implicit aim of returning the patient to a functioning role in society. However, if patients are medicated and/or counseled so that they can be released back into an unchanged system, is this a "successful" outcome? Does psychology as a discipline, and do individual psychologists, have an obligation to work to create a society more conducive to mental health, or is their obligation limited to helping the individuals cope with the challenges of modern industrial living?
Generally, mental health diagnoses are treated with the implicit aim of returning the patient to a functioning role in society. However, if patients are medicated and/or counseled so that they can be released back into an unchanged system, is this a "successful" outcome? Does psychology as a discipline, and do individual psychologists, have an obligation to work to create a society more conducive to mental health, or is their obligation limited to helping the individuals cope with the challenges of modern industrial living?
cooking safety
Hey, kids! This is what happens when you run your newly-sharpened knife through a human thumb, rather than a sweet potato. Try not to let this happen at home...
Sunday, December 18, 2011
RSA Animate is amazing
1. How do we get people to watch this instead of "dancing with the stars?"
2. I'd like to re-listen to the C-Realm podcast I linked to previously in light of this video...
2. I'd like to re-listen to the C-Realm podcast I linked to previously in light of this video...
Friday, December 16, 2011
follow up to MN Republic
I stumbled upon this video within two hours of responding to the idea that the occupy protestors are unified in hatred. The irony couldn't be sweeter...
MN Republic comment
Here's a comment I posted to Aaron Overfors' article in the Minnesota Republic, Occupy: Give up your money.
1. Demanding that a commission try to find a way to "end the influence money has over representatives in Washington" does not equate to "asking people to not be motivated by money." In fact, it's an acknowledgement that people are motivated by money, and a reaction to that fact in light of the widely held belief that government would function better if representatives were more focused on their roles as lawmakers and less distracted by needing to attend fund-raisers, call donors, etc. Does your love of the free market extend to outright buying of votes? Assuming your answer is no, why is it not worth considering that beyond banning outright bribery, we might also enact other barriers between powerful government officials and rich individuals or organizations?
2. Your article is filled with indications that you do in fact have almost "no insights into the thoughts and feeling [sic] of the protestors [sic]." In no place is this more evident, nor more disheartening, than your assertion that the one thing that unifies the occupy protesters above all other is hatred. Nothing could be further from the truth. I hope that rather than continue to debate with your crudely-crafted straw men, you will seek out opportunities to engage in actual conversations with the people whose concerns you don't share, and thus far don't even understand.
Regards,
Ryan
To feel much for others and little for ourselves; to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature.
Adam Smith
1. Demanding that a commission try to find a way to "end the influence money has over representatives in Washington" does not equate to "asking people to not be motivated by money." In fact, it's an acknowledgement that people are motivated by money, and a reaction to that fact in light of the widely held belief that government would function better if representatives were more focused on their roles as lawmakers and less distracted by needing to attend fund-raisers, call donors, etc. Does your love of the free market extend to outright buying of votes? Assuming your answer is no, why is it not worth considering that beyond banning outright bribery, we might also enact other barriers between powerful government officials and rich individuals or organizations?
2. Your article is filled with indications that you do in fact have almost "no insights into the thoughts and feeling [sic] of the protestors [sic]." In no place is this more evident, nor more disheartening, than your assertion that the one thing that unifies the occupy protesters above all other is hatred. Nothing could be further from the truth. I hope that rather than continue to debate with your crudely-crafted straw men, you will seek out opportunities to engage in actual conversations with the people whose concerns you don't share, and thus far don't even understand.
Regards,
Ryan
To feel much for others and little for ourselves; to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature.
Adam Smith
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Final MDS 3001W journal entry
Discuss how your degree and lifework goals changed over the course of the semester.
In a final paragraph: Now that you've been through the course and the process of planning your degree, what advise would you give to a student taking ICP 3001?
do you need this degree
it's not too late
read the great books - reflect, write, discuss
for a semester's tuition you could
build a library
or a community garden
pass three weeks in ghana
or in your back yard
see every play in town for a year
or every film to ever win an oscar
if you need a credential, pay for it
if you want an education, go get it
In a final paragraph: Now that you've been through the course and the process of planning your degree, what advise would you give to a student taking ICP 3001?
do you need this degree
it's not too late
read the great books - reflect, write, discuss
for a semester's tuition you could
build a library
or a community garden
pass three weeks in ghana
or in your back yard
see every play in town for a year
or every film to ever win an oscar
if you need a credential, pay for it
if you want an education, go get it
mysterious benefactor
While I was at a career counselor appointment on Saint Paul campus, someone left an amazing gift in my van. THANK YOU so much!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
ESPM 3011W participation point question
Take a minute and search youtube for Winona LaDuke videos. Pick one speech, watch it, and tell us about it in a paragraph. What were your reactions to her talk?
I watched a portion of Winona LaDuke's 2010 speech to the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. On youtube it was titled, "Winona LaDuke on linear thinking and climate change." In this video, LaDuke talks about linear versus cyclical thinking, waste production, the prison-industrial complex, climate change, peak oil, the Canadian tar sands, and the war in Iraq. In each case, she boils the issue down to a simple and obvious truth, at least if you are ready to hear it. I'm encouraged to hear such a public figure saying such great things. I wonder how to spread those ideas further.
I watched a portion of Winona LaDuke's 2010 speech to the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. On youtube it was titled, "Winona LaDuke on linear thinking and climate change." In this video, LaDuke talks about linear versus cyclical thinking, waste production, the prison-industrial complex, climate change, peak oil, the Canadian tar sands, and the war in Iraq. In each case, she boils the issue down to a simple and obvious truth, at least if you are ready to hear it. I'm encouraged to hear such a public figure saying such great things. I wonder how to spread those ideas further.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Settling dust
After months of chaos & repeated moves, i'm finally settling in enough to start going through and sorting out all the half-opened mail, oddly-packed clothes and extensive miscellaneity that i've been dragging in my wake and marooning across the land of 10000 lakes. (Stop by for likely giveaways.) Amazingly, this photo represents great progress!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
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