Monthly Archives: August 2007

Here and here you can find some rather amusing (and utterly appalling) stories of encounters with innumeracy. And here‘s a post expressing surprise at how widespread the inability to handle numbers is, even among those who really do need to … Continue reading →

I’m doing lots of preparation for the class I’ll be teaching.  The following passage is one of those I’ll be using on the first day to make clear to my students that “women” in “the South” is anything but simple … Continue reading →

Our deep freeze is frighteningly full for this early in the harvest season, so Sydney’s been exploring the world of canning recently.  In addition to the massive time commitment, he’s been having some problems because our well has run dry … Continue reading →

These are some seriously cool lizards: Researchers have suspected for decades that some desert lizards can harvest rainwater through their skin. The Australian thorny devil (Moloch horridus), for example, rubs its belly into the wet sand after a rain. In … Continue reading →

We spent Wednesday afternoon at Letchworth Park in upstate New York. It’s called “The Grand Canyon of the East,” and it definitely feels like it. Bigger than the parks around Ithaca, and with much deeper canyons, it really does having … Continue reading →

http://www.slate.com/id/2171940 Having already made my case for why August is a lovely month for me, let me offer a brief rejoinder to the writer of the article, courtesy Wikipedia: Apparently the first Monday of August is a holiday in Ireland, … Continue reading →

made and froze 9 cups of basil pesto.  Today I am a rock star. Sydney is currently doing the tricky trade of canning peaches and peach chutney.  Soon he, too, will feel like a rock star. Erin

Yup, I’m putting it in print so you (and he) can hold me to it later on. Our hammock has been sitting out on the lawn for all the world to see.  We generally take the hammock itself inside, and, … Continue reading →

Sydney and I set up and tore down for church yesterday.  All was going well until we were ready to lock the doors and realized there was a wheelchair-bound elderly woman still sitting in the front lobby.  After a bit … Continue reading →

I’ve long liked to read newspapers, though recently my reading has been online rather than on paper. But I’m starting to wonder why I bother reading them. I became increasingly suspicious of their science reporting several years ago. The suspicion … Continue reading →