Stan Taylor

Physicians tell the lessons they’ve learned from working in the ER. For instance:

Stay away from people named “Some Guy” or “This One Dude”, because they for whatever reason, just punch someone in the face or hit them with a crowbar and run off. If I see them on the street, I cross the street to get away from them.

Never, ever leave flashlights, shampoo bottles, beer bottles or any long, circular object on the floor because someday you will fall on it and it will somehow, work its way up your rectum.

If you have taken 7 home pregnancy tests that are all positive, and you come into the emergency department…chances are that test too will come back positive.

(via BoingBoing)

I did my graudate education in literary/cultural theory in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which means I was thoroughly immersed in deconstruction and post-structuralism: truth is relative, our thinking and reality are limited by language, human relations are all about power, etc. I was hit with Derrida in my first semester of grad school and the theories of Michel Foucault figured prominently in my dissertation.
Some would find it odd, then, that I became a Christian in the midst of this education, what with faith’s appeal to universal truth and the institutional nature of Christianity. I find deconstruction and post-structural theories interesting, useful and basically sound, but in retrospect, I think my embrace of faith represented an ultimate rejection of those theories. If you completely embrace those theories, the end result is hopelessness: we are each stuck in our own little reality–which itself might be an illusion–unable to genuinely communicate with others.
I guess I refused to go that far. I wanted and want to believe that there is some meaning to life. I’m not even sure that it’s God, but in a community of faith, I found a group of people who also want to believe that it’s possible to connect with others in a meaningful way (whatever that means).
Oh, I feel great ambivalence about the institutional nature of the church. And it’s damn hard to cut through all the crap that constitutes our daily lives to get to know others intimately, but at least the members of a faith community profess to believe it’s possible to do so. It’s that belief–that faith–that counts. And occasionally, I actually glimpse that connection.

I care a whit about football and have never watched any professional football game, but I noticed something this week: I guess you have to pay for rights to use the term ‘Super Bowl’ in your advertising. I noticed a sign outside a Luby’s yesterday, reminding people to order food for ‘the big game on Feb. 5’, and last night I saw a similar McDonald’s TV commercial also talking about the unnamed ‘big game.’

Here’s a great analogy from Fred Clark, a.k.a. Slacktivist:

I might be less skeptical of the Bush administration’s claim to be planning to cut the federal deficit in half over the next five (now four) years if they produced even the hint of something resembling a plan or an explanation of how they intend to do this.
It doesn’t help their credibility on this point that they’re also playing “Mom, I’m pregnant” every year with their deficit projections.
My friend Michelle got a tattoo, a modest, but conspicuous little dolphin on her ankle. This was bound to freak out her mom. So before showing her mom the ink, she told her she was pregnant. After letting her really freak out over that for a bit, she said, “Relax, mom, I’m not pregnant. I just got a tattoo and I didn’t want you to blow this out of proportion.”
No offense to Michelle, but this is a pretty dishonest trick. In her defense, she only did it once. The Bush administration has done this same thing year after year.
They project record-shattering deficits of half a trillion dollars or so, so that later, when the merely record-breaking figure of around $400 billion comes out they can claim that they’ve actually reduced the deficit from their previous, Mom-I’m-pregnant projection.

In his article, Early Retirement: Where to Live?, Philip Greenspun offers the following advice:

If you can rent anything decent, try to avoid buying property. Think about the most interesting people you know. Chances are, most of them are renters. People who rent talk about the books that they’ve read, the trips that they’ve taken, the skills that they are learning, the friends whose company they are enjoying. Property owners complain about the local politicians, the high rate of property tax, the difficulty of finding competent tradespeople, the high value of their own (very likely crummy) house or condo, and what kinds of furniture and kitchen appliances they are contemplating buying. Property owners are boring. The most boring parts of a property owner’s personality is that which relates to his or her ownership of real estate.

His article doesn’t apply to me, but his insight about home owners hits close to home nonetheless. For us middle-aged suburban homeowners with school-aged kids, the concerns include: property values, the quality of the schools, how new development (especially new rental property!) will lower the quality of the schools and our property values, traffic, planned maintenance and upgrades to our homes, etc. Boy, he’s right. That is boring stuff.
(via Rafe Colburn)

Common Dreams’ list of the top ten underreported news stories of 2005 is interesting, though I have issues with Common Dreams’ referring to the stories as ‘censored’.

This morning, I ran the 3M Half Marathon for the third time. I’m happy to report that I’m getting faster as I age. I ran it in 1998 and finished in 1:40:00. In 2001, I finished in 1:38:30. This morning, however, I finished in 1:36:00! That’s a 7:20 min/mile pace. Here are my general results and detailed results:

The half marathon is always a lot of fun. Here are some of the things I saw along the route this morning:

• a lederhosen-clad accodianist
• a kilt-clad bagpipe player
• unicyclists
• jugglers
• a juggler riding a unicycle
• a live band
• a terrified whitetail buck (with a big rack) next to Anderson high school

Keep Austin Weird bumper stickers are all the rage these days, but this morning this bumper sticker made me smile:

(Round Rock is a suburb of Austin)

I really have no idea how many people read my blog. If you do, I’d like to hear from you. Either add a comment to this post or drop me an email. I’d like to know:

• How long you’ve been reading my blog
• What you like and dislike about it
• How you found my blog, if you remember
• What you’d like to see more of

Thanks, Stan

I’ve forwarded the link to The Clergy Letter Project on to my pastors and other liberal Christian friends. From the project’s home page:

For too long, the misperception that science and religion are inevitably in conflict has created unnecessary division and confusion, especially concerning the teaching of evolution. I wanted to let the public know that numerous clergy from most denominations have tremendous respect for evolutionary theory and have embraced it as a core component of human knowledge, fully harmonious with religious faith.
In the fall of 2004, I worked with clergy throughout Wisconsin to prepare a statement in support of teaching evolution. We were called to action by a series of anti-evolution policies passed by the school board in Grantsburg, WI. The response was overwhelming. In a few weeks, nearly 200 clergy signed the statement, which we sent to the Grantsburg school board on December 16, 2004. Additionally, groups of educators and scientists sent letters to the Grantsburg School Board and to the Superintendent of Schools protesting these policies. In response to all of this attention, as well as the efforts of others, the Grantsburg School Board retracted their policies.
The outpouring of support from clergy around the country encouraged me to make this a nationwide project. If you want to read more about it or join us in sharing this important perspective, click here. Encourage your clergy to consider signing the statement and please feel free to link to these webpages. And, while the current focus is on Christian clergy, please let me know if you are willing to write and/or host a statement from other religions.
Sincerely,
Michael Zimmerman
Dean
College of Letters and Sciences
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

As a side note, I notice that University United Methodist Church in Austin is already signed up to celebrate Evolution Sunday. Makes me wish I were still a member there.