Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I’m sitting here, looking over some lists…. lists of things to do, of things to read, things to learn, places to go, events to make an appearance at….


On the one hand, I would be lost without my lists of lists. On the other I feel as though I’ve strangled all of the spontaneity from my life.


And then I wonder if it’s all really necessary (and a soft voice in my head emphatically says “YES!”).

So today’s project involves notifying press of the Genetics Conference taking place this weekend. A public conversation about behavioral genetics and society. Behavioral genetics – what’s that, you may ask?


It seeks to understand both the genetic and environmental contributions to individual variations in human behavior. Do you procrastinate because your father procrastinates and his father procrastinated and his father before him? Is there a gene you can switch off to insure your punctuality in the future? Do you have free will or was it all preprogrammed? Are behaviors pre-programmed?


[and here we go to debate over nurture vs. nature]

On the metro into work today, I read this interesting article in Scientific American on synesthesia. It wasn’t until I was midway into the piece that I realized:


1. I often blended two or more of my senses


2. That this was not a normal thing

The World Health Organization said the situation in Baghdad continued to cause major concern. The Central Public Health Laboratory had been looted and incubators containing polio virus cultures had been stolen, spokesperson Melanie Zipperer said. Hospitals reported to be functioning to some extent included the Medical City complex, Yarmouk, Kadhimiya and No’man. WHO staff would continue to visit major hospitals in order to prioritize and rapidly meet the most urgent needs, she added.

“We have made contact with WHO staff in Baghdad and the information they have provided is bleak,” Ms. Zipperer said. The WHO Baghdad office had been very badly looted and burnt, all official vehicles had been stolen and much valuable equipment and information destroyed.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, reported an outbreak of blackwater fever in southern Iraq. The waterborne disease, also know as laeshmaniasis, leads to severe debility and eventually death if not treated within four to six weeks. Spokesman Geoffrey Keele stressed the urgency of getting medicines into the affected area.

He said the Iraqi Refugee Aid Council had reported 100 cases in Amarah, 70 in Nasiriya, and an unspecified number in Az Zubair. Children under five were the most vulnerable to contracting the disease, he added.

Last month, the Congressional Budget Office said Bush’s tax proposal would generate deficits totaling $1.82 trillion over the coming decade. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has also warned that higher government borrowing crowds out private borrowing and can lead to higher interest rates.

I would love for someone to explain to me how this tax cut is going to work.

Because I have to tell you, I have no confidence in this administration’s ability to safeguard my future financial wellness. At the rate he’s going, I’m thinking that I’ll finally be reaching retirement age at 80!


I’d love to know how the proposed tax cut is going to help the economy.


If it’s such a good plan, then why did “Senate leaders agreed on Friday to cut Bush’s proposal to $350 billion, sparking a bitter and unusual rift with Republican counterparts in the House of Representatives, which has approved a $550 billion tax cut plan”?

Please tell me where he plans to get the money to pay for this?

It’s been a busy day with high notes and low points. Right now I’m waiting to find out whether or not I’ll be going to the Wizards vs. Celtics game tonight. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. at the MCI Center. The good news is that Michael Jordan looks to be staying in DC for the duration. Wohoooooooooo!

Here’s the rest of my day in no official order……..

I heard from a friend of mine in NYC. One more layoff. He’s looking for a job and wondered if I knew of any openings here in the nation’s capitol. Another soul joining the thousands who are unemployed in the U.S.

I immediately thought of my friends while reading this post…. ‘I need to stop reading the paper. Between the war, the economy, and the state of unemployment, I keep getting depressed. In Bob Herbert’s op-ed today in the New York Times, he says “The U. S. is hemorrhaging jobs. 108,000 more jobs were lost in March. 2.4 million jobs have vanished in the last 2 years.”‘ .

Thousands are not alone…


* All About Jen


* Dole Bludger


* Get That Job


* Invisible Matrix


* Laid Off In America


* Where the Hell Did My Job Go?

So while I was searching for some obscure scientific fact online, I came across this little treasure (don’t ask). Check out the DC Metro Blog Map. I think this is ingenious.

And then I start thinking of my tendency to ‘information overload’ and before long I’m wondering how much is too much. It’s mindboggling – the websites, the blogs, the news outlets, the updates.

Today, I am overwhelmed.

And then I found this morsel taken from CFIF.ORG’s Freedom Line….

“There’s a Big Difference between Iraqi Sandstorms and Country Club Sand Traps


In what can only be described as a vile and opportunistic attempt to reinsert herself into the media spotlight, self-promoting feminist Martha Burk stooped to an all-time low last week when, on the steps of New York City Hall, she proclaimed: “With close to a quarter-million women in the armed services defending the values of the United States, many of them in Iraq, we think it is offensive to them for CBS to showcase a venue that excludes them.” Of course, Burk was referring to the network’s exclusive coverage of golf’s most prestigious tournament, the Masters, held at the private Augusta National Golf Club.


Burk espoused her abominable comparison just after the media — some of whom at one time even supported Burk — announced astonishment with comments she made in another speech to the Empowerment 2003 conference held last month at Joliet Junior College in Chicago, Illinois. Referring to the lack of female members of Augusta National, Burk commented that “Saddam Hussein is eligible; Margaret Thatcher is not. That shows you how absurd this all is.”


April Fool’s Day apparently came early this year as Burk was joined late last month by cohorts willing to play the fool with her by trying to link the war in Iraq with the Master’s dispute. For instance, Sandra Garrett of the National Council of Jewish Women is quoted as saying: “Is it OK for women to fight for our country on the battlefields of Iraq but not OK for them to tee up on the greens of Augusta National?”


Nevertheless, no matter how many professional feminists come out against Augusta National’s constitutional right to freely associate with whomever its members wish, the simple fact is that American soldiers in Iraq — our men and women in uniform — both are not and cannot be worried about whether they’ve got a good tee-time at Augusta, or will have one upon their safe return.”

Some people are idiots!