Too Busy to Write

I worked until midnight last night. Got about 5 hours of sleep, had to hustle down to the college for a race. Ran a half marathon. Went home. Worked until midnight, again.

So I guess what I'm saying is: no, I didn't write anything.

Good day though.

Peaceful Protest

I'm starting to think that it would be a great honour to appear on a watch list. There appear to now be an astonishing array of activities that can get one designated an Enemy of the State. Environmental activism. Anti-racism. Peaceful protests of all kind... this is the new terrorism, apparently.

Stabbing airport security? Somehow not terrorism.

Some guy crashes a plane, killing all aboard? Somehow not terrorism.

They keep using that word, I do not think it means what they think it means.

If I ever wind up on a watch list I assume it will be for recycling cans or something.

The Best Kind of Sick

I haven't written a blog post, because I had too much free time... I suppose that requires some explanation.

I'm sick! Terribly sick. Dying, even. Well, coughing.

I have a cold.

But don't worry, I feel great. I'm just dripping a little. A lot, maybe. It's possible I may have filled six garbage bags with used kleenex in the last three days.

In any case, I've been contagious, so I've been off work. Doing better today but now with some laryngitis.

Energy though, I've got energy to spare. That's the thing about time off from a physical job, you need to keep moving.

Friday and Saturday I hiked to the cliffs in Wrinkly Face Provincial Park...

Volcanic Ash. Either from Mount Mazama's big blast or one of Mount Saint Helens' many eruptions. Not the one you may remember.

Basalt!

BASALT!

COLUMNAR BASALT!

On the 22nd I hiked instead to the top of those cliffs, and got these shots...

Very noisy shooting range on the lower right here. But they couldn't hit an elephant at this dist

Just to see the degree of elevation change. I suppose I should have a fisheye lens for this.

This is the kind of high-quality trail that helps keep the tourists out right now.

And today, I went to a different section of the same highlands, and got some pictures of the same general direction. This spot is called The Grand View.

Grand enough, I suppose.

And these got me here.

And this smallish glacier is what I spent three hours hiking on.

So as you can see, I have a perfectly legitimate excuse for not writing any angry political rants. How could I be angry.

Drippy and coughing but energetic is the best kind of sick. Perfect for a staycation.

Book Review: Shocked (David Casarett)

I just read this book... no I haven't given up on Fry's book. I listened to this as an audiobook during a couple hikes this weekend.

This book examines the history of resuscitation. Mostly starting with the 18th century Holland. It covers (briefly, and not in medical detail) the current state of the art. And much of it is devoted to predicting where new advances will take us next.

There is much talk of CPR, of course, the workhorse of resuscitation. Advanced cardiac life support is discussed, not in the most flattering terms.

The speculative section mostly revolves around the most promising addition to modern ACLS, hypothermia. A few human cases to show where the science is at right now... lots of animal examples to show where it might be going.

Chapter 5 begins with these lines:

"It's a chilly late afternoon in March, and you're walking alone through a dark northern forest. The past few days have been warm and sunny, but there are still pockets of dirty snow under the tree trunks and around boulders. Everywhere you look there's an unbroken carpet of last fall's leaves covering the half-frozen mud beneath. You notice that with every step it's an effort to pull your boots free. You're getting tired. Night is coming on quickly, and the temperature has dropped 20 degrees in the past hour. The wind is working its way inexorably through your jacket, and you keep thinking that the road you're looking for should have appeared a long time ago. There's probably only an hour of daylight left, and you're trying to avoid the obvious conclusion: You're lost.

Then you hear a noise..."

I listened to that as I was hiking alone, in melting snow, in a place of never been before, searching for a road that I could never quite reach... just a little eerie.

The book also told the story of the development of Annie dolls, those CPR mannequins everyone trains with. The face is based on a death-mask of a woman who committed suicide by drowning in the 19th century. I'd heard the story before... it never quite sunk in at the time that this sculpture of her face was taken without her consent, used without her knowledge, reproduced the world over and kissed by hundreds of millions of people... I suspect she'd find it a little creepy.

Anyway, great book. Read it. Then take a CPR class. Then write your living will. Then go read Frankenstein.

Chapters Link
Audiobook Link

In Which LUEE Says All The Things I Would Have Said, Had I Got Around To It

Over the past couple days I listened to the latest episode of Life, the Universe, and Everything Else (lueepodcast.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/episode-94-free-will/). They were discussing Free Will. As has become typical over the past dozen episodes, they said all the things I would have said and came to roughly the same conclusions I did.

That worries me a little bit. I get suspicious when I like something too much. Makes me think it’s just playing to my biases. Like when a study comes out saying that Conservatives are responsible for everything bad in the world, or Canadians are the world’s greatest lovers, that sort of thing. But in this case it seems to hold up to scrutiny.

Because I took two days to finish I have extensive notes from yesterday that I won’t be able to use… at various points in the second half they mentioned just about everything I wanted to bring up. Rehabilitative versus Punitive versus Preventive justice, for example. Minority Report. Not Criminally Responsible verdicts and the backlash against Vince Li. Phineas Gage and the evidence for the brain being wholly responsible for the mind.

Much of the discussion involved Daniel Dennett’s theories on Compatibilism, attempting to reconcile Free Will with a deterministic or probabilistic universe, as discussed in his book Freedom Evolves. I can’t really comment on that very much, as I last read Dennett many years ago, and it wasn’t this book. I guess I should change that as soon as I find some free time.

They also mentioned Sam Harris’s “Free Will”. Which I can’t really comment on, as I last read Harris many years ago, and it wasn’t this book. I guess I should change that too, as soon as I find some free time. But I agree with Gem Newman on when and how I lost my respect for Harris. Darn it, too much agreement making me suspicious again.

There is one angle I thought of that they didn’t really tackle, though. My thoughts are that although free will is an illusion, it can sometimes be a useful illusion. It can be motivating to think of yourself as responsible for your own destiny. Treating criminal acts as freely chosen when choosing punishments can help dissuade others… though not nearly to the extent that some law-and-order conservatives seem to believe.

Free Will seems to me to be one of those things which doesn’t really exist but is still worth believing in.

“All right,” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need… fantasies to make life bearable.”
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They’re not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME…SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what’s the point—"
MY POINT EXACTLY.”—  Terry Pratchett.

I last read Pratchett many years ago, and it wasn’t this book. I guess I should change that. Like, tomorrow. If I find some free time.

Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

I’m not normally one to celebrate the normal holidays. And I’m not normally one to celebrate this holiday in particular. But I’ve never had much quarrel with it… aside from the usual complaints of public drunkenness and grotesque stereotypes, of course.

This year I’m seeing a lot of pushback against Saint Patrick’s day on progressive twitter. Progressive Twitter: Always there to point out the flaws in something. I knew, somewhere back in my head, that Saint Patrick was best known for bringing Christianity to Ireland and for driving the snakes out. Somehow I had never put this together and realized this holiday is celebrating the subjugation of the Irish people and the extirpation of their local species. Yikes.

Today I listen to Irish metal. And I wore green while I ran. And I’ll celebrate in my usual way… picking up drunk folks from the street and trying not to get covered in green vomit. But I think we should all keep in mind the more important truths, that everything you love is terrible and everyone in the past was terrible and nearly everyone nowadays is still terrible.

Get ready for the equinox in a few days, people. Astronomical holidays are the best holidays.

Niqabs, Equality, and Necessary Infringements

There’s an ongoing controversy on the use of a Niqab while taking the citizenship oath. Zunera Ishaq, Pakistani national and Canadian resident, is attempting to gain Canadian citizenship but wants to wear a Niqab while taking the oath. Current rules prohibit any sort of face concealment, and the federal government refuses to make an exception. Zunera has won in court, but the feds are appealing.

I’m generally against religious exceptions. As far as I’m concerned the government has no business deciding what is or isn’t a religion, and especially what is or isn’t a requirement of someone’s religion. But I’m glad Zunera won her case and hope she continues to win. Not because of the religious exception, but because of the arbitrariness.

There’s a concept in jurisprudence that government can only infringe upon freedom of religion if it has a compelling reason to do so. If failure to infringe would endanger people’s lives, that sort of thing. Once that needed is established the measures taken must be as non-restrictive as possible to ensure safety. In Canada, this is established by the Oakes test, from the R v Oakes case in the Supreme Court. This is inevitably cited by the government when it is sued for infringing people’s rights.

Most notable, from what I can remember, in the case of Sikh boys being allowed to carry Kirpans (ceremonial knives) in public schools. Whoa there, knives in schools? That’s dangerous! Well, as it turns out, it wasn’t really considered all that dangerous, because they eventually carved out an exception to preserve religious freedom.

In that case, as in this one, the ruling found that a regulation was unnecessary and burdensome, and so it could be overturned on religious grounds. But in both cases the ruling only applies to people of that religion! This strikes me as terribly biased. It puts the government in a position to decide the legitimacy of religious beliefs. It presents religions with a moral hazard, the opportunity to craft their sacred tenets in such a way as to gain them some advantage.

The solution seems to be obvious. If a regulation is not necessary, overturn it for everyone. Let people wear Niqabs in citizenship ceremonies. Why not? Let them wear veils, as well… or scarves, or hats, or giant foam “We’re #1” fingers. Or let them skip the pointless ceremony altogether. If Sikh boys can carry a kirpan, let Sikh girls carry kirpans as well, and let all the other students carry knives of their choosing.

In some cases this will become a problem when everyone does it. Like with national parks… if one person drives through that field it’s fine, if all 50,000 people at the park do it the field will be destroyed. In those cases don’t let anyone have that privilege. But in more cases, as with the citizenship ceremony, it might be fine to just do away with the rule altogether.

Niqab controversy: Judge struck down ban without referring to charter http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/niqab-controversy-judge-struck-down-ban-without-referring-to-charter-1.2994954?cmp=rss

Baloney Meter: Is niqab ban needed to prove citizenship applicant’s ID? http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/baloney-meter-is-niqab-ban-needed-to-prove-citizenship-applicant-s-id-1.2994562

Niqab-citizenship ceremony ruling will be appealed, PM says http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/niqab-citizenship-ceremony-ruling-will-be-appealed-pm-says-1.2955418

R v Oakes http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/117/index.do

Kirpan Case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multani_v_Commission_scolaire_Marguerite%E2%80%91Bourgeoys

Attempted Reading

I’ve been reading a book lately… no, that’s not noteworthy in and of itself. I’ve read a staggering number of books in the last few months.

No, what I mean is that I’ve been reading a paper book lately. Like, a physical object, occupying a particular set of coordinates in space and time, confined to but one location and doomed to inevitable decay and dissolution.

And it’s a library book. Yikes.

I’m finding it quite difficult to get through, as the opportunities are so limited. It’s not an audiobook, so I can’t listen to it as I drive or hike… it’s not an ebook, so I can’t just pull it out of a pocket whenever I’m waiting in line… it’s fragile enough that I can’t really do a good job of reading it during downtime at work.

Anyway, the book itself. It’s called “The Human Potential for Peace”, by Douglas P. Fry. Anthropology. Very interesting stuff, especially in contrast to Steven Pinker’s “The Better Angels of Our Nature”. Which, spoiler alert, I didn’t much like but do generally agree with.

The two books don’t address each other directly. Fry’s book is five years older, and if I get the chance I’d like to read a book of his written after Pinker’s book, since that was popular enough to deserve a proper scholarly takedown.

So far, though, I think the main conflict between the books is best illustrated by a thought experiment: Imagine a completely isolated society… no contact with the outside world whatsoever. A stable population, neither growing nor shrinking. In this society every child as they come of age picks out the sickest, feeblest member, and murders them.

By Fry’s measurement, at least as I’ve understood it so far, this would be considered a peaceful society. No war, right? By Pinker’s measurement, at least as well as I can remember it, this would be a society in which everyone is a murderer and everyone dies of murder. 100% fatality rate.

Pinker’s approach has the basic advantage of being comparatively easy to determine from archaeological and anthropological evidence. But aside from the simplicity of the approach, it has some other usefulness. It could be helpful, for example, in figuring out which society it would be best to live among, or to emulate.

What it lacks is the ability to isolate War as a phenomenon unique from other forms of violence. And in this it becomes much more difficult to figure out the best approach to reducing war.

But I suspect reducing murders could be kind of nice, as an intermediate goal.

False Negatives and Negative Comments

I spotted this thread on facebook today… https://www.facebook.com/sincitymedic/posts/925704744131170

“My county has six volunteer/paid on call rescue squads. Only one or two are staffed @ the ALS level. When 911 EMD sends a BLS rig to a chest pain or difficulty breathing call (or any ALS call) in their own district, the closest ALS truck from another district is automatically dispatched as well. When the BLS crew arrives on scene, it is able to cancel the ALS rig prior to its arrival, if the EMTs decide Paramedics are not needed. Should this be allowed? I'm interested in learning if this is common practice elsewhere.”

Here’s what I posted in reply:

“To break this down... BLS cancelling ALS will result in a small but non-zero number of false negatives. BLS not allowed to cancel ALS will result in a very large number of false positives. False negatives have an obvious cost, but false positives can have a cost too, in the more serious calls that the ALS unit will be delayed from reaching.

If you are in an EMS system that is blessed with an overabundance of ambulances and never has any delays getting them to a patient, than the cost of false positives can be ignored. But I suspect nobody posting here has ever seen such a system, let alone worked in it.”

I think it’s mostly true. Probably doesn’t go far enough, but I wanted to stick with what couldn’t be contradicted. Unfortunately I think it will be lost and ignored… you see, this thread has developed a bad comment problem.

“Don’t read the comments” is usually good advice. In the case of a question post the comments are the only reason you’re there… but here they get bogged down quick. People stake out their positions early and refuse to change… people ignore evidence presented to them… people advance their claims without evidence.

It’s the same basic problem discussed in this podcast here: https://lueepodcast.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/episode-93-skeptics-and-social-media/

and commented upon by me here: https://www.facebook.com/LUEEPodcast/posts/769300263123311

This seems to be a common problem on the internet. Really, though, it’s a problem everywhere. I think it just flourishes a lot more when people aren’t forced by circumstances to maintain the thin veneer of civilization. Either by needing to work together or else just by being in public view and wanting to seem civil.

Some people, of course, never seem to realize that the cameras are on. But that’s another problem.

Daily Devotions

I went out running tonight, around 10PM. A few kilometres down the road I spotted a church sign… no, this blog post won’t be about religion.

The sign said “Daily devotions are better than yearly resolutions.” Now I suspect It had some sort of religious meaning, but it struck a chord with me anyway… you see, I wasn't out for a late run just for the fun of it, or because I really wanted to lose sleep… I went because I run every day. And I run every day because that’s the only way I’ll run at all.

I tend to get a little fixated on things, you see, and all else gets left by the wayside. There are some things I do every day, and some things I do once or twice a month, and not a lot in between. Once something makes it onto the first list I can be assured of it becoming nearly a compulsion.

It’s a long and varied list. Running and calisthenics, yes. But also a bunch of cleaning tasks, and some skills development for work, and several news sources that I devotedly check once a day.

I've still made New Year’s resolutions, contrary to what the sign advised. Some of them I've accomplished and some have fallen to the wayside. The ones that are going well? They’re the ones that I've managed to break down into a simple daily routine.

I suppose this is pretty weird. But I've been doing this for over a year now, and it’s been the most productive year of my life. Time will tell how long I can keep going.

Product review - Travel mug, 16 oz, screw-top lid

So, this happened. It was too funny not to share, so I spent today's blogging time trying to make it work.

Some time ago I bought this mug you see
And many times it’s held coffee or tea
It holds the right amount to slake my thirst
When e’er I need a mug I choose this first.

I love the squid design upon the side
But pretty though it was, it's set aside.
For in my hour of need I was betrayed
This travel mug, I fear, was poorly made.

The day was cold, the hour was growing late,
But in the hospital I had to wait.
Two maidens fair, new students, stood within
And helped us tend the worst out of the din.

I showed my nimble hands and clever wit
Well, passably, at least a little bit.
When things slowed down they came to talk to me
But it was late, I needed some coffee.

So while we talked I took a lengthy sip
But not all of the coffee reached my lip
The o-ring in the lid had somehow dried
The coffee leaked and landed on my hide.

I didn’t realize that it spilled, not yet,
Although I guess my chin was getting wet.
But though the drink was hot it didn’t hurt
It dribbled down my neck and on my shirt.

The ladies gestured both towards my face
But still I did not realize my disgrace
Then, giggling, they told me what transpired
And quick to the restroom I retired.

I’ve kept this mug, but only in my home
I leave it when beyond my walls I roam
I have a different mug for when I’m out
For, lacking working lid, I’ll always doubt.

Spring Forward

Well it’s Sunday night, and I really don’t feel much like writing. That I’m attempting to do so is more by compulsion than anything else… but I don’t have a particular topic I want to write about. That’s probably not a great place to start. Anytime I’ve written something I’m actually proud of it was because the essay inside and struggling to get out.

I suppose the easy way out would be to make a link roundup, or perhaps a photo post.

Okanagan High Rim Trail, junction with nameless logging road, looking south.

Spring has sprung here in the Okanagan and it’s a struggle sometimes to stay inside with my computer. That’s why I’m writing at 23:35 rather than at a more sensible hour. This little picture here was taken on a 2 hour hike as I attempted to reach a good viewpoint… just a little too much deadfall to make it in a reasonable time frame.

The spring arrives after a short, mild winter, and it’s an ominous sign. There’s virtually no snowpack. Even at the elevation of the picture, about 1300 metres, only a foot of snow remains in the deepest places and at least two thirds of the ground is entirely bare. The coming summer will be long and hot, fires will rage unchecked in the wild and only through heroic effort will they be kept away from the settlements.

This may turn out to be the hottest year ever recorded. The west coast of North America reflects the global trend in this. Sadly, the only people in a position to slow or mitigate climate change spend all their time on the East coast, which is just about the only place on earth to be unseasonably cold.

What a cruel trick.

Socially Liberal but Economically Conservative

Hmm... I had a post all planned out and I guess it took me too long to write it, because it looks like someone else got there first.

Allie T Jones, who I will have to add to my RSS feeds, recently wrote about American Atheists and CPAC: Like a Horse and Carriage.

That'll teach me to procrastinate. Hopefully I can come up with some insightful commentary to go beyond this, but for now...

Economic inequality cannot be separated from social injustice and discrimination. In the real world, the here and now that we all live in, economic inequality falls first and hardest on people who are socially maligned. They are the first victims of any downturn and the last victors in any upswing.

In the hypothetical world where Libertarians construct their economic models, this might not be the case. Not at first. But there's an interesting thing about economic inequality, it tends to perpetuate itself. As long as there is some mechanism for inheritance, economic inequality will persist and worsen.

Even if all people were laid equal and all wealth spread evenly, conservative economics will result in concentration of wealth. If this happened randomly, then the new wealthy classes might look very different from those we have today. But wealthy classes would develop, and would protect their own interests, and would bequeath unearned wealth to the next generation.

It is only progressive economics that holds back this inevitable concentration. Progressive taxation. Spending that tax on public goods: roads, schools, hospitals, all manner of things that the wealthy could perhaps buy for themselves but the rest would simply have to live without.

Where this model in undermined, where taxation falls only upon the poor, where infrastructure is neglected, this is where you find the social injustice that American Atheist is so willing to denounce.

We Were Children - More Follow-up

I don’t have a political topic to pontificate on today, because I didn't have much time to read the internet, and how else am I supposed to form thoughts? Instead I’d like to just throw out some sources for what I addressed yesterday. I’d kind of like this to be the sort of blog that links to sources, particularly since I try to make it clear that I really don’t have any expertise in these topics.

We Were Children

Makayla Sault

An aboriginal girl dies of leukemia: Parental “rights” versus the right of a child to medical care

An Ontario court dooms a First Nations girl with cancer

Defending Sick Children

I have to say, off the alt-med topic but back to last night’s screening, that possibly the most awkward moment was when we were thanked for showing up. “You, our greatest allies”. Yikes. This was the bare minimum, none of us present even actually DID anything.

At least it was us offering them cookies, rather than the reverse. That would just be too weird.

We Were Children

I went to a film screening tonight after work. A documentary, “We Were Children”, on the experiences of two First Nations children in the Canadian residential school system. Harrowing. I hope to assemble some more coherent thoughts about it before too long, but for now…

In the scientific-medicine circles I frequent I hear a lot about Makayla Sault and JJ, two First Nations children in Ontario with cancer. Both have refused chemotherapy, opting instead for an unlicensed alt-men quack in Florida who gives vitamin injections or something. Somehow the courts have allowed this.

It’s good to have a reminder of why Ontario courts are so skittish about taking First Nations children from their parents. Not skittish enough, probably. While the death rate for untreated leukemia is pretty horrific, so was the death rate in residential schools. And the foster care system nowadays is better, but not enough better. Certainly not as good as it is for white children.

Slippery slope fallacy, perhaps. But there is a fine line between a slippery slope and a legal precedent. The judges in question essentially decided to sacrifice Makayla and JJ’s lives, but it’s possible that choosing otherwise might have resulted in many other children dying.

All things considered I'm glad I wasn't the one making that call.

Freedom From Want

I've been thinking a lot lately about how people make good choices. Not how they collect information, how they evaluate that information, and such… that goes into how people know which choices are good and which are bad, which is a somewhat different question. But how they manage to make the good choices once they have that information in hand.

We've all made bad choices knowing full well what the good choice would be. I've done that more than most. For example, immediately after writing “more than most” I stopped writing and started reading comic strips. Not the best call, I think.

Much of my thinking about this subject has revolved around how to arrange circumstances so that I would be more likely to make good choices. Lifehacking, if you will. Much of it is stuff that everybody knows: avoiding impulse purchasing by waiting a couple days to see if it still feels as important, not going grocery shopping while hungry, any number of tricks to avoid driving while hurried or angry or needing to pee.

People make better decisions when they limit distractions, both internal and external. In some ways this starts to resemble mysticism. Absence of desire, freeing your mind from suffering, trying to avoid letting your frail mortal body affect your mind.

This implies that in many ways making good choices is a result of privilege. Not everybody has the option of avoiding excessive tiredness, or hunger.

This leads inevitably to the topic of free will, determinism, moral responsibility… Yikes. I think this is beyond my pay grade. Some other day, perhaps. It’s late.

Reintroduction

I feel like I've been neglecting this blog lately... my posting frequency has slipped a bit.

OK, well, it's now been more years idle (6) than total posts (4). That's probably not a good sign.

What can I say? Late 2008 was not a particularly good time to start a blog. I went back to school in December 2008, straight into a job after finishing that, moved 6 times since then... I got distracted.

So I'm thinking about starting a blog again. I still have lots to say. Twitter is far too limiting in scope. Facebook is the domain of supervisors, distant family, and old friends I haven't seen since Grade 5. Are blogs still a thing? I don't know. I still read bunches of them, but I'm hardly plugged into current trends here.

Two people have told me recently that I should be blogging… maybe they just meant so I wouldn’t ramble on so much in person, I don’t know. In any case, I want to write again, and this seems like the way to do it. I expect it will have very little resemblance to the old blog, still visible at the bottom. Not nearly so much political history, for one thing. I'm just back here because I still like the name. A terrible bit of wordplay based on an obscure hit of parliamentary procedure? I'm in.

I think I'll try to be a little more clear of my limitations this time. To be honest, I'm not an expert at anything. At all. I'm fact, there are very few areas in which I can be considered halfway competent, and I don't expect to talk about those very much. This blog will hopefully be a little less of me trying to professorize to you and a little more of you just catching a glimpse of my awkward stumbling steps towards being slightly less misinformed.

Bear with me.

...

Aw, nuts. Now I want to call this blog Bear With Me. Is that already taken?