During most of childhood, my go-to answer for “what do you want to be when you grow up?” was marine biologist. It’s a relatively common nerd-child response (or was). Sharks. You know. But briefly, maybe just for a year or more, my answer changed to herpetologist. I loved reptiles, and it seemed a lovely alternative to spending all my time in boats (that’s how I imagined the life of a marine biologist). This was before I discovered my utter uselessness at doing real scientific work. High school biology dissections? No. High school biology anything? Nope. Even grasping basic Mendelian … [Read more...]
Halloween is for Winners: The Danger of Costume Block
Halloween is almost upon us. No it isn’t, you say? It’s actually four months away? What are you yammering on about? Ok, I hear you. Halloween is a cold weather holiday, and it’s currently one billion degrees outside. Halloween celebrates the dark, but the sun won’t set until midnight tonight (not applicable to my thousands of high and low-latitude readers. Literally THOUSANDS). Let me rephrase. Halloween is almost upon me. It’s my favorite holiday, but I always muck it up with poor planning. That’s why I have to start now. For a guy who likes to think he has imagination, … [Read more...]