One Hour Lost

I don't know why I keep up with Lost anymore, especially after last night's suck-fest. Jack loves Kate! No, he loves some hot Asian chick! No, he loves Juliet! Kate loves Jack! No, she loves Sawyer! Sawyer loves Kate! No, he doesn't! Yes, he does! Carl loves Alex and Alex loves Carl and they're both a starry-eyed and gooey! Cue the violin music! Is that Andrea Bocelli I hear over my uncontrollable gagging?

There are only two TV shows I keep up with these days, Lost and Battlestar Galactica. (Amazing Race, Gilmore Girls, Top Chef -- I miss you! Let's do lunch.) Maybe I'll be paring that down to one show.

What's the difference between a geek and a nerd?

According to this, I'm either a Nerd/Goth or a Stoner/Geek.

Reading List

I have a shelf next to my side of the bed that's devoted to books I plan to read. That shelf is overflowing. I don't know when I'm ever going to have time to read all of these books. And yet I keep buying more books! The madness of it all!

I don't know what happened to my reading list. There was a time when I read fiction exclusively. Science fiction, to be precise. Where did all these serious non-fiction books come from? Where are all the fun books? Sure, this stuff will be interesting. Edifying, most likely. But I'm ready for some fun books!

Here's a list of the overflowing pile of books that stares me down, day in and day out, mocking me. For now, I'm focusing my energies on The Language of God, recommended by Grandpa Paul. Has anyone read any of the rest of these books? Can you help me prioritize my list?

The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
What We Believe But Cannot Prove edited by John Brockman
Twin Tracks by James Burke
Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card
The Language of God by Francis S. Collins
The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
The Truth (with Jokes) by Al Franken
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
Doubt by Jennifer Michael Hecht
The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan
The Varieties of Scientific Experience by Carl Sagan
Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart

What's a girl to do with all this serious reading?

A Squash in Every Pot

Yesterday's dinner (as promised): butternut squash stew.

It would have been lovely with some warm, crusty bread. Wish I'd had some. Even without, it was quite tasty and good for a cold night. I altered the recipe a bit: As written, the recipe is really for a soup, not a stew. (Or a stoup, as Rachel Ray would say.) Right at the end, I whipped out my immersion blender and pureed just a bit of the stew, leaving lots of squash chunks but giving the stew a much thicker, stewier consistency. I recommend that modification. Also, I used Israeli couscous, which is bigger than regular couscous. Good stuff.

WWdN:iX

I think it's well established that I'm a big ol' geek. I love science, techno gadgets, Star Trek, and online gaming. For those of you who are wondering why I haven't been blogging much lately, here is the reason. (Well, there are a few reasons. Kids, freelance work, and napping have contributed to the scarcity of posts.) Much of my blogging time has been spent surfing my new favorite blog, wilwheaton.typepad.com. Fellow geeks, head on over and check it out. Non-geeks (that means everyone who just said, "Who is Wil Wheaton?"), don't you worry your pretty little head. That blog is probably not for you.

More posts soon, I promise. I've had lots of earth-shattering thoughts lately about politics and religion and the state of the planet, which means I'll most likely be posting a butternut squash stew recipe any day now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Of Crab Cakes, Corn Dogs, and Cantaloupe

Today, I offered the girls a lovely, well-rounded lunch of turkey, whole-wheat bread, cheese, corn, clementines, milk, and some fruity Cheerios just to mix things up. Here's what the girls ate:

Cheese
Corn
Clementines
Cheerios

Am I sensing a pattern? Perhaps for dinner I'll offer them chorizo, chalupas, and calamari.

Happy Birthday, Digressions!

I realized belatedly that yesterday was this blog's one-year anniversary. One year ago yesterday, I thought to myself, "Hmm. A blog. That might not suck." So come on, sing along with me:

"Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Digressions, happy birthday to me!"

Here's to at least one more year of not boring my readers to tears.

Two Things I'm Irritated About

1) The weather. Holy cow. It's 0 degrees Fahrenheit in Chicago right now. We've been having single-digit highs for a week. I can't stand much more of this! (Why isn't this extra body fat insulating me better?)

2) Orthopedic surgeons. I like to avoid making sweeping generalizations, but in this case it is true. And deserved. All orthopedic surgeons make their patients wait for ridiculous periods of time before spending 30 seconds in the exam room with them and then sending them on their way. Yesterday, I had my routine annual checkup with my doctor, a very talented and intelligent medical professional. I waited TWO HOURS in his office. TWO HOURS. And the sad thing is that this didn't surprise me a bit. Been there, done that. This doctor, other doctors, they're all the same.

In Which I Am a Threat to American Society

I'm extremely disturbed by a recent study that finds atheists are America's least trusted minority. According to the American Sociological Association, "American’s increasing acceptance of religious diversity does not extend to those who don’t believe in a god." Not only do we atheists not share religious folks' "vision of American society" -- we're also "the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry." According to Penny Edgell, the study’s lead researcher, “Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good.”

The point of this post isn't to promote or defend atheism. I try not to be an evangelical atheist. I don't want you shoving your religion in my face, and I try to return the favor by not shoving my lack thereof in yours.

No, I'm writing today about tolerance.

I don't think of myself as being part of a distrusted, discriminated-against minority (even though my personal belief system is illegal in some states) because you can't identify me as an atheist just by looking at me. (Unless you spot me in my car and notice the Darwin fish.) I don't encounter religious discrimination on a daily basis. Or ever, really. I have many friends and family members who share my atheism. And many who don't. And that's how it should be. I don't care what my friends' beliefs are. Of course, if they share mine, I'm happy to discuss that fact with them. And if they don't, I love to have friendly conversations about our differing world views. Doesn't that make us all better people? Shouldn't we be trying to open ourselves up to other viewpoints?

And those of you who know me, either in the real world or through visiting my blog now and then: Do I strike you as a self-interested individual who isn't interested in the common good? Do you believe that I don't love my children, my family? Or America? Because if I've given that impression, I need to seriously reexamine my ability to communicate.

This is one idea about atheism and atheists that really burns me -- that, because we don't believe in a moral authority figure, we have no morals. Nothing could be further from the truth, and nothing is more insulting to an atheist. Atheists are just like every other group of people: Most of us are great people who love our families. Some of us are not. Lots of us are intelligent, thoughtful, caring, upstanding members of society. Some of us are not. I challenge you to name a group of humans for whom these statements aren't true.

I know that most (all?) of my readers aren't atheist-haters. So maybe I'm preaching to the choir, so to speak. But this has been on my mind lately, and I wanted to share my thoughts with all of you. I'm curious to hear what you think about the topic. Please comment and let me know.

You can't really pin down atheists as a unified group, because we're anything but. However, here's some suggested reading for those who want to read a bit more about atheism:

Wikipedia's Atheism entry.

Sam Harris's excellent 10 Myths -- and 10 Truths -- About Atheism in the LA Times. Be sure to read number 10, which is perhaps the most damaging and disturbing myth about atheism.

I really love Penn Jillette's contribution to NPR's This I Believe series, found here. (I recommend listening rather than reading -- Penn is a compelling speaker.)

And, just for fun, check out this interesting list of celebrity nonbelievers.