"Reading Breeds Intelligence"

I just read the His Dark Materials trilogy (you know, the books that preceded the Golden Compass movie). I got so many of those dang emails warning me away from the athiest (read pure evil) author and the film that I'd had enough, so I read all three.

If you haven't been heavily warned against the corrupting influence of these books, you're clearly not sufficiently integrated into your religion. The author is, after all, a person who doesn't believe in God. BOYCOTT!!! I highly recommend the reading. First, I think the books were well-written and the story-telling was swift and strong. I like books with a good current to sweep me along, and these had that aplenty. I get where the whole killing of God thing seems sort of heretical, but I also see where anyone with even the most remote sort of intelligence can distinguish fact from fiction. I furthermore have zero tolerence for the notion of censorship when it comes to the written word, and think it a paltry faith indeed that can't withstand a good old-fashioned piece of science-fiction. I encourage you to read them, mostly because they were pretty fun reads, and then I suggest you go to the author's website and read this speech about education. It's long, but so good, and voices exactly what I've been feeling and what I've become invested in working on here. And to that, at least, I say amen.

It's ALIVE!

Rather, they are alive! Thank you, dad, for the unusual gift of what is now a tank full of six freshly hatched triops eggs. Despite my best efforts to help Miles condition the water and heat it with a lamp to get the temperature right, I seriously doubted the little specs that the good people of Triops, Inc. carefully packaged would hatch. See the white-ish specs? Freshly hatched Triops, wriggling happily.



Miles never stopped believing, and his faith has been rewarded.



They grow fast and look disgusting. They just about double in size every day, and they look a little like horseshoe crabs. There are no instructions on the care and maintenance past day ten, so I sort of hope that's the life-span of the Triops. I fear my hope is misplaced, since there is one little foot-note telling me that after one week, I can add tiny bits of shrimp or carrots for rapid growth. (Needless to say, I will not be making any grocery runs for shrimp). In any case, I feel like a good mom for the science experiment, and the kids are happily recording information about the growth of these amazing creatures. Thanks, Dad, for another weird but fabulous Christmas present. It's magic. Creepy fishy magic, but still.

Give Me Some Sugar, Baby

Really. I mean it. Carrie and I are on day 9 of our month of no desserts or sugary things, and no white breads--everything whole grain. I'm fine with the loss of white bread--I mostly eat whole grains anyway, but I ask you: what is life without dessert? I come from the school of thought that suggests that food is secondary, that it always takes a backseat to cookies. I think next month I'll have to reverse the challenge. During the month of February, I'm eating only desserts (and occasionally white breads). Any takers?