Thursday, December 15th, 2005

Time	Event
2:41p	Barriers to getting rich, part 3.... mamadeb commented: "This would tie into so many things - poor nutrition, lack of literacy and stimulation for the kids, poor housing (leading to asthma and other respiratory illnesses, which could affect cognition and will also lead to missing school), even lack of hope to improve, so that the parents don't think they can do anything anyway. And...yeah. There have to be other factors involved besides sheer poverty, though." The other factors appear to include the "genetic inheritance." That bothers me a great deal; it's one of those things that I don't want to be true. When I was a child, the subject of "bad blood" was a common topic of conversation; I despised the concept then and I despise it now. After I grew up and had children of my own I always said, "Give me a newborn infant -- any newborn infant -- to raise, and I'll give you a 'gifted child'," and when the solid evidence for the genetic component of intelligence began to accumulate it just horrified me. It still does. It's not that I don't understand that that genetic component is only part of the story; I don't want any of it to be genetic. But that's just my own Irrational Component kicking in. Suppose we set the nature versus nurture question aside. The thing that causes me the most concern is the evidence that no matter what the genetic intelligence inheritance may be, even if the original configuration is excellent, bad nutrition in the womb and/or the first couple of years of life can wipe that out and damage the brain permanently. That ought to mean that society would knock itself out to be sure that that kind of damage doesn't happen, because the consequences are horrendously expensive for all of us and it's in everybody's best interests to prevent it. Providing good nutrition would be so much cheaper than what we spend on the consequences of failing to provide it. Instead, we have a large part of the population grimly opposed to the social programs that could turn the situation around and perhaps give us at long last a generation free of that preventable brain damage. I cannot figure this out; it baffles me. (75 Comments | Comment on this)
5:10p	Writing science fiction; the Ellen Datlow/SCI FICTION Project For a long time now science fiction readers and writers have been greatly blessed by the abundance of terrific sf that was available to us online -- free, each and every week -- at SCI FICTION, under the skilled direction and editing of Ellen Datlow. There is, however, some sort of Law Of The Universe that says "The better something is, the more likely those in charge of it are to mess it up," and that's what has happened with SCI FICTION. Its Powers That Be at scifi.com have issued an imperial decree: There will be no more stories posted after December 31, 2005. Science fiction, unlike many other alleged communities, really is a community. We don't take this sort of stupidity lightly. We've been writing to protest the decision, for example; no results so far, but that only makes the protests more important. It's not December 31st yet. And then there's the splendid idea from David Schwartz, who has set up a website for his Ellen Datlow/SCI FICTION Project at http://edsfproject.blogspot.com/2005/11/list.html . The idea is that each story will have a commentary -- an Appreciation -- written to honor that story, its author, and Ellen Datlow. Please go look at what's already there. Links to more than three hundred archived sf short stories, for starters. Links to the many Appreciations that have been turned in and are now posted, to go on with. It's a marvel. I'm working on the Appreciation for Zenna Henderson's "Come On, Wagon" -- and hope to be able to do it as well as it ought to be done. I'm not satisfied with it yet, and I keep tweaking it, but will pretty soon have to stop that and turn it in. Not quite yet, but soon.... (4 Comments | Comment on this)
5:29p	Recommended link... If you haven't already read Mat Kelley's "Pentagon Rolls Out Stealth PR," it's at http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1214-01.htm .... If you have already read it, it's still there, needless to say. (And you will notice that the only time you have to use the phrase "needless to say" is when saying whatever-it-is is needful.) (2 Comments | Comment on this)
8:44p	Fruitcake afternote.... I forgot -- when I posted the fruitcake recipe -- to say that cheesecloth isn't your only alternative for soaking in rum and wrapping the fruitcake. Unbleached muslin is also okay, and so are plain white cotton dishtowels (kitchen towels) that are lint-free. (4 Comments | Comment on this)

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