200 Posts and Counting...

As I approached the 200 posts mark I revised my labels and adjusted other minor details...

photos8.com Thanks Sam!

The labels now include anthropology, astronomy, blogging, compassion, critical thinking, education, ethics, firearms, friends, humor, hunting, law, leadership, medicine, memoir, movies, natural history, outdoors, politics, reading, religion, risk, science, security, service, skepticism, woo.  Added are anthropology and natural history.  Gone are alt med (there being no such thing), bicycling (the single entry now covered by outdoors), evolution (covered better by anthropology, natural history, or science), pseudoscience (there being only good science and bad science) and strange (still addressed by woo).  I've revised the labels assigned to many posts appropriately.  I'm still trying to whittle down the label categories.  Are there other labels you'd apply?  Are they any others you'd remove?

I've also given in to market realties and will link book titles to Amazon.com instead of bn.com.  Amazon.com always appears on the first page under when I Google book titles, but Barnes and Noble rarely does, so switching the online retail source will save me some keystrokes.  Yes, and if I ever monetize The Breakfast Amazon has comp programs that BN doesn't.

I've taken to linking the photos8.com credit for Sam Mugraby's wonderful photographs back to his royalty free photo site http://photos8.com/  Again, if you need stock photos of the highest quality, check out Sam's work. 

Now, if I could only figure out why my readers never leave any comments about my posts...

a subtle knife: reflections on myth, politics, and desire

A very interesting blog from Cape Town, South Africa...

wikimedia commons

I came to this site via a link to Andries Du Toit's marvelous review and analysis of the 2009 science fiction movie District 9.  I sensed there were currents running through that movie that I only just perceived due to my brief exposure to South African politics and sociology as the country prepared to emerge from the apartheid era in the mid-90s.  Du Toit calls out in detail currents, sub-currents, and threads that may not have been apparent to most American viewers of the film.  Thoughtful and provocative.

Imperceptible Speeds, Meeting Human Needs

Time does fly...and we along with it.

from wikimedia commons

We've begun another 365.25 day trip around our favorite star. We can't feel it but the Earth is rotating at 1040 miles per hour. The Earth is zipping along its 600 million mile long orbit of the Sun at 67,000 mph. Our solar system is circling the center of our Milky Way galaxy at 483,000 mph. The Milky Way itself is clipping along through the universe at 1.3 million mph. There's a lot going on up there.

Here on Earth, at velocities we can more easily perceive, it's been another difficult year for many. The challenges may not be over but if we work together - as friends, social networks, families, work teams, congregations, and communities - we can make 2011 a better year for everyone.

Godspeed, one and all.

Another Three and One Half Hour Commute

iTunes U to the rescue...



Six inches of snow here in Minneapolis this afternoon made the driving positively glacial.  Fortunately I had plenty of podcasts to keep me company while I whiled away the hours. 

I've been working my way through Professor Terrence Deacon's very nice undergrad course in anthropology posted on iTunes U by UC Berkeley.  Thanks to the 2x button on my iPhone I listened to three lectures in about two hours.

Then I caught up with the rogues at Skeptic's Guide to the Universe.  They were almost as excited about the status of Voyager 1 as I am.

And I listened to a nice panel discussion hosted by Kylie Sturgess of the Token Skeptic podcast.  This episode was a recording of a panel discussion held at Dragon*Con this past September.  This Skeptrack topic was women, feminism, science, and skepticism.

Now it's time to shovel the driveway.

The Grandmother of all Seasonal Holidays

Winter Solstice occurs Tuesday the 21st at 23:38 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)...

photo from Wikimedia Commons

Winter Solstice is the moment the earth's axial tilt (23 degrees 26 minutes) points the furthest away from the Sun. Observed and celebrated since prehistoric times (as the ancient pagan or modern Wiccan holiday Yule, for example), in the northern hemisphere it marks the shortest day and longest night of the year and the official start of winter (thanks, we might not have noticed otherwise).  The Sun will rise and set as far south as it will for another year. There will be no Sunrise north of the Arctic Circle. These effects are reversed in the southern hemisphere. In recorded history Winter Solstice has been an auspicious holiday for many religions , most notably the Christian holiday Christmas, which has celebrated December 25th as the day of their savior's birth since the 4th century.