Civilized Humor

Taking Up (Politely Issued) Orders
This made me smile, something I needed today, after having been x-rayed and poked and prodded with needles and electric shocks, all in an effort to learn more about just what's going wrong with my hands.

As someone who believes strongly in rationalism, but who is rational less often than she might be, and who is also intent on shoe-horning some sort of belief in the numinous into my ship of rationality, I can take pride in my new religious title:

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sibling Katana of Warm Humanitarianism.*

Get yours.

*Which, I think, is perhaps a little more accurate than the one I was originally issued: Sister Nail Gun of Enlightened Compassion. Enlightenment has never been a failing of mine.

Civilized Humor

Taking Up (Politely Issued) Orders
This made me smile, something I needed today, after having been x-rayed and poked and prodded with needles and electric shocks, all in an effort to learn more about just what's going wrong with my hands.

As someone who believes strongly in rationalism, but who is rational less often than she might be, and who is also intent on shoe-horning some sort of belief in the numinous into my ship of rationality, I can take pride in my new religious title:

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sibling Katana of Warm Humanitarianism.*

Get yours.

*Which, I think, is perhaps a little more accurate than the one I was originally issued: Sister Nail Gun of Enlightened Compassion. Enlightenment has never been a failing of mine.

Dept. of The World is Weirder Than We Imagine

When Rats (and Humans) Dance the Parasite Polka

If you've ever been pregnant, or know someone who ever was pregnant, you're probably familiar with the advice to pregnant women — to stay the hell away from catboxes, in order to avoid toxoplasmosis. That, however, is just one facet of the glittering neurobiology of the parasite which causes the disease. If ever we needed proof that the universe may not only be stranger than we know, but stranger than we can know, this certainly would be a candidate:

"Toxo Modified Humans"

Dept. of The World is Weirder Than We Imagine

When Rats (and Humans) Dance the Parasite Polka

If you've ever been pregnant, or know someone who ever was pregnant, you're probably familiar with the advice to pregnant women — to stay the hell away from catboxes, in order to avoid toxoplasmosis. That, however, is just one facet of the glittering neurobiology of the parasite which causes the disease. If ever we needed proof that the universe may not only be stranger than we know, but stranger than we can know, this certainly would be a candidate:

"Toxo Modified Humans"