Tag: August

Monday – August 24

meisajDaily Life

So I have been wondering what to do with my website.

Sam and I had agreed a while ago that we didn’t want to post a lot of pictures of Marceline online, whether on my website, or social media or whatever. So here and there some Marceline pictures are fine, but regularly, probably not.

So today.

Things to be happy about:

  1. Finished a book for August. Yesterday I finished A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived.

    Basically it is a look at human history through genes. My favorite part of it was when he dove into the definition of species, in that we are Homo Sapiens – Sapien being our species. Species being defined as the largest group of organisms in which two offspring can interbreed.

    For example, a lion and a tiger can breed to produce a liger, but two ligers can’t produce offspring. So ligers are not a species of animal. Two lions can breed and produce lions who can breed with other lions. Thus lions are a species.

    Species are also different than breeds. There are many breeds of household cats, but they all fall under Felis Catus – Felis being the genus and Catus being the species. Along the same lines, Neanderthals can be considered not a separate species, rather a subspecies of homo sapiens. Everyone alive carries some neanderthal DNA (between 1 and 4%), which means neanderthals and ancient homo sapiens interbred, and those offspring are our ancestors. So cool, neanderthals are homo sapiens.

    It’s a lot more complex than that. There is debate on the classification of neanderthals, but under the generally accepted definition of species, they are the subset of homo sapiens.

  2. I’ve been running more over the last five months and only have minor injuries (sore hip that I stretch, knee pain that has largely subsided).

  3. I slept…. ok last night. Marceline woke up uncosolable at 2am last night and ended up sleeping in our bed (I spent 40 minutes trying to get her back to sleep before giving up and bringing her into our bed). But from 10pm until 2 am I slept great! And from 2am until 6:30 I slept ok (Marceline moves and kicks a lot in her sleep). At least woke up feeling a little rested.

Today’s ToDo list –

  • Bath for Marceline
  • Clean cat litter boxes (its been two days and our cats poop a lot)
  • Clean Kitchen and Living Room (this is daily)
  • Clean Bathroom
  • Go to park with Marceline
  • Grocery shopping
  • Run this evening

A politics free summer

meisajDaily Life

Well not summer, but July.

As a progressive, as someone who kind of despises the current political direction of our government, someone who can’t stand the inane, confusing, misleading, factually incorrect and outright lies made by our president on a daily basis, someone who leaves messages for my senators and representatives Congress (which – despite asking for letters and other communication about their votes, thinking on topics I care about, and other issues – I have received none communication back – I’m looking at you Senator Porter – thanks for writing me off as a constituent), and someone who reads a ton of news each day, its been a frustrating couple of months.

So what do I do?  Well July is my month off from work.  I’m also taking a month off from politics.  I’ll still read headlines, and read local news, but I’m taking July off from engaging in political news or discussion.  At least as much as I can.

Think of it as a mental health break.  I’ll spend July reading books, maybe (hopefully) hiring a few teachers – which is ironic since it is my month off of work, fixing things around our house (bathroom sink – fixed!), maybe drawing again, and exercising.  And take a cue from my cats and just relax.

I’ll re-engage in August.

I will say this political climate of the last two years has made me re-think how I get my news.  I’ve gone from only consuming free news (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Politico, etc) to paying for my chief news sources.  From reading websites, to reading actual newspapers and dailies.

I subscribe to the Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Skeptical Inquirer and PBS.  I also listen to NPR and the BBC.  I know the Washington Post definitely has a left leaning slant, but is factually accurate.  The Christian Science Monitor is centrist, and has a global view.  Same with BBC. Skeptical Inquirer and PBS are not necessarily news (at least in how I consume them), but rather for science discussions and documentaries.

Surprisingly not jumping to immediate reactions, and reading articles written at a later time, with thought, is way easier to digest than ’emerging stories’.   These newspaper sources, non-biased sources like the BBC, and dailies like the Christian Science Monitor, are also way more factually accurate than quick reporting stations and sites like CNN, Fox, and MSNBC.

Also, as an interesting end-note, my hometown newspaper, The Post Star, is apparently one of the least biased newspapers in the country.  Yeah… That’s an odd statement.