Random Thoughts From Our Disordered Minds

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that in the last few weeks, two people have been arrested “disturbing the peace” or words to that effect, during political hearings or press conferences?
Desiree Fairooz, a librarian in Arlington, Virginia, and a Code Pink activist, was present for the confirmation hearings of Jeff Session. When she heard Senator Richard C. Shelby assert that Sessions’s record for “treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented,” she couldn’t hold back a loud laugh. She was arrested, has been charged with “disorderly and disruptive conduct” intended to “impede, disrupt, and disturb the orderly conduct” of congressional proceedings and is supposed to stand trial.
Reporter Dan Heyman kept trying to get an answer to a question from Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price at the West Virginia State Capitol (umm, he’s a reporter – it’s his job to ask questions). Heyman’s question is an excellent one: is domestic violence considered a pre-existing condition under the new health bill? It’s excellent because domestic violence has been linked to a host of serious mental and physical health issues. After asking several times without a response, Heyman was arrested for “willful disruption of governmental processes.” He had to pay a $5,000 bond.
This strikes me as a very disturbing trend. – Bee
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While I can’t speak for the rest of California, I think we may finally be getting out of the drought that has plagued us for the last five years. Last year’s El Nino, despite all the hoopla about its expected severity, only brought us up to normal rainfall in my area. So far this year we’ve had 10 more inches than we got in the whole rainy season last year (our rain season runs from July to June). We’re currently sitting on 41 inches of rain plus 10 inches of snow. That’s a full year’s worth of rain in a bit over four months. Of course, this much rain means the place is solid slop with mud, the creeks are roaring full and so are the waterfalls in the house orchard. While it takes a while to fill up an aquifer, when we made a water run to the big spring a couple of weeks ago, the water looked cloudy. That means that ground water is now getting into the spring, a sign that the ground is saturated down to the level of the aquifer. ETA: As of May 1 we’ve had 70 inches of rain (maybe more, since the wind actually dumped my rain-collecting container a couple of times) and 13 inches of snow. – Bee
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I realize people are susceptible to fads. I remember Twiggy eyelashes, pet rocks and miniskirts (which probably can’t be considered a fad since they’re still around 50 years later). But I will be dipped in manure tea if I understand the craze for naked gardening. I don’t give a darn about the morality of nudity; bare skin is no big deal. But why on earth would you want to expose yourself to insects (horsefly stings hurt like the dickens and mosquito bites itch), sunburn, brambles and similar skin assaults? And I’m not about to go barefoot in rattlesnake country. Nope, this craze is definitely going to pass me by.
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An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the second.– Thomas Jefferson

I’ve been following the media circus surrounding Rachel Dolezal with a mixture of emotions. First, the whole debate about race is nonsense. As far as I’m concerned there’s only one race: the human race. Black, white, purple or green with pink polka dots — makes no difference to me. Of course there are variations among groups, which happen to include eye structure, skin color, height and other genetic differences. Just as some dogs have long, thick coats and blue eyes, others have short coats and brown eyes; they’re still dogs. Horses come in a variety of coat colors and patterns, but I don’t hear anybody talking about the different races of horses. The real issue regarding Rachel Dolezal is that the woman lied. Not once but repeatedly. Never mind what color her skin is or what her genetic background is — she is dishonest. That should be the focus of the discussion. – Bee

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Did you know that plants talk to other plants, birds and insects? Well, perhaps “talk” is a bit of a stretch, but they do communicate. Their conversations are chemically-based. Plants under attack by insects release defense chemicals that alert other plants to mount a defense and entice pest-eating predator insects and birds. Of course, the scientists are now applying the typical reductionist strategies to identify each chemical and determine what it means. Since a single emission can include a blend of 200 or more chemicals, they have their work cut out for them. We humans have inbred and hybridized our food crops so much they have lost the ability to communicate. The standard American corn, for example, can’t talk, but heirloom open-pollinated varieties can chatter away. Seems to me that instead of spending zillions of hours and dollars in the lab, it would make a lot more sense to plant heirlooms and let them handle the conversations naturally. – Bee

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I noticed where some organization is/was going to ban the Star Spangled Banner because it was “too violent”.   Apparently then, the concept of “war” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war) would really be a stunner.  How, exactly, do these people think the world got on for the last few thousand years?  I don’t recall any “peaceful” invasions.  “Bombs bursting in air” could be considered relatively tame if you have any knowledge of history, the horrors of and what war can be.  – Ell

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Seems the brand spanking new Duchess Catherine, Prince William’s bride of less than a month, is taking flack for wearing the same outfit she wore a couple of years ago. Apparently those doing the criticizing are of the opinion that a queen-to-be should wear something new for each public appearance. While I’m sure she could afford to do so, I would call it insensitive at the least in a time when many of the English people are out of work or otherwise suffering because of the economic situation. Conspicuous consumption, whether of fashion or anything else, sends the message that we don’t care about the planet’s resources. I say kudos to Catherine for recycling! — Bee

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I love underdogs, late finishers and come from behind winners. Being a bit of a late bloomer myself, it gives me a thrill to see a 20-1 long shot win the Kentucky Derby, or an unacknowledged employee become a star. Occurrences like these are not only joyful, they’re a reminder to never underestimate the power of guts, try and tenacity. – Bee

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So what’s the real difference between a farm and a ranch? If a farm—according to Wikipedia— is “an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food (produce, grains, or livestock)” and a ranch is “an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock”, it seems to me we have considerable overlap here. But in Britain, even if you only raise grazing livestock, it’s still called a farm. Why did we need to come up with a new term for an old occupation (actually, despite claims put forth by the euphemistically named ladies of the night, probably the oldest of the professions)? Ranches have different names depending on the country: In Brazil it is a fadenza, in Argentina an estancia and in Australia a station. But a farm is a farm the world over. – Bee

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Playing checkers with a four-year old is a religious experience—you’ll spend most of the time praying for patience – Bee

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Henry I. Miller and Gregory Conko, writing for Forbes.com, The Rationalist: “Genetically engineered crops have proved to be superior to organic in numerous ways that benefit humans and the natural environment. Because yields are higher and they require lower inputs, they conserve water and farmland and are more sustainable. They lessen the need for chemical pesticides and make possible more environment-friendly agronomic practices such as no-till farming, which causes less soil erosion and runoff and releases less CO2 to the atmosphere. And genetically engineered grains are less susceptible to infestation by fungi and have lower levels of dangerous fungal toxins than organic grains. Farmers have found them overall to be reliable and cost-effective.”

What have you boys been smoking? All the research I’ve seen on GE crops says exactly the opposite: more water, more fertilizer, lower yields, higher use of chemicals (Doug Gurian-Sherman; http://www.algaeindustrymagazine.com/algae-101-part-20-indias-hard-lessons-from-ge-crops/)–Bee

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I’m certainly no political expert, but it seems a little odd to me that one of the primary demands made by the protesters in Egypt was the suspension of the Constitution. That means the people of Egypt no longer have:  individual freedom;  equality of all citizens; protection of  the private life of citizens; freedom of belief; freedom of practicing religious rights; freedom of expression;  freedom of press and other publications; freedom of peaceful and unarmed private assembly, without the need for prior notice; universal suffrage. While Mubarak had in effect ignored the Constitution for years under long-running emergency law, how is the complete suspension of the Constitution a better thing? The word “anarchy” keeps coming to mind–Bee 10/11/13 ETA I rest my case.

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Germ phobia causes considerable unnecessary work and stress. The human body is designed with a marvelous system for preventing infections or for handling contamination when it does occur. It is absolutely unnecessary to use germicidal wipes, bacteriostatic soaps or many of the other expensive products which prey on our fears. It is, in fact, counterproductive—what we are doing (besides spending a lot of money and exposing ourselves in many case to chemicals which cause more harm than a few germs would) is selecting for bacteria which are resistant. Good old soap and hot water, fresh air and sunshine are natural disinfectants which cost little or nothing. Sterility matters in the operating room, not the bathroom or kitchen.–Bee

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If what science says conflicts with my experience, I go with experience every time–Bee

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Current research indicates that activities which cause pleasure increase certain chemicals called neurotransmitters; the brain interprets this as a way to feel good and wants to repeat the action as frequently as possible. The human brain is apparently hard-wired to choose immediate gratification over long-term gain. This explains much about many human endeavors—drug abuse, eating chocolate and politics come to mind–Bee

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It’s January 15^th and the temperature was in the low twenties last night, but I have violets blooming. And the pussywillows are starting to bud. Just a reminder that while we humans tend to look at the seasons as being tied to dates on a calendar, nature looks at them as a constant slow process, with small changes occurring every day. And maybe that’s the answer to the question of “What can I do?” about things like climate change. Takes a lot of small things—like the pebbles that make a beach or the drops of water that make a lake. One by one, each of us can do some little thing that adds up–Bee

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Sometimes all I can do is shake my head. An applicant for the director position at Iowa State University, Ricardo Salvador, was turned down for the position despite being well qualified in many ways. Indications are that the primary reason he was turned down was his advocacy, in an application interview, for the position that cows had evolved to eat grass. Imagine that—cows eat grass! Now, it’s bad enough that such a statement would potentially disqualify an applicant, but he was applying for the directorship of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. What really makes this such a farce is that the dean of the school of agriculture, Wendy Wintersteen, said she didn’t have an opinion on whether cows were evolved to eat grass because she’s an entomologist—a scientist who studies insects. She added that entomologists couldn’t be expected to know if cows evolved to eat grass. I swear I am not making this up; here’s the full article: http://chronicle.com/article/At-Public-Colleges/66044/. I always understood that the purpose of education was to deliver a student who could think her way out of a paper bag. I’m afraid that the system has failed Ms. Wintersteen and I submit that she in turn, and this so-called school of agriculture, are failing their students. There are some things in this world so basic that even if you lived in a closet for most of your formative years, by the time you became a dean of a school of agriculture, you really should at least have an opinion on whether cows evolved to eat grass–Bee

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