nyny

book recommendation

Lately I've been reading this book by Gerald Schroeder. I'm a little less than halfway finished, but so far it's proven to be extremely helpful. I've had questions rolling around in my head literally for years now about the history of the universe and the origins of life. It's been really difficult for me to reconcile intelligent, scientific awareness with creationism as taught by the church. It's by no means a perfect book, so I'm not taking everything he says at face value. However, this is the first time I've ever felt hope in existing as both a scientifically literate person and a person of faith in regards to this topic; those two camps don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Schroeder goes into significant detail in explaining complex concepts, so you have to really stay with it and pay attention to what you are reading. It's really worth it though. His discussion of the theory of relativity is particularly thorough and engaging. Throughout my scholastic career, I specifically remember only three things that I had substantial difficulty understanding. The first was the concept of negative numbers in 5th grade. The second was the concept of imaginary numbers in 9th grade. Both of those things took a couple of days for me to get a handle on. The third thing was the theory of relativity in my 11th grade physics class. I just absolutely could not understand how time could slow down. I think some of this is due to the fact that my physics teacher wasn't really that great, but until now I've never really understood the concept. I guess I've never really been confronted with it or been in a situation where I was forced to understand it (for some reason we didn't cover it in my college physics class). Now, eight years after my introduction to this theory, Schroeder has explained it in such a way that I now have a real handle on it. It may seem unimportant to some, but this accomplishment is really satisfying and feels significant to me.

Anyway, it's a good book. You should read it if you are dealing with similar issues/thoughts.

posted by becka @ 11:19 PM 0 Comments

meet Sarah Morton

Last week I visited my friend's second grade classroom at New York City PS 106. I came as a pilgrim girl named Sarah Morton, and read them a book about the first Thanksgiving and taught them all about life at Plymoth Rock. As you can see from the pictures, it was pretty awesome. This school/classroom/neighborhood is pretty much straight up ghetto, so it was a blast hanging out and interacting with these kiddos... they were hilarious!

posted by becka @ 12:36 AM 1 Comments

spotted

This morning on the subway platform I sat next to and met/talked to this guy,

who I immediately recognized from his brief but memorable three episode stint on "Alias," season 4. The subway and "Alias" have proven to be a pretty good combination for me, since it was just about six months ago that I shared a subway car and conversation with another, more prominent character on "Alias," this guy:

posted by becka @ 2:39 PM 2 Comments

hmmm

I'm trying to decide what I think of the Amazon Kindle. While I'm excited about the concept and gadgetry of it, I just think it'd be a shame if the Kindle does for books what the iPod did for CDs. Guess the jury is still out on this one.

posted by becka @ 1:47 PM 0 Comments

3 words

Eat it, Buckeyes!!!!

posted by becka @ 6:29 PM 2 Comments

ewwww

Yesterday I saw an article reporting that Ashley Olsen and Lance Armstrong have been spotted making out all over Manhattan. Let me say it for you: eww, gross.

posted by becka @ 12:07 PM 1 Comments

detoxing

Today I'm starting a 10-day detox/cleanse called "The Master Cleanser." So far it's been going ok, but it's only noon on the first day. As 21st century Americans, this is supposed to be one of the best things we can do for ourselves... the detox cleans out everything that has built up as a result of years of eating processed foods, refined sugars, and the like.

For 10 days, I will ingest only what is loosely called "lemonade." Here's the recipe:

2 tbsp. freshly sqeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp. grade B maple syrup
1/10 tsp. cayenne pepper
10 oz. water

I think I can have anywhere between 6-12 of these per day. Also, I'm supposed to have a laxative herbal tea each evening and a quart of sea salt saline solution each morning. Should be fun. I'm a little nervous about having to give up diet coke for the next couple of weeks, but besides that I think it will be a good experience.

posted by becka @ 11:59 AM 2 Comments