Wednesday, May 30, 2007
News From the Family Front - Part II
Well, I found out yesterday that my mother's broken leg is going to require surgery. Apparently, hers is a compression break of 3.5 cm. A compression break of 2 cm or less, they don't do surgery. A break of 4 or more, they do. So hers is right in the middle. If she doesn't have surgery, she runs a real risk of developing arthritis. No surgery would mean 6 weeks to 3 months of recovery. And surgery would mean . . . 6 weeks to 3 months of recovery. So surgery it is. She goes in tomorrow morning. She hopes to be out tomorrow night, but everyone is saying that's not likely to happen. While it sucks to break your leg for the summer, at least it is the summer. My mother is a first grade teacher (braver than I), and having a broken leg during the school year would be even worse. And hopefully, her recovery will be closer to 6 weeks than 3 months!
Friday, May 25, 2007
News From the Family Front
I just found out my mother broke her leg yesterday. At least they gave her plenty of pain medicine (read: "happy pills").
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Madame Pele
| Lapakü ka wahine a`o Pele i Kahiki `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Eli`eli kau mai `Eli`eli kau mai `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Ühï`ühä mai ana`o Pele I ka lua a`o Halema`uma`u `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö E Pele E Pele e He inoa no Pele | The woman Pele abounds actively in Kahiki The heavens flash on and on The heavens flash on and on May a deep respect come to us May a deep respect come to us The heavens flash on and on The heavens flash on and on The raging of Pele can be heard In the pit of Halema`uma`u The heavens flash on and on The heavens flash on and on O Pele O Pele In the name of Pele |
I'm Not Entirely Sure How I Feel About This
I was scanning the New York Times online today when I came across this article. It's about a new museum which is getting ready to open in Kentucky. The thing that's different about this particular museum is that it's a museum based entirely on Creationism. And they make no secret of this fact. The name of the museum is the Creation Museum.
Now, I'm not one to try and tell people that their beliefs are wrong. I simply don't work that way. I don't happen to believe Creationist theory, but other people have every right to and they have every right to build a museum to share their beliefs. But . . . as a historian (even a rogue one), the idea of a Creationist natural history museum is slightly odd to me. And as a pagan, I am always a little leery of hard-line Christian ideology - too much bad blood on both sides over the millennia. And before anyone asks, I'm not planning on sharing my particular religious/spiritual ideologies. I feel that religion is particular to the individual, which means it's very difficult (if not nearly impossible) to truly convey those ideas to another in any way that they can actually understand. But that's a whole other rant for another time - perhaps.
Anyway, back to the Creation Museum. Even if I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it personally, I can make a few comments professionally. First, I'm interested in seeing how many visitors it will get a year. According to the NYT article, they say they are expecting a quarter million visitors in the first year. That's about 685 people a day. (By way of comparison: the Smithsonian Museums had about 23 million visitors in 2006 - over 63,000 a day; the Denver Museum of Nature and Science had 1.48 million - 4,055 a day; and the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum has about 550,000 a year - 1,500 a day). I would say that the Creation Museum has a good chance of meeting their goal in the first year - and only in their first year. They will be something new and different, and people will be more interested. After that first year, however, their numbers will go down as the people who came just to see it because it was new and different stop coming. I simply do not see them maintaining that level of interest beyond that. Second, I am very afraid of the potential academic and professional backlash they may get. Academics and professionals are not always the kindest people when it comes to disagreements on foundational theories and ideologies. And I can see this getting real ugly, real quick. Third, the museum seems to be making a big deal of the fact that they received enough in donations to allow them to open without any debt. I applaud them for this. But I would caution them that, like their visitor numbers, they should not be counting on this continuing. It's expensive to keep a museum open and running. Normally, a great deal of this cost goes to developing new exhibits to keep people coming in. With something like Creationism, which doesn't really change all that much, is this going to be an issue? I really don't know, although I still think that they will have to make some changes over time just to keep people coming back.
Regardless of how things go for them, I'll be curious to see what happens.
Now, I'm not one to try and tell people that their beliefs are wrong. I simply don't work that way. I don't happen to believe Creationist theory, but other people have every right to and they have every right to build a museum to share their beliefs. But . . . as a historian (even a rogue one), the idea of a Creationist natural history museum is slightly odd to me. And as a pagan, I am always a little leery of hard-line Christian ideology - too much bad blood on both sides over the millennia. And before anyone asks, I'm not planning on sharing my particular religious/spiritual ideologies. I feel that religion is particular to the individual, which means it's very difficult (if not nearly impossible) to truly convey those ideas to another in any way that they can actually understand. But that's a whole other rant for another time - perhaps.
Anyway, back to the Creation Museum. Even if I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it personally, I can make a few comments professionally. First, I'm interested in seeing how many visitors it will get a year. According to the NYT article, they say they are expecting a quarter million visitors in the first year. That's about 685 people a day. (By way of comparison: the Smithsonian Museums had about 23 million visitors in 2006 - over 63,000 a day; the Denver Museum of Nature and Science had 1.48 million - 4,055 a day; and the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum has about 550,000 a year - 1,500 a day). I would say that the Creation Museum has a good chance of meeting their goal in the first year - and only in their first year. They will be something new and different, and people will be more interested. After that first year, however, their numbers will go down as the people who came just to see it because it was new and different stop coming. I simply do not see them maintaining that level of interest beyond that. Second, I am very afraid of the potential academic and professional backlash they may get. Academics and professionals are not always the kindest people when it comes to disagreements on foundational theories and ideologies. And I can see this getting real ugly, real quick. Third, the museum seems to be making a big deal of the fact that they received enough in donations to allow them to open without any debt. I applaud them for this. But I would caution them that, like their visitor numbers, they should not be counting on this continuing. It's expensive to keep a museum open and running. Normally, a great deal of this cost goes to developing new exhibits to keep people coming in. With something like Creationism, which doesn't really change all that much, is this going to be an issue? I really don't know, although I still think that they will have to make some changes over time just to keep people coming back.
Regardless of how things go for them, I'll be curious to see what happens.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
General Updates
Well, once again, I'm back. Things have finally settled down some now that the semester is over. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'm inactive or anything. I still have things which need to be taken care of. I'm spending time this summer working as a subcontractor for the big name in historic preservation in the region. This woman has cities like Vail and Aspen asking her to help them write their historic preservation ordinances. She doesn't even sit down for a meeting unless she's getting paid at least $150 an hour. This, children, is called resume building! In addition to the hours I'm working for her, I also have a few hours a week for The Overlord, continuing to do some web design and maintenance. On top of that, I'm going to be spending time preparing grant applications. I would really like to get enough money from various people to research and write my dissertation in a year, beginning next fall (next summer will be spent getting married, honeymooning, and taking comp exams - I think that's enough!). Oh yeah, I would also like some time with my fiancee, Journey - funny thing, that, wanting to see the person I plan on spending the rest of my life with.
In other news and happenings, Journey and I went to a roller derby bout this past weekend, which was awesome. I should explain that the roller derby we go to watch is NOT the staged kind they used to show on late-night cable in the '70s. This is a real competition, and these girls take it very seriously. If you're in the Phoenix area, you might want to check it out (here's their web site). We had the chance to watch the traveling team, the Tent City Terrors, play the Carolina Rollergirls. The TCT are the best skaters from around the state, including Journey's sister. For those of you outside Arizona, I probably should explain the "Tent City" thing. The Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, established "Tent City" as a way of dealing with overcrowding in the prisons. Basically, he got a bunch of Korean War military tents and set up a camp for the overflow of prisoners. He also makes the inmates wear pink underwear. (here's an old CNN story on Tent City.)
Anyway, playing off this (admittedly) rather bizarre situation, the travelling roller derby team decided they would be known as the Tent City Terrors. They have the traditional black and white stripes, accented with pink. The bout against the Carolina Rollergirls was one of the best and fasted I've seen. The hits were hard and a few girls ended up skidding into the crowd! In the end, the TCTs won by 3 points, so it was a good night.
And way to go Phoenix! We're ranked #6 in the nation for rude drivers! Not that this is of any great surprise to those who have driven in Phoenix, of course. Even I, I must admit, have been known to do things to contribute to this ranking. Although, in my defense, most of the time, the other person deserves it. I take special pleasure in trying to block out the drivers who are trying to cut ahead of everyone else in construction zones. If the signs are clearly telling you that a lane is closed ahead, you need to go ahead and move over. Don't try to cut around the rest of us like your more important. When I see people trying to do that, I'll try to block them out or not let them in . . . if I can do it safely - I have no interest in getting in an accident or getting shot, both real possibilities around here.
Well, now that things are returning to a more reasonable pace, I'll try to be back on more often!
In other news and happenings, Journey and I went to a roller derby bout this past weekend, which was awesome. I should explain that the roller derby we go to watch is NOT the staged kind they used to show on late-night cable in the '70s. This is a real competition, and these girls take it very seriously. If you're in the Phoenix area, you might want to check it out (here's their web site). We had the chance to watch the traveling team, the Tent City Terrors, play the Carolina Rollergirls. The TCT are the best skaters from around the state, including Journey's sister. For those of you outside Arizona, I probably should explain the "Tent City" thing. The Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, established "Tent City" as a way of dealing with overcrowding in the prisons. Basically, he got a bunch of Korean War military tents and set up a camp for the overflow of prisoners. He also makes the inmates wear pink underwear. (here's an old CNN story on Tent City.)
Anyway, playing off this (admittedly) rather bizarre situation, the travelling roller derby team decided they would be known as the Tent City Terrors. They have the traditional black and white stripes, accented with pink. The bout against the Carolina Rollergirls was one of the best and fasted I've seen. The hits were hard and a few girls ended up skidding into the crowd! In the end, the TCTs won by 3 points, so it was a good night.
And way to go Phoenix! We're ranked #6 in the nation for rude drivers! Not that this is of any great surprise to those who have driven in Phoenix, of course. Even I, I must admit, have been known to do things to contribute to this ranking. Although, in my defense, most of the time, the other person deserves it. I take special pleasure in trying to block out the drivers who are trying to cut ahead of everyone else in construction zones. If the signs are clearly telling you that a lane is closed ahead, you need to go ahead and move over. Don't try to cut around the rest of us like your more important. When I see people trying to do that, I'll try to block them out or not let them in . . . if I can do it safely - I have no interest in getting in an accident or getting shot, both real possibilities around here.
Well, now that things are returning to a more reasonable pace, I'll try to be back on more often!
Friday, May 04, 2007
Another Semester Down - Two to Go
Well, I turned in my last assignment for semester yesterday evening. This puts me half-way through my PhD course work! Two more semesters - one year. At this point, right at the end of a particularly long semester, that feels like a hell of a lot. More on that later . . . maybe.
This is really just an update to say that I'll hopefully be back to posting on a regular starting next week. First, I need to get some rest - I'm too damn brain-dead right now to write anything good.
See you next week!
This is really just an update to say that I'll hopefully be back to posting on a regular starting next week. First, I need to get some rest - I'm too damn brain-dead right now to write anything good.
See you next week!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Not Dead (Yet)
No, I'm still alive. It's just that last push at the end of the semester. One class completely done with, one more I'll finish up tonight (I write this in the few minutes I have before going to that one). My last class I'll finish up when I submit a research paper on Thursday. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more frequently after that!
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