JD’s friend stopped at her place after work as she said she would and learned that JD had fallen four (4) days ago.
She said she was talking, but w/ a bit of slurred speech.
She called an ambulance and took her to the hospital:
UC Health – Memorial Hospital Central
1400 E. Boulder Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
They’re doing tests and X-rays, but JD’s friend (who’s helping get her checked in and settled) said her nurse did NOT think she had a stroke. And the friend doesn’t think she hit her head.
But she’s got quite a bit of shoulder pain.
I doubt I’ll learn much more tonight. So while not a great story it could have been a lot worse!
If/when I learn more tomorrow, I’ll try to post it here.
No doubt we all share the same concern about our diligent leader, Joanne, not having posted a new article or replied to any Comments for over 48 hours.
Last evening, I called the phone number I have for her – but it just rang. Apparently, she does not have a voicemail machine. And she has said she doesn’t have a cell phone.
I also sent her an email but have not heard back.
This morning I texted the person she said helps her out from time-to-time and asked if she knew anything, and could she check on Joanne.
She was working but said she’ll do that right after work today.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
If anyone feels that today’s article coupled with my remarks constitute more of a personal rant than a political statement, I won’t disagree. However, if politics is to be regarded as a means of improving (and then maintaining and building upon those improvements – a proposition which seems to be losing suppport, but which should not be, then the personal Is political – is, indeed, the foundation of all politics. And it distresses me personally me that we seem to be going backwards, not only on this political point, but also on our cultural understanding of reality. I am not old enough to have see Christine Jorgenson in a movie, but I am old enough to have heard about her, and heard that she was a female soul (or person, or personality – I’m sure not everyone used the word soul – born into a male body. That made sense to me thenm and it still makes sense as an explanation, and still makes it quite clear that Christine had no choice in the matter. Yet, we were told then, and many of our worse, this youth are still being told today, that “gay” is a choice. Because “God doesn’t make mistakes.” No one appears to grasp the implication here -that, “No, God doesn’t make mistakes. You just think, in your arrogance, that you know what constitutes a mistake better than God does.” Dorothy L. Sayers knew better than that – in a novel published in the 1930’s, she has the character of a poorly educated farmer say of an elderly lesbian, “The Lord makes some on ’em that way to suit his own purposes.” These days, our “poorly educated” think they know better then their own all-knowing God.
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Biological sex is far from binary − this college course examines the science of sex diversity in people, fungi and across the animal kingdom
Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.
Title of course:
Diversity of Biological Sex Characteristics
What prompted the idea for the course?
Most people view biological sex, or the physical features related to reproduction, as simple and binary – either male or female. Even those who recognize that gender – referring to cultural norms around biological sex, or a person’s internal feeling of being masculine, feminine or both – can be complex and nuanced don’t see biological sex in the same way. Many also regard variability in sex and gender as exclusive to people – not found in nonhuman animals.
I am a behavioral neurobiologist who has been teaching human physiology since 1998. Over the past several years, I have focused my reading and writingon the biology of sex. It struck me that many of my students had misguided assumptions about sex characteristics, including that all people are physically either 100% male or 100% female.
First, we examine why sexual reproduction evolved in any species. This question is still hotly debated among biologists because sex is inefficient. It requires time and energy to find a suitable mate and unite your sex cells, plus it allows you to pass on only half your genes to your offspring.
In comparison, asexual reproduction – essentially cloning yourself – is much more efficient. You don’t have to find a mate, and everyone can produce offspring themselves because there are no males. In biology, “male” refers to an individual that makes small sex cells like sperm, and “female” refers to an individual that makes large sex cells like eggs.
Sex characteristics manifest in different ways across the animal kingdom.
We then transition from nonhuman animals to people, via the brain. We learn about a few smallbrain structures in vertebrates that likely have reproductive functions and are differently sized in females versus males on average. We also learn that most people have some brain structures that are more typically male, others that are more typically female and still others that are intermediate – in other words, most people are mosaics of female-typical and male-typical brain sex characteristics.
Perhaps more than ever, there is a debate about how to treat people who do not fit neatly into a female or a male box. Many assume that biological sex is binary and regard transgender and nonbinary people as mistaken or confused. In addition, for many decades, intersex infants have undergone surgical procedures to make them appear more typically male or female. Even those who support transgender, nonbinary and intersex people often assume that biological sex is binary. But this assumption is not anchored in evidence.
What will the course prepare students to do?
Students often say that before they took this course, they had no idea biological sex characteristics could be so diverse, despite having taken several biology courses.
An improved awareness of the complexity of biological sex may help shape the research and teaching of future biologists. This will help them design experiments that take account of the diversity of their subjects and be more inclusive in their teaching. It may also help all students ask better questions and make better judgments about social and political issues related to sex and gender.
Ari Berkowitz, Presidential Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Biology; Director, Cellular & Behavioral Neurobiology Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma
============================================================== Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, that’s really all I have to say – and no doubt it’s more than enough.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Le Comte Ory” by Giacchino Rossini (I could be wrong, but I always figured “Giacchino” was a diminutive of “Giacomo”, which, if so, would make him “Jimmy.” But names translate unpredictably.) You may be wondering why an Italian composer wrote an opera which is obviously in French. And the obvious answer is that he was attempting to build an international reputation, as did many Italian composers in the 19th century. My guess on this one is that it may have been a bit too risque for Italy. It’a about a young count, young enough not to have been expected to go fight in the crusades, who spends the opera doing his durnedest to seduce the faithful wife of another noble who did go off to fight in the crusades. She’s not interested, at least not in him – his page (a “trouser role”) does catch her eye. The count does manage, in Act II, to get into her castle by dressing (himself and all his knights) as nuns (supposedly seeking refuge from horny knights.) He even, in the final scene, gets into her bedroom (and her bed) by faking being terrified, as one does (in Hallowe’en movies.) But the page is there too. I can imagine all kinds of suggestive stage business for this scene – but have never seen any, as modern American audiences are not much like 19th century French ones. In any case – Rossini never let anyone down musically – and that includes Bugs Bunny and the Lone Ranger.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Atlanta Black Star – ‘I’m Just In Shock!’:Chaos Erupts on School Bus As Two Florida Moms Tussle Over a Toy While Children ‘Cower In Fear’
Quote – As the bus pulled up to the stop on Parkland Circle and U.S. 192, the parents could hear the youngsters going back and forth. Instead of de-escalating the conflict between the children, the video shows the two moms taking it to the next level, forcing their way onto the bus to where the kids are seated. The clip shows the women, whom authorities have not named, throwing fists at each other and boxing each other in the aisle and then later on the blue seats. The students scream loudly, with one child saying, “Mommy, no!” A bus attendant was seen making the students get out of the way and move toward the back of the bus. At the same time, the bus driver and another adult attempted to separate the women. The fight was brutal, with footage showing one of the “ladies” being placed in a headlock. The altercation lasted for approximately 15 minutes. Click through for full story. Of course, it’s tempting to sggest the whole story is in the word “Florida” – but I’m thinking the wors “Karen” is more to the point – and they are everywhere (and all genders.) And these are the “Won’t somebody think of the children” creeps.
The Root – Sacramento Police Mistake an 8-Year-Old Black Boy for a Teenage Felon?!
Quote – The latest example occurred two weeks ago, when Shanice Stewart, a pregnant Black woman, was driving her 8-year-old son Brandon to football practice late in the afternoon, according to KCRA. Then out of nowhere, Sacramento police officers pulled them over, asking her to throw her keys out of the window and exit the car slowly with her hands in the air. KCRA reported that it wasn’t because Stewart made a lane violation or her tags were out of date. It’s because they thought that her 8-year-old son fit the description of a suspect who’s wanted on two felonies, one being gun possession.
Click through for details, including the detail that Mom is pregnant. I hope she doesn’t miscarry… but,, if she does, I hope she sues them hard (and in any case, I hope she wins therapy costs). A six-year age difference – well, I’m 78, and I would not be hurt to be mistaken for 84. But generally, the difference between 8 and 14 involves puberty. So much is wrong here – not the least being the difference between equality and equity. And don’t even get me started on qualified immunity.
Who is Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House? Who is this man, who sits two heartbeats away from the Oval Office?
What we do know about him: He is an anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ, anti-POC, anti-contraception, anti-vax, anti-woman, pro-theocracy bugnut who believes that the perfectly fair 2020 election was rigged and wants to give Big Business even more tax breaks. He was an aggressive architect of the effort to overturn the most recent Presidential election results – he signed onto an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit that was an effort to invalidate votes from some battleground states where Biden won. He regards Social Security as a Ponzi scheme, and wants to undermine that program, as well as Medicare and Medicaid. He blames the “human heart” on all the gun violence in the USA. He voted against sending assistance to the Ukrainians – twice.
Maybe the GQP selected him because of his mild-mannered nerdy appearance. Even his name sounds generic. Also, he doesn’t have the name-recognition baggage that many of the other candidates for Speaker did. However, as the ancient saw goes, looks can be deceiving. Peek beneath sheep’s clothing and you may find a ravening wolf. He has been described as “Jim Jordan with a jacket and a smile.” The main reason he was picked, no doubt, is because his lips are firmly attached to tRump’s fat rear end.
He says that his faith “informs everything I do.” James Madison quoted, way back in the 18th century, “There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion. Its least interference with it would be a most flagrant usurpation.” We have seen what happens when government and religion intermingle, and the results are never pretty. It has led to pogroms and literal witch hunts, oppression of women and racial/ethnic minorities, persecution of non-binary people and those who follow the “wrong” religion.
In an interview on Real America’s Voice, Matt Gaetz asserted that the MAGA movement is ascendent, and making Johnson Speaker of the House shows “where the power in the Republican Party truly lies.” Mike Johnson is just another puppet of tRump, who will maintain TFG’s power in our government and over Republicans. Currently there are no moderate Republicans – they are all MAGA extremists and wack jobs. A while ago I wrote an essay titled “R.I.P. GOP” about how the Republicans have degenerated into a cult of personality, shamelessly worshipping the Golden Calf – or, rather, the Orange Ogre.
Then there is the often-replayed incident when a reporter asks Johnson about the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and a horde of Republicans boo and one yells “Shut up!” like a spoiled infant. The same reporter gets a similar negative response when asking about aid for Israel and Ukraine.
Johnson believes that gay marriage is “the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic,” and that SCOTUS’ rulings upholding separation of church from state go against Scripture. He wants to institute national bans on abortion and gay sex. In an interview with Fox News, he said “I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘It’s curious, people are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview.’ That’s what I believe and so I make no apologies for it.”
If that doesn’t scare the pants off you, what will?
And it gets better – or worse. He claims that mass shootings are the result of no-fault divorce laws, teaching evolution in schools, and the counterculture of the 1960s. He blames Roe v Wade for removing “able-bodied workers” from the economy to provide for Social Security. Really? How are those “able-bodied” workers supposed to support social programs when they have a hard time finding work since so many jobs have gone overseas or been automated – or when they’re in prison, earning laughable excuses for wages doing what amounts to slave labor? You want kids to grow up to support you, then you better make sure they can support you when they grow up.
By ousting Kevin McCarthy but getting Mike Johnson, this country may have gone from the frying pan into the fire. Fortunately, US registered voters have a little over 12 months to get organized and give the House a blue majority again.
Yesterday, the mass shooting in Maine reached some other news outlets, including Wonkette. I heard about it a couple of days ago from Joyce Vance. I wanted more detail before passing it on, but her take did inspire me to make today’s cartoon, and bump a different one (which I hadn’t finished anyway). Also, I received the email that my ballot has been counted. I can now display the “I voted” sticker, which was thoughtfully included in the envelope with the blank ballot. And I came across today’s Food for Thought, which is clearly a Public Service Announcement, so by all means pass it on.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Wonkette (Substack) – Search Continues For Whichever Antifa Biden Lib Forced Maine Shooter To Pretend To Be A Right-Winger
Quote – America is picking its way through the aftermath of yet another mass shooting, this time in Lewiston, Maine, where at least 18 people died and at least 13 others were wounded … when another previously law abiding gun owner stopped abiding the law and shot up a bowling alley and a restaurant. The reported casualty numbers … have varied widely, and may well rise. The suspected shooter is still at large as we write this, as law enforcement from all over join in searching for the shooter or perhaps his body and cable news fills time with expert opinion. People in the area have been told to shelter in place until the shooter is found. Businesses and schools are closed in Lewiston and several other locations around the state. Click through for details – not that they aren’t much like every other details from every other mass shooting ever. Only the names and the numbers seem to change.
The Root – Freddie Krueger Who? Karen is the Real Face of Terror For Black America
Quote – In a world where law enforcement violence against Black Americans is far too common, where stereotypes still abound, the true face of terror is not Chucky or the Nun. It’s Karen…. Doesn’t matter if the Black person in question is a man or a woman. Doesn’t matter if they are strong or weak. Doesn’t matter if they are an adult or a child. Karen can get them. She can still drag them to hell. Click through for story. Heaven knows people of any hue can find Karens annoying. But white people tend not to think of them as weapons of war. We need to look harder – and deeper. This goes back at leeast to the antebellum south and the character of “Miss Ann.” And it has been, and still can be, deadly.
