My shoes must have super-duper static generating soles. I touch the car door...BAM, the wall...zzzt, the metal filing cabinet...POW. Now I'm paranoid about using the Bunsen burner. The gas jet is metal and I'm afraid I'll blow myself up when I turn it on.

***

Interesting stuff on the news....

Lea Fastow, who was assistant treasurer at Enron cut a deal with the feds and it looks as if her husband may also cut a deal. At least he may have to pay a huge fine and serve a long term. Now I think her plea settlement is actually a good idea, at least as far as their kids are concerned. It guarantees that the husband won't serve time until after she's finished, so one of them will always be with the children. But I have to wonder if they were a non-white couple and were convicted of say, selling drugs or grand theft, would the courts be so willing to help them, or would the children be whisked off by DCF?

This fucking sick asshole who allegedly killed his daughter, ex-inlaws, ex-step-daughter and kidnapped his own children was caught. How can someone be that fucked up?

I heard a cool story on NPR about mitochondria and metabolism. It was published in Science. Unfortunately, right now Science's webpage is down. Bummer. Anyway, the gist of the theory is that mitochondria have adapted depending on whether the ancestry is from a cold climate or a tropical climate. People whose ancestors were tropical tend to have mitochondria that produce ATP (which is basically cell energy) more effeciently and give off less heat, those with arctic ancestors are the opposite. So, arctic-derived folks would stay warmer. Our bodies and how they have adapted to various environments really are amazing. The mitochondrial effeciency also affects how much fat a body builds up, so the information has to potential to help understand why some people gain more weight than others. This is interesting too, but our society is so freakin' fat-phobic it's not funny.


I was talking with some coworkers the other day about W's guest worker plan. I still think in principle (principal?) it's a good idea, but realize it probably won't happen and that W and his cronies probably wouldn't fund it anyway. After all, if more folks are going to be eligible for assistance as far as medical care, etc. the money has to come from somewhere. And I wonder that if the plan did go through if the more unscrupulous employers would still look for cheap, illegal labor. I do think all people deserve the right to a decent job, housing, and medical care.