Question Four: Astrology/bottle strike

Credit to Mary Koles for sending this to me. Each year the U.S. News and World Report ranks colleges and universities. Everybody is always really excited about this process. One of the people most excited by the rankings this year decided to come up with his own list, copied here.

In light of the "Best University" discussion, I've come up with my own "Best Mammal" ranking.
#1 - Lion. For obvious reasons. Come on, it's the African king.
#2 - Puppy dog. Its endearing snuggles and licks will make even Scrooge's heart melt.
#3 - Whales. Because they are the biggest.
#4 - Dolphins. A close competition to the whales. Although some might argue that its cuteness tops the size of the whales.
#5 - Hyenas. For their awesome team work and predatory skills.
#6 - Bats. They are kind of like the URM status. They have a visual disability yet they thrive in numbers.
#7 - Squirrels. They are deceptively cunning in the way they pretend like they aren't rats.
#8 - Giraffes. Because they reach high like no other mammals can.
#9 Cheetahs. Fastest mammal on earth. Problem is that it's only fast.
#10 Humans. Because they make stupid rankings like this.

s kind of sort of stopped her bottle strike, taking the bottle on a few occasions over the past few days. However, it still takes the bottle holding party at least an hour of coaxing or so to get her to actually start taking the damn thing. It's not exactly the most efficient method. But, beggars can't be choosers. The exception obviously being if you were to offer a beggar a choice of tickets to a game or a sundae or something, in which case, beggars would be choosers.

The funniest thing about having little s around is the wild vacillations in her temperament that leave you constantly confounded or amused. I mean, the kid can be screaming for ten minutes straight in her car seat, which, get used to it lil s, you've been in a car seat before, is it really worth screaming every time, when will you figure out that it won't change anything to scream? Then you pull her out and she sits docilely for ten minutes watching people eat dinner like she's some kind of lil fawn. This is probably the best and worst thing about having a kid. You can't count on them from moment to moment. I can't say I've ever had a relationship that was so sporadic. If she was my gf or bff I'd have already kicked her to the curb. But she's my baby girl, so I'll probably just keep on loving her.



All Souls Examination for Oxford graduates in an attempt to gain a seven year fellowship:

Is there anything to be said for astrology?

Obviously the question seems to almost imply an answer of, not much. If you have to frame the question in such a light you're clearly not particularly interested in the answers now are you? Which is interesting because the most interesting thing about astrology is what it has to say about human beings writ large. Note: I put no stock in the predictive qualities that some people would associate with the pseudoscience of astrology. I find the idea of signs that influence my personality to be downright insulting.

However, somewhere around the time that man invented language, or God invented it for him, we (he/she) began to get interested in what our lives might look like in the future. By itself it's probably one of the most interesting/useful things about humanity. We have a natural tendency to worry about our future. This lead us to develop in ways that left other creatures in the dust or savanna or whatever. Unfortunately, this same restless quality that caused people to look up at the stars for answers continues to plague us, such that we, (particularly westerners) are not too good about living in the present moment. Instead, we are constantly looking to the heavens for a sign that things will be changing soon.

Astrology shows us that our head in the clouds (ha, ha) nature is not unique. Rather it appears to be something intrinsic and unique to humans. Astrology is any number of things but it may well be proof that human beings are a special creation. What other species would give a crap what ten years down the road might look like. This species daring to dreamness has literally lead us up into the stars themselves. (if you believe that the moon landing wasn't staged. Note: I don't) What early astrologer, roughly five thousand years ago could have predicted that?