Academia During a Pandemic: Hunker Down Philosophy 1A
COVID-19 is upon us in the good old United States of America. Like many totally great countries, we are really prepared for a global pandemic involving a virus for which there is no direct treatment and which kills vulnerable populations a tad too easily. We’re super prepared. Mega prepared. So prepared it’s like this country is run by very competent people. Believe me. Of course, the only true statement in that paragraph is the first one. COVID-19 is upon us. It is upon many people. And it’s here to stay for a while. In my dreams, the world rallies and kicks this ugly virus to the curb, minimizing the loss of life and paving the way for a glorious future where peoples and nations work together in harmony. They’ll build a new United Nations and form a global exploratory and scientific space organization and band together to revert climate change and pave the way for an era of nearly endless prosperity. We’ll discover new worlds, create amazing new technologies and art, and look back on the past as a shameful and pathetic time. Dream dream dream.
Life Log #03: Strange Spines, Mites, and BEER!
The past five days have been…interesting. Yes. Interesting. Let’s go with that. So, what happened?
Life Log #02: Fulfilling Dreams, Reading Weirdness
This week is a strange one. One of my dreams has started to come true. Today, the people secretly indicted by Robert Mueller turned themselves in, revealing that major members of the Trump administration may very well have committed serious crimes against the United States. A lot of us have been waiting for this moment, and it’s just the beginning. I’ll continue to hope this cascades into something great; otherwise, this is a good start. Having one dream come true also reminded me of another dream I fulfilled earlier this year. As you may recall, I attended Worldcon 75 in Finland. On the way, I decided to make some stops in Germany and Sweden to visit friends and go on some adventures. One of those adventures was riding this beauty:
The Downsides to Owning Way Too Many Books
Yeah, I know. There’s no such thing as “too many books,” except when there is. As I mentioned recently, I’ve been slogging through Stephen King’s IT on a mission to get a fuller picture of the story we’ve been told 1.5 times in film. When I say “slogging,” I mean it. For all that I enjoy about the book, there are so many things that I don’t, most notably its massive page count and glacial pace. It comes back to that “big books” problem, which I’ve talked about before (probably on Twitter somewhere) — albeit in a somewhat different context. In brief, I’ve avoided books over 300-350 pages for years simply because I work so much and read too slow. With all that swirling around in my head, I decided to put IT down for a bit to put my brain into something else. All of this leads me to my topic for today:
SF and Food: The Future Shall Be Fed
When I think about representations of food in science fiction, I’m struck by the fact that a lot of science fiction simply washes over the issue of production and distribution. Food is almost always “around” in SF literature. After all, most SF characters have to eat something from time to time (though they never poop). However, very little of the genre actually directly addresses the future economics of food, and even when it does, it’s usually a cursory glance. The one exception might be the dystopian genre, especially Soylent Green (1973). Since dystopia and starvation go hand in hand, the genre is naturally concerned with food.
Life Log #01: My Back Isn’t Broken and Media Consumed
Currently Reading: IT by Stephen King (pg. 380 of 1184) Currently Watching: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Season 1) Mood: Pleasantly Unperturbed I had an appointment with a physical therapist today — the first of two. For the past two weeks, I’ve been out of commission from some sort of exercise-induced back injury. Nothing serious. Just a little localized pain and noticeable tightness. Rather than ignore it, I used the free healthcare options I have on hand to get expert advice on what is going on. And the verdict? My back isn’t broken, my spine is in working order, and all I’ve done is sprained the lower back muscles. This is partly due to general weakness in the core, back, and thigh regions. That means I need to do more focused exercises to build those areas up so they aren’t being pulled about by all the other bits. Or something like that.