But 'Innate' is so IN!

Erich Vieth at Dangerous Intersection had an interesting post recently on the use of the word 'innate' in biological, scientific-type contexts, where it seems there's not really a universally agreed upon meaning for it.

I've tended to use it more or less as a dictionary defines it, to mean some quality that just is in a thing. It doesn't have to be learned or installed, and by implication also can't really be removed or practiced away: it's just there.

But the post, arising from a talk the author heard given by a philosophy professor, discusses how this general understanding, while perhaps working fine for poet turns of phrase, is biologically vague and its use in research and scientific texts is somewhat problematic. 

The post talks about some of the things scientists seem to mean when they use the word, including approaches based on seeing traits as typical, as representing adaptiveness of traits, or as indicating fixity of traits.

The post covers this much better than that clumsy summary, and is an intriguing look at how language shapes what we talk about, and certain words may or may not accurately convey uniform impressions of the ideas we try to work with. 

Is what I mean to say the same as what you hear? And is either one of those things a useful summary of reality as best we understand it?

I'm interested in language, so this sort of thing is always good for some happy reflection for me. [Gazing into distance with goofy smile on face]

Exciting Personal Health Issue of the Day

Or yesterday, actually.

Yesterday was Friday, and I was hurrying from work to the train station feeling pretty good on account of it was the weekend and I just finished my first week as a real live librarian, and I think things are going well so far, and it wasn't quite pouring rain the way it has been every other time you look up lately.

Also, a friend we hadn't seen in a while was in town and we were going to meet him and catch up, and that was something fun to look forward to. 

So I was feeling fine, it's Super Happy Fun Friday, and I was very focused on getting to that train station as quickly as possible so I could get downtown and the festivities could commence, and I wanted to be on the other side of the street. 

Since there were a bunch of cars waiting at a red light, I just crossed in front of them even though there wasn't a WALK sign, 'cause hey, they're stopped, they're at a red light. Except I think there was also a green arrow for a turning lane, so I actually scurried right in front of an oncoming car.

I was more bumped than hit by the car, not to sound too dramatic. Also, in retrospect it was a pretty small car. Nevertheless, I don't recommend it.

My focus in an accident shrinks to pretty much just the immediate, so I only remember impressions of "on hood---OK---coming off hood---not good if car keeps going over me---car stopped---good---better pick up my stuff!"

Jumping up and picking up my stuff was for some reason the top priority, so I could get out of the street without leaving anything behind, you know. But considering that I was able to do so, this was a pretty good outcome.

It was totally my fault for dashing into the street without really looking, like an idiot. Ironically, I had recently read this article in the Boston Globe Magazine about how "Boston drivers are bad, but Boston pedestrians might be worse." The piece notes that twice as many pedestrians as drivers/passengers of cars were killed in Boston over the last five years; 14 just last year.

When I read the article (which is quite interesting, if anyone's in the mood for some information on traffic planning) I thought, well, I jaywalk and stuff, everyone does, but I'm not completely reckless about it like some people! 

I spoke too soon.

But I'm fine, other than being embarrassed by the fact that I'm a reckless idiot pedestrian. I got up and walked away, hung out with my friend last night and had a good time, and today have just a couple of scrapes and bruises. I didn't even lose or break any of my stuff.

I expect the car wasn't going very fast, and the impact was probably about what it would have been if, say, a large human had charged me and knocked me down. While wearing full plate mail. (Which happens more often than you'd think. I lead an eventful life.)

On the one hand, it kind of sucked---my Super Happy Fun Friday, and then I get hit by a car! That's terrible!

On the other hand, I got hit by a car and was fine---I'm the luckiest person around! That day was great!

In closing, I'm going to try to be less of a reckless idiot pedestrian in future (thinking back, I could probably have stood to arrive a few seconds later at the train station). I'm really lucky to have gotten out of a collision with a car without any real damage, and I know it could have been bad. 

I also apologize to the person who hit me: it was my fault, and I'm sorry to have messed up her evening by making her deal with the stress of hitting someone with her car, which pretty much no one wants to do. I bet that sucks too. 

For those following along at home: if you must dart into traffic, at least look around.

Keeping in Touch

I got a friendly note yesterday from the Alumni Association at my alma mater (hi, Alabama!), asking for information on what I'm doing, how the family is faring, what the harvest looks like (hair), whether my hereditary weeping boils have subsided, and so forth. 

I would return the lovely postage-paid card with spaces for filling in my name, address, home phone, place of employment and work phone, but...well, it's just a postcard. All that information is just there, totally exposed in the mail for anyone to see! 

Not that anyone cares, but with all the identity theft worries these days, is it really a good idea to send that kind of information through open mail?

I admit this may be an unreasonable apprehension. After all, my home phone is listed in the phone book (I think---I haven't looked at a phone book in years, so I'm just guessing), my work phone will be on the internet once that website is updated, and I put my home address on the outside of every piece of mail I send anyway, usually in the form of one of those little return address labels that various  organizations send out in the vain hope that people will give them money. (I suppose some kind people must actually give them money.)

Am I getting weirdly paranoid about harmless low-tech identity-distribution, while blithely strewing personal information to the trillion-plus corners of the internet, and, therefore, spending my worry-points in exactly the wrong place?

It is entirely possible.

It's Me---In Poster Form!

The ALA website has a fun program that lets you make your own miniature version of their classic celebrity READ postures. 

I can't find any pictures of myself holding up a book in a proper showcase-y manner, so in honor of the interest in Gaming in Libraries, here's me expressing enthusiasm for a rousing game of Arkham Horror.* 

I know, the composition sucks---the original picture shows more of the gorgeous board and cards for this game, but if I had the ALA site focus on those, my magnificent look of awe was lost. 

Also, the 'Or Play Games' kind of disappears. But this is what you get in three minutes. I could do it better, but it's about time for bed here. Maybe later.

I credit LibrarianInBlack with making me aware of this particular bit of awesome.

*This game rocks. Someone who lives near me and owns it needs to invite me over for game night.

Nagging Melon Question Answered at Last

In a moment of reckless optimism a couple of days before heading out on vacation, I decided that sure we could eat an entire cantaloupe before we left---no problem, let's buy one!

Then we didn't touch it for two days. 

It could not be left to sit on top of the refrigerator unsupervised until we returned, since it would undoubtedly seize the opportunity to spoil, so the night before we left, after a free preview screening of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (short review: no evident connection with health or libraries, depressing underuse of Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li), I sliced it into little pieces and put it in the freezer. 

I really didn't know if it would be any good that way. When I tried freezing whole bananas, the results were not pretty (peel and mash them first, then freeze them for later banana bread, but beware that a whole frozen banana, allowed to thaw, will melt into a soggy blob of mush that is somehow both sticky and slimy). 

Still, if the result was terrible, that was really no worse than leaving the melon to rot while we were gone.

This evening, feeling peckish, I got some out to try. It was frozen, all right, and was initially too hard to chip out of the container, but after a few minutes it thawed enough to work with and I am pleased to report that it was quite palatable. Like a melon-flavored ice cube, with a little texture. Very refreshing on a warm humid evening, too. 

I need hardly mention, but will do so in the interests of appearing to be writing about something relevant to health, that cantaloupe is one of those fruits and vegetables we're advised to eat in vast quantities. It is rich in melon-y goodness, as you can see from this exhaustive breakdown. Mmm, delicious vitamins A and C, potassium, some iron, calcium and fiber. Hail produce!

So I heartily recommend frozen melon as a tasty and cooling and incredibly easy summer dessert, and will not hesitate to freeze another one, one of these days. 

I bet watermelon would work too. I've made a watermelon sorbet before, and it was almost entirely melon after a lot of pureeing in a blender. Why not cut out the middlemachine and just freeze hunks of fruit? 

There may be a reason, but I won't let that stop me from trying it.

Family Portraits

It was pouring cold rain earlier, so I rushed into the house and changed into a fuzzy sweatshirt. Now, after a few hours sitting under a warm laptop trying to catch up on blog feeds (only 727 unread posts left!), I'm starting to be hot and sweaty, but am too lazy to get up and change again.

In case you wonder why I mention this, I just feel it's important information for my legions of fans to know, serving as a valuable reminder that I cannot be counted on to take any action that requires moving away from the internet, even if it would increase my own comfort. Such is my dedication to keeping informed. 

In other news, Healthbolt writes about what sounds like an interesting website and personal health information resource: MyFamilyHealth.com. 

It's designed to allow members to input health information about their family in order to track and have handy those details about relatives that you're asked by doctors. Did anyone in your family have heart disease? Diabetes? Put it in here!

The site's 'about' page says that you and other relatives can jointly work on the record, so if you could get buy-in from enough aunts and uncles and cousins, I could see this really being a rich and detailed resource. Even if you only keep track of the stuff you personally know about, or can fill in from asking, it could be useful, if only by giving you a way to keep this information in one internet-accessible place where you could look it up before meeting with a new doctor. 

I've filled out a few of those family history forms in doctor's offices, and honestly can't say with certainty that I've always listed the same information (or even the right information), because I may not have remembered it the same from one year to another. Also, sometimes I just make up stuff about hereditary weeping boils, so I'll sound more interesting. 

MyFamilyHealth, which lets patients share information with their doctors and presumably with any new doctors who may be consulted, could helpfully intervene to solve this pesky concern. 

The site also ties itself into the hot new topic of genetic screening, suggesting that you can "Discover if you or your family members could benefit form [sic] specific diagnostic, genetic or screening tests." Nifty.

I'm moderately intrigued, though too lazy and busy reading blogs to sign up for an account at the moment.

I should note, too, that it was 08-08-08, so I really should have baked 8-shaped cookies or something to celebrate, but I didn't. I hope you enjoyed that little anecdote.

Oooog...Blogs...

You know how you take a break in routine, say by going away to Montana for a week, and then when you come back it takes a while to get into the groove again? 

Yeah, so I have 1,000+ (it only counts up to a thousand, so that could be 1,001 or 40,000 for all I know) unread posts in my RSS reader. It's going to take me a while to get caught up here.

In the meantime, until I am reacquainted with my feeds and have health, technical or library-related things to muse about, I'll just note that I found this Boston Globe Magazine article interesting. It's about an increase in female bank robbers in the past several years:

In 2002, according to the FBI, women accounted for approximately 4.9 percent of all bank robbers; in 2003, for 5.4 percent; in 2004, for 5.7 percent; and in 2005, for 6 percent. In 2006, the last year for which the FBI has complete statistics, about 6.2 percent of bank robbers were women - a 25 percent increase since 2002.

The article suggests that as women have come to see themselves as participants in various spheres (law, business, politics) and to take more active roles in public life, they have also come to think of crime as an option as viable for them as for men. 

The piece notes that 80% of crime is still committed by men, and since only 16% of the 110th US congress is female, perhaps gender equality is proceeding a little more quickly in crime than in law. Which I guess could make sense: it's presumably easier to commit crimes than to get elected to public office. (I'm not going to get into the obvious politician jokes there, but feel free to snicker among yourselves.)

Naturally I'm not saying it's a great thing that anyone is robbing banks---that's my money in there too, you know---but I don't think it's any more dreadful that it's women than that it's men. People of both genders are people, and people often do stuff I personally dislike. For some reason, few of them consult me. 

And that, my friends, is just one of the things that is so terribly wrong with this world. Time to sigh dismally and go read other, better blog posts.