Ab ovo usque ad mala

Lately I have been doing a lot of research into the polygynous (polygamous) lifestyle. Some of you might recall my post about polyandry a while ago. Part of my research included spending some time on a pro-polygamy website. Even though "polygamy" means "multiple spouses," the site purports only to be pro-polygyny (multiple wives), which in itself is part of the hypocrisy. Anyway, that's another issue. The following is a response to a comment someone had made about polyandry being a nonissue because, as he put it, "In a general society there are simply more women." I did a bit of googling and number crunching and here's what I came up with. Note the slight difference in demographics, age 65 for world stats vs. age 54 for US stats: It is not true that there are "simply more women" in "a general society." The male-to-female ratio for the entire world population is 1.01 males/female, with 1.06 at birth, still 1.06 for thos...

I'm in the news today: "In downtown Los Angeles , the Bank of America office near Pershing Square shut their doors before the official closing time to avoid the real possibility of having protesters come in to disrupt business there. Picketers chanted, “Bank of America, shame on you, save the plant for Chicago workers;” “Bail out the people, not the banks;” and “Banks got bailed out, they got sold out, justice, justice for UE workers.” Protesters included activists from Bayan-USA, SEIU Local 721, Labor-Community Coalition and the International Action Center." Here 's the whole article. Okay, so I'm not mentioned by name. But I was there. My American Lit prof handed me the email yesterday morning in class because I had mentioned in Monday's class that contrary to what he said, there were in fact some people protesting the plight of the worker and I cited the sit-in at Chicago at Republic Windows and Doors. So I decided that this was a chance to make a statement...

Michael Vick was in the news again today. His name's become synonymous with dogfighting. One very astute blogger put it into perspective. He mentioned that in 1998 Rams DL Leonard Little got 90 days jail time for killing Susan Gutweiler while driving drunk. Killing person: 90 days Killing dogs: 23 months Anything wrong here? P.S. Little publicly expressed regret but got pulled over for the same thing in 2004. They tried to prosecute him as a repeat offender (felony), but his lawyers got him off and all he was convicted of was speeding. Shit, people. This is the kind of stuff I want to change when I'm a judge.

I would appreciate any feedback you all may have :) I have wanted to be a lawyer for a very long time. I have experienced some things in my life so far. I draw on these experiences with each new endeavor. I think about these advantages as get ready to start law school. I am a member of the United States Army National Guard. I took 20 weeks of mentally and physically rigorous initial training, which I completed with highest compliments from peers and supervisors alike. One Drill Sergeant commented as I left the training facility, that it is a shame that such an excellent soldier is National Guard and not full-time Regular Army. I beat out 21 males and 6 females for the top spot in the 10-week vehicle maintenance course I took. I spent the whole of 2004 in Iraq with a transportation company of 120 soldiers; only 14 were female. I know how to thrive in a male-dominated environment. My job in Iraq was to liaise with and supervise groups of Iraqi w...

"You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeable to His mind. And if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right, and we are lost. How do you know this to be true? We understand that your religion is written in a book. If it was intended for us as well as for you, why has not the Great Spirit given it to us, and not only to us, but why did He not give to our forefathers knowledge of that book, with the means of understanding it rightly? We only know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white man? "Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agree, as you can all read the book? "Brother, we do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers ...

So I'm reading the news and I see something about kidney stones in Chinese babies. It's been traced back to melamine-tainted baby formula. Hold on. Melamine?!? I have mixing bowls made of melamine. Like, hard plastic stuff. Okay, (universally recognized authoritative source) Wikipedia says that there's a difference between melamine and melamine resin (made with melamine and formaldehyde...much safer!). It also says melamine is useful as a fire retardant and pesticide. Goody. The most interesting part about this was here , in a post by David Goldstein. I found this when I googled "why would manufacturers put melamine." So apparently the melamine inexpensively beefs up the "protein analysis" in food products (including pet food, which was the source of the recall last year). But the weirdest thing is where they get this stuff: it's a byproduct of burnt coal. So...David Goldstein says a lot about this, including that food with melamine in it has been f...

I was reading the LA Times today and there is a story that I heard about yesterday on NPR about a bill that’s in the senate that establishes that HMOs cannot discriminate against people based on their genetic makeup, specifically genes that are known to predispose them to certain diseases like breast cancer and Alzheimer’s. Of course, this immediately reminded me of the movie Gattaca with Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Jude Law. It also reminded me of another phenomenon that we studied in my race & ethnicity course this semester, called “redlining.” It’s a practice whereby racial minorities are denied access to housing opportunities in certain neighborhoods because their presence there could drive values down. It’s interesting because the practice doesn’t necessarily reflect prejudice on the part of the agents themselves, only a recognition of the fact that in neighborhoods where black residents live, white residents can have the tendency to move away, thus creating a risk...

What's the social difference between polygamy & polyandry (multiple husbands)? I know, there have been all sorts of biological explanations against monogamy in men, but I haven't heard much for the converse. Is this debate fueled by a patriarchal bent? I just realized how stupid that last question sounds. Of course it is. No doubt there is a double standard for men & women in terms of sexuality and society...just look at Carmen Kontur-Gronquist . Austin & I were talking about this yesterday. I asked him, "Is it realistic to expect you to be monogamous for the rest of your life?" and we both agreed, no. Then I asked him, "Is it reasonable to ask you to be monogamous for the rest of your life?" and we said, probably. It's a social question more than anything. Societal norms say a lot of things. To me, they say that it's totally normal to expect to have a monogamous man-woman relationship for the rest of my life, to give birth to biological...

David Paterson, the first black governor of New York state, was sworn in this morning and made a few interesting comments as he was being welcomed into office: "This transition today is an historic message to the world: That we live by the same values that we profess, and we are a government of laws, not individuals." Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't our government supposed to be "of the people, by the people, for the people"? There's something wrong with the way Paterson said what he said...and I'm still not quite sure why he said it. I mean, I know he was trying to provide a contrast between the actions and words of Eliot Spitzer, and to communicate that no one is above the law...but he went too far. On the one hand I see his call to a sort of community spirit idea. Which is fine. On the other hand I see a tendency to spew rhetoric without actually thinking about its meaning. Any rational citizen would assert that government is not composed of la...

I've been trying to focus on the positive instead of the negative, to seek out the ways in which the imperfection of the world is not keeping it from getting better. To this end, I wanted to share this:

I just figured out why my life is so difficult. 3 Huge Projects. 1. Earning a bachelor's degree. 2. Being engaged. 3. Forming a new household. I can't just focus on one like normal people. I'm doing all three at once. Oy.

Just some reflections on balancing forces... I was reading an article in Time some time ago about Mother Teresa and some of the things she had written in personal letters to her confessor. The story was, even though she's being considered for sainthood and people thought she was very pious and stuff, the letters contain accounts of a long, constant feeling of being forsaken by God, of not feeling the presence of God for decades on end. This began a discussion within the article about the things that great people do--or maybe the great things people do. It is speculated that there are certain people for whom great success is too much to handle without some great debilitation. A "thorn in the flesh," if you will. These types of people can only achieve their great success if they also feel like they have some great failing. Perhaps it's an attempt to be normal. Geniuses are crazy, presidents philander... The article discussed this concept in relation to how Mother Teresa...