Science Guide

I had a crazy good day as long as I was on the exhibit floor! The kind of day when I'm having so much fun that I barely notice it's lunch time.

I got called naive earlier for suggesting that the 10 million dollars someone was telling me was being used by a certain county government to lease cars to other departments at exorbitant prices could have been used in social service agencies. I calmly explained the difference between "naive" and "idealistic". I mentioned it to John, and he sent me the following, wonderful, response:

Some feel 10 million is a drop in the bucket in terms of the overall budget, but what's a storm but a bunch of drops falling from the sky? Keep your chin up... and keep in mind there are those who are trapped by the inertia of the status quo, and there are those whose jobs are to break us all free of that mindlock. But don't scorn them for being caught in such an awful trap. Imagine how dreadful it must be imagining all of your tomorrows to be the same as your yesterdays!

I spent some time working with the PicoCrickets, trying to get "back in shape" for SciCamp tomorrow. Beyond that, I had such fun talking to visitors on the floor! A former volunteer happened to visit and gave me a big hug, told me how great his life is going. I made some visitors laugh discussing theories as to why some theropods (meat eaters) have such short arms. People were generally in a good mood today, and I've always believed that MY good mood adds to their experience.

I've been thinking a bit about the kind of lifestyle and person I want to develop. It's exciting because I'm about to have an opportunity to really work from scratch in a lot of ways. I'm really looking forward to Pittsburgh. If it doesn't work out in the next 6 months, that's fine. But I'm going to enjoy the ride.

As I've been learning more about Farmers Markets and their culture, in addition to thoughts about what separates humans from other animals, I've been thinking about vegetarianism too. I did a google search and happened to find this article (click "this" to read), which touched on some of my thoughts but offered numerous others. I don't know whether I entirely agree nor whether I'm going to change my lifestyle. Still in the thinking stage, may or may not move beyond that. I also found this article... a rather different perspective and rather a turn-off from quitting vegetarianism anytime soon. Of course, both are somewhat extremes of a range.

An interesting list I found today about what the brain needs and how to provide it in teaching: http://www.tri-association.org/mano/PDF_documents/The_Current_Brain_Research.pdf This led to a brief but interesting discussion with John about the resources for science and art education in Lesotho. I've really come to love the country through him. Someday I'll go and teach those kids some science :-)