Want to know if you are gay?

I love Scientific American. I'm currently reading about the origin of the human species in an awesome special edition of the magazine.

In other news: I was trolling their site and found [this] very interesting article. It states that a new study has found that the odds of a man being gay are increased based on the number of biological brothers he has. It doesn't matter if the brothers grew up with the man or not, just the fact that the mother gave birth to other boys does the trick.

The article didn't mention why this would be the case, or potential benefits species-wise, but states that the mother may produced certain antibodies that causes a subsequent male child to be gay.

I have a theory, one of population control. Maybe homosexuality is nature’s way of making sure a species doesn't propagate too much. After producing a certain number of boys (walking inseminators) a woman's body produces antibodies that influence her next boy to be gay. Thereby helping to ensure he won't go out and create more humans.

I love the idea. Though, of course, there are plenty of gay men who are only children or don't have any brothers (why is everyone looking at me?) but I think the theory holds in general, and the study speaks for itself.

That is, until it's proven incorrect.

[Go read it.]

My last day, but not

Well, today is my last day at my job, but not really. I am coming back after a one month absence as a 'casual,' non-student, employee. I did, however, get a 'party' with a vegan German chocolate cake, which was delicious but left us all delerious with sugar and coconut. Sadly, fellow blogger Laurinha was not able to enjoy said cake, although she is a fellow employee of the office I am not leaving. Needless to say, the party was a bit anticlimactic, not only because it was at 11 AM when I am working until 5, but because I AM NOT LEAVING, as I keep having to explain to confused professors who have phds but little comprehension of basic things. Still, a party is a party.

Recycling of info...

Here's something intersting I found here:

An influential British art gallery owner has launched a virtual art gallery that allows any artist to showcase their work online. Saatchi's Your Gallery also has an accompanying online magazine with “news, reviews, diaries, events, and photojournals.” The site is completely free for artists to use, and in only a few weeks has amassed thousands of galleries and 6-digit transactions from sale of the work.

6 degrees of blogeration...

Looking at the list of contributors to this glorious collective blog, it donned on me that I only know 2 other people who are on there. I assume that Jen (Jennifer, if you're nasty) is the focal point, connecting all of us.

In any event, I'd love to see some sort of flow chart of sorts, blog family tree if you will, showing how each of us is connected.

And maybe it would be fun if we each did one of those crappy-bio-answering-questions things. Maybe just like age, location, profession etc.

Good idea, right? Or am I a floppy disk?

A link and 2 unrelated ebay purchases

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/features/undocumented_war/

A Non-Hierarchical List in Progress of My "Hi, Bye" Friends

As the name suggests, this list is incomplete. It is just a beginning. For further information about the details of Hi, Bye friendship, please see Jonathan Goldstein's piece in TAL episode: Allure of the Mean Friend, 9/5/03, Episode 245 www.thisamericanlife.org. Here goes:

Robert Rosenblum, curator emeritus for the Guggenheim
The superintendent on Waverly Place who once asked me out
Fred Ritchin, photo historian I have met many times but never seems to be able to place me
Emily Stephens, girlfriend of conversational friend
The janitor in my building
Abe Lincoln (Mike something), friend of friends, Abraham Lincoln look-alike
The jovial 30-something man who is always in the digital lab and may or may not be a professor in the film department
Sandra Jackson, Director of Education, Studio Museum in Harlem
Veronica, from the cage
The bagel guy
Dosa man

Bulletin Boards and the Internet

The internet in general and bulletin boards in particular have had an impact on the entertainment industry by providing an open forum for untethered criticism. I offer the following pieces of evidence: "Lost"-direct responses to internet criticism woven into the show, "Snakes on a Plane"-the title was kept and additions made as a result of internet chatter, the rerelease of the 70s version of Star Wars after internet grumbling, "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"-a sequence in which bulletin board posters are punched in the face for their insulting posts, "American Idol" - responded directly to internet accusations of fraud by various contestants.

This sort of stuff wouldn't have happened 10 years ago. Imagine in "Twin Peaks" if someone randomly said "So, who attacked Dr. Jacoby anyway? We never found out!".

A Dirty Little Secret

I recently discovered that two members of this blog have a podcast. Listen to them and get a sense of what it would be like to have to date one of them.
http://mr-podcast.blogspot.com/
From here you can link to their other podcast which comprises their theories of the cult show Lost.

Oh so close....

According to this generation's Albert Einstein, Dr. Stephen Hawkins, or Stevo as his friends call him, says Humans are close to figuring it all out--universe-wise.

Read more here.

What's interesting, and rather disconcerting, is that the Hawkster questions how Humans will survive the next 100 years. 100 years!? 500 years, 1000 years, I can understand. But 100 is just, forgive me, brief in the history of time.

In other news, Stevo is writing a children's book on theortical physics, with his daughter. I think the title is "Green Eggs and How String Theory is the Closest Model We Have to Describing the Nature of the Universe."

An Open Call

Hey Folks,

Well, now that summer is (not technically) here, people keep asking me* "Jen, now that summer is (not technically) here, what should I read in my spare time?" Well, I am now issuing a call to all you wonderful people to email me book recommendations (to jen@jenniferlehe.com) and I will compile and blog a reading list. Feel free to snub my request, but know that in so doing you are contributing to illiteracy.
~Jen

P.S. What do you think of my business card design. I know, me with a business card is laughable.


* People have not really been asking me this, most people are surprised that I read

3 mintues o' fun

Here's another example of someone with too much free time creating something that's interesting but something we'll all forget about when the next cool thing comes.

Here,you can view this nifty applet that details the most used words in Presidental State of Union addresses.

It's a good way to kill a few mintues.

It also tells you the grade level of the speech. I was surprised to see George Washington scoring almost the highest. I won't metion which president's speeches are on some of the lowest grade levels...but it's G. W. Bush.