ASTRONOMY VS ASTROLOGY P 1: PUNCHES ARE THROWN

OMG U GAIZ. Something recently happened that shock my ROCK HARD BELIEF in the wonderful and precise science of ASTROLOGY.

So apparently some troublemaker astronomers at the Minnesota Planetarium Society were like "HAY THE ZODIAC SIGNS ARE ALL WRONG CUZ THE EARTH'S ALIGNMENT HAS CHANGED. ALSO THE BABYLONIANS DIDN'T WANT THE SNAKE PEOPLE TO EXIST SO THEY THREW OUT SUPER SECRET PARSELMOUTH ZODIAC OPHIUCUS."

Here's a more detailed/ coherent explanation by the awesomely named Parke Kunkle:

"If you take a toy top and spin it, it spins around an axis and that axis tends to point in different directions. It moves around. That's what we call precession. So in Earth's case, right now, Earth's spin axis points towards Polaris, the North Star. But in 3000 BC, the Earth's axis pointed towards a different star, Thuban. And that majestic motion takes about 26,000 years. so if you went from 3,000 B.C. and waited 26,000 years, you'd have the north star Thuban again."

(I think Parke Kunkle is a wizard, fyi. He kinda talks like one)

How did the astrologers react to this bit of news? They got really mad and said "Oh, fuck off, science! Listen up, we don't actually base the zodiac on the alignment of the STARS, we base it on the EQUINOX. SO TAKE THAT. Your science is PISS."

JEWELS OF GREAT POWER

Ahoy there! I enjoy posting blogs about once every six months, because no one reads them anyway. It is a thing that is fun to do.

So what's new? I recently read a trilogy by David Eddings (and his unacknowledged wife Leigh Eddings). In it the brave champion Sparhawk uses a jewel of power, the Bhelliom, to defeat people who are trying to fuck with the world. That's right. THEY TRYING TO FUCK WITH THE WORLD. And the Bhelliom actually is this immense unfathomable spirit that created the Earth. The fantasy earth of David Eddings and his invisible wife.

This got me thinking about jewels and all those diamond commercials I've been seeing on the TV box lately. I think someone needs to make a diamond commercial that resembles a fantasy movie trailer.

"This winter...an evil gathers to the North. An evil that won't stop until it has plunged the entire world in darkness. Our only hope? A stone of great beauty and power, a stone created from a dragon's tears--- it is the Bringer-of-Death to those whose hearts are not pure. Only the most valiant woman may wield it. That woman is your mate, and you are her champion."

My little sister recently mentioned the jewelry store at BJ's Wholesale Club. I absentmindedly started singing "Every kiss begins with b...j..." then looked around guiltily.

Today I played a game with Maddy. It was called "chase these snowballs I kick for you so that you don't have to rip Bailey's face off. It's really okay to have fun without killing other animals." The title might need to be shortened a bit.

THAT IS ALL FOR NOW I HOPE YOU ENJOY HOT COCOAS. MADE BY NESTLE. THAT IS A FREE AD I JUST DID FOR YOU NESTLE. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT NESTLE FOODS.

Silly Buggers!

Wow! What a year and a half this has been. Mortgages, children, the wife...JUST KIDDING! But I have grown up quite a bit, in ways that are quite unacceptable to my parents.

Have you all heard of the Brown Dog Affair? There's many issues at stake here. I tend to side with the medical profession on this one. If Bayliss and Starling hadn't gone about vivisecting dogs, we might never have discovered hormones! And we certainly wouldn't be calling them "hormones." We wouldn't know the first thing about gastric function, and imagine how far behind medical science would be!

I also feel like those Swedish bitches exploited the unhappiness of the British worker in order to push their own political agenda. They chose Battersea because it was a sea of roiling discontent (and batter). They willfully lied about the dog not being anesthetized. How could you possibly open up a dog and show people delicate anatomical features while it was still awake? It would writhe around so much that you'd end up tearing out its insides.

I'm not happy with the fact that we often treat animals like they are convenient blocks of meat that we can use for our own convenience. But I really dislike it when people act more concerned about the plight of other animals, particularly animals we keep as pets, than they do about humans. I also really dislike dishonesty and spin.

In other news: my mom's on Facebook, and I am not anymore! Hurraaaah!

Is Love Worth It?

I have a friend who recently told me of her concerns about attempting to go to grad school with her boyfriend. Both of them want to attend school in the DC area; I am given to understand that this is a bit of a sacrifice for her because she was considering the Boston area, for which she has a slight preference. Another issue is that her parents are not exactly approving of the relationship and might be hurt that their daughter chooses to move far away from them for a man.

So there are two questions that intrigue me here. How can you tell if a relationship is good enough that it is worth it to make sacrifices? One of my cousins said "it is stupid to go to a school just for someone." I can agree with this viewpoint to a certain extent. Many relationships are not stable enough to last the stresses of adult life and end; it would just add insult to injury if one had uprooted one's life for a significant other who proves himself or herself unworthy of one's love. On the other hand, one's professional and intellectual life should be balanced with his or her personal life; most of us need personal relationships to sustain us. It seems a bit extreme to suggest that one should never structure one's schooling or work around family life or romantic relationships.

The other thing that concerns me is whether one should bring one's parents into consideration when planning one's life. As an Indian, I understand the pressure to stay close to one's family and support one's parents. While mine are young and active, the time when they might need me to take care of them is not that far off. From this point of view, I can see why parents want their children not to move far away from them. What's more, I know that parents hate to see their children make mistakes. However, there's some point at which one's offspring are competent to make their own decisions; after all, if they don't get the practice at an early point in their lives, what will they do when the parents are no longer there to guide them? Furthermore, it's impossible to foresee the results of our actions in any way or to ensure one's future will be pleasant. If things go wrong, it is probably because shit happens and not because an unwise decision was made.

In the end, I advised my friend not to feel bad about her decision, because I am fairly sure she is resolved to spend her life with this boy. I just hope he is worthy.

Tufts Medical School

If I get accepted here, I will have to do a serious think to figure out where I want to go more. If I get into UMass all other choices will die a quick and painless death, of course, but otherwise...I will have to have a think. Maaaan why can't choices be easy?

Why can't I just go back to fun times and jollity?!

Things I want to do

So over this break, I've realized that I've got to start acting less like an entitled child. Ironically, I was nothing but a child with a sense of entitlement; I didn't do a damn thing and I got a lot of stuff from my parents. But from now on it's my responsibility to stay healthy, live frugally, and find some way to finance my medical education. So really I'm being forced into some semblance of adulthood, though the whole medical school thing will curtail that process a bit. But it is a professional school, so I'm expected to be a professional. A professional who pays $50,000 a year to do her job.

So here are things I want to take care of over the next semester:

-finances, obviously. That's the big one.
-start studying a bit more like a medical student would. That is, keep up with lectures, do a bit each day, etc.
-exercise, eat less junk.
-only one mug of coffee a day. My mug holds about sixteen ounces. That is a lot of caffeine.
-that's about it. I can only take so much self-discipline and denial, because I am a weak fleshly stupidface.

Election 2008

Okay, so writing about this is not exactly topical for me, since I sent in my absentee ballot a few weeks ago, but I really am sad that so many of my friends aren't voting because they applied for their absentee ballots too late or thought it was "too big of a pain" to order one. All you have to do is send a letter, as far as I know; it's not that difficult even to send it way ahead of time. I remember that I applied for mine at the beginning of the school year and I got everything on time. Perhaps my City Hall is more efficient and well-organized than those of my friends' respective counties, but I highly doubt it.

The other thing that bothers me is that people pay no attention to local candidates. They will often use as an excuse for not voting that "McCain will win Kentucky anyway." Yeah, he will, but what about the local candidates? You have to live here, and those guys and girls are the ones who will have the most direct impact on your quality of life! The other thing that cheeses me off is that many of the local candidates don't provide any information about themselves online. I'm not in Massachusetts, so I can't go to their campaign meetings or houses to ask them about their platform. (I only made the comment about going to their houses because their addressees were published on the ballot). Really, the best and easiest way for me to see what they are about and to be impressed by them would be for them to provide information about themselves online. This seems like a minimal effort to make for your campaign; most of them seem to be relying upon hearsay to advance themselves. I really don't know what else to make of it.

But in any case, at least one of my friends is going to the polls right now! I'm proud of him. My other friend who is not yet a citizen and thus can not vote is going with him for moral support. I would have gone, but I'm spending my election day in debauchery (drinking coffee in my room and reading comics :D).