Hi (virtual) friends, I’m sorry for my recent absence, but not TOO sorry — I’ve been in sunny California, and it is marvelous. Mountains, oceans, cool breezes, lots of good food… it’s been wonderfully vacation-y. And yet, I am still making time to share this gorgeous poem with you. It is by W.S. Merwin, who was just named the new U.S. Poet Laureate, a job the Library of Congress describes as “the nation’s official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans.” Merwin currently lives atop a dormant volcano in Maui; it’s unclear whether he will relocate...
Continue reading...July 2010
Doctor treats pregnant women with experimental drug to prevent lesbians (what)
Dan Savage quoting from a piece by Alice Dreger, Ellen K. Feder, Anne Tamar-Mattis (emphasis his): The majority of researchers and clinicians interested in the use of prenatal “dex” focus on preventing development of ambiguous genitalia in girls with CAH. CAH results in an excess of androgens prenatally, and this can lead to a “masculinizing” of a female fetus’s genitals. One group of researchers, however, seems to be suggesting that prenatal dex also might prevent affected girls from turning out to be homosexual or bisexual. Pediatric endocrinologist Maria New, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Florida...
Continue reading...Baby not smiling because she likes you
Slate asks “Why Do Babies Smile?” But research from the last couple of decades shows there’s more to it. Smiling typically develops around six to eight weeks, a time when a baby spends her days gazing at faces, and when her vision widens to take in the whole face, not just the eyes. It’s unclear if there’s any emotion embedded in these very early smiles or what they mean, if anything, to the infant. Daniel Messinger, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami, suspects that these first smiles teach infants the positive associations attached to...
Continue reading...Finally, doing nothing might actually be a good idea
As has probably been made far more obvious lately, it’s far easier for the Senate to do nothing than anything. They haven’t even been able to pass an unemployment benefits extension for the past three weeks, depriving long-time victims of the shitty economy of at least a modicum of support. Ezra Klein points out that with President Bush’s hallmark tax cuts set to expire this year, it might be better, at least in the long-term, for the Senate to do nothing and let them expire: For the deficit hawks in Congress, the next few months are going...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today’s is from Gail “The Colander” Collins, who in her column...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Thursday, 1 July 2010
Good morning, folks. The new Twilight movie broke some records for 12:01am shows. Now, your morning constitutional: President Obama will push for comprehensive immigration reform today during a speech at American University in D.C. German Chancellor Angela Merkel fights for survival after struggling to get her preferred presidential candidate, Christian Wulff, elected. Turkish aid from a flotilla that attempted to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza but was attacked by Israel starts flowing into Gaza. Turkey is also holding its first high-level meeting with Israel since the flotilla incident. For the third time, Republicans successfully filibustered a bill...
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