I really hate the way it sounds, “I’m highly sensitive” but that doesn’t make it less true.

There’s an online questionnaire you can take, and for me, some of the questions are gimmies:

I am particularly sensitive to the effects of caffeine.
I startle easily.
I make a point to avoid violent movies and TV shows.

Hell, I’ve been teased about all those things for years. “GOD NO! Don’t let Michelle drink coffee!”

Of course, some of the things don’t fit. I don’t see myself as more sensitive to pain, but I am super bothered by some physical sensations, like itchy clothes or the seam on my socks being in the wrong place. And “I find it unpleasant to have a lot going on at once.” is false, perhaps because I’m simply used to chaos.

Does this discovery matter in the long run?

Not really.

But it is interesting. And I found some interesting suggestions on how to deal with being sensitive.

Realize that you’re the one and only master over yourself, and no one can have power over you unless you let them.
Don’t take things personally.

Both of those are easier said that done, and are things I have a very hard time with, but, as with many things, it sometimes helps to know that it’s not that I’m crazy, it’s just that I react differently than many people.

Not bad, just different.

Something a little different today.

Today, I want either the opening line, or the punch line, to a joke you love.

Feel free to post as many as you like.

I’ll start you off:

“A string? No, I’m a frayed knot.”

And my all time favorite:

“I’m positive.”

Nope.

I did, however, start a new job, so my brain has been super full of that.

So far I REALLY like my new job. I like what I’m doing, I like my co-workers, and I like the potential this job has.

I’d been so miserable in my last job for so long, I think I’m kind of in shock right now.

Now that I’m settling into my new schedule, and have gotten most of my Christmas shopping done, I’m going to try to get back into posting her semi-regularly.

And I’ll keep up with Wednesday Word Association Games. I promise!

No, I’m not telling you the news. Which makes today’s word: secret

I wrote about kid’s books, as you probably noted in my earlier posts.

Kids Books Part I: Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers
Kids Books Part II: Pre-Schoolers and Middle Grade Readers
Kids Books Part III: Middle Grade and Older Readers

(Those posts are on my book blog–if you click through to Amazon and then buy a book, I get a penny or two.)

 
————-
 

I read a lot about the continued issues women are having, as well as their hidden roles in history

A chance to discuss sexism & misogyny in science communication: DNLee, Bora, & the SciAm fiasco
Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy
‘We Have Always Fought’
Proud Dad Of Two Geek Girls Talks Superheroes, Disney Princesses, And Barbie

 
————-
 

I discovered new blogs:
Women You Should Know
The History Girls

And you MUST see this blog post on Daddy’s Little Prop: The Littlest Turtle

 
————-
 

I also came across a fascinating study about aging.

Here is the press release: Scientist Uncovers Internal Clock Able to Measure Age of Most Human Tissues
Here is the article: DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types (Not sure if you’ll be able to read that or not.)

The whole concept is fascinating, but the discoveries relating to the rates at which tissue around tumors “age” compared to normal healthy tissue seems like it would have to many amazing applications. (It also logically makes sense that tumors would be “older” than healthy tissues, since they are unregulated growth.)

The other thing I would love to see is more study on the discovery that women’s breasts age faster than the rest of their bodies.

Studies have pointed to an earlier onset of puberty in girls over the last century. I’m very curious as to whether that has any relation to this differential in breast age.

Absolutely fascinating discovery.

 
————-
 

And I ordered some fun stuff from Etsy.

Speaking of fun…

This is quite possibly the most adorable thing I’ve seen in a long time (seriously, click through and see the other two pictures):

 
 
And speaking of foxes, there’s a fox living on the White House grounds.

 
 
——
 
 

I discovered some new websites:

Bad Figure: God-awful good-for-nothing figures from cutting-edge published research.

frex:

 
 
Buzz Hoot Roar is comics + science.
 
 
And discarded images, which is a tumblr dedicated to the images found in the marginalia of illuminated manuscripts.

frex:

weasel: ‘The weasel is called mustela, ‘a long mouse’, so to speak, for theon [telos] in Greek means ‘long’. […] It hunts snakes and mice. […] Some say that weasels conceive through the ear and give birth through the mouth; others say, on the contrary, that they conceive through the mouth and give birth through the ear…’ (transl. Aberdeen Bestiary Project)

Bestiary, Thérouanne ca. 1270.

LA, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS. Ludwig XV 3, fol. 91v

 
 
——-
 
 

I discovered the West Virginia State Park Program: Hiking West Virginia and have absolutely no idea how I didn’t know about this before.

 
 
——-
 
 

I learned how to make a penguin wetsuit, in case that need ever arises.

 
 
——-
 
 
And on Facebook, my friends and I had a long discussion on body image and the treatment of women in the media.

There was a link on Facebook purporting to show how celebrities look in real life versus in magazines. But it was magazines photos compared to candid shots, and bothered me for several reasons:

1. It was ALL women. No men.
2. The “normal” shots were paparazzi shots. I think paparazzi are a scourge upon the world.
3. There’s no time comparison–were the photos taken weeks, months, years apart?
4. A lot of the paparazzi shots were vacation shots. Come on, who hasn’t pigged out on vacation and worn comfortable clothes?

Essentially, I felt it was just mean.

But, it IS true that the image of women that is presented in the media is unrealistic and completely unachievable. So I found some sites that had much better (and far less mean) comparisons, that let you see people at the best, and how photoshop is still used to manipulate those images.

Links of interest:
23 Celebrities Before & After Photoshop
40 Amazing Before and After Photo Retouching Photos
The Reality of Celebrity Photoshop: Before and After

And that’s what happened this week.

Thanks to Janiece, I discovered both Lindsey Stirling AND Pentatonix

Here they are doing a cover of Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive, which blew me away:

Once you watch that, go check out some of Lindsey Stirling’s videos, if you haven’t seem them before.

 
 
—–
 
 

I continue to love Dinosaur Comics.

 
 
—–
 
 

Science is beautiful AND amazing…

 
 
—–
 
 

I’m currently listening to Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch, which I re-read over the summer.

It’s somewhat odd, in that it’s narrated by Paul Michael, who has an American accent, but all the dialog is read with Russian accents. What makes this especially odd is the story is written in first person, so it seems like Anton is thinking in an American accent, but speaking in a Russian accent.

It’s not bad, and I love the stories, but it takes some getting used to.

 
 
—–
 
 

Are you on Pinterest? I use it for a place to stash things I might like to come back to. Like these color photos from 100 years ago:

I’d found that article back when it first came out, then forgot about it, and so was overjoyed to find it again. Now I have a link to it on Pinterest.

 
 
—–
 
 

Have I mentioned Gravity Glue before? If not, it’s an amazing site. He balances rocks.

No. Really. He does.

And it’s amazing.

 
 
—–
 
 

And I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but The Oatmeal is genius.

World War II in Europe: Losses and gains in territory over the course of the war.

It’s fascinating, but also horrifying when you consider how many lives were lost every time a small piece of territory changed sides.

Major points are noted in this iO9 article (where I found the video).

——

What was that you wanted? A laser rifle?

Here you go! A British company has built one!

——

Until October 20th, there’s a giant rubber duck in Pittsburgh on the Allegheny River.

—–

I loved these pictures of cliffside walkways.

And really, I loved the comments on the iO9 story almost as much.

9jack9U
Rejected Chinese tourism slogan: “Watch your fucking step!”

Gemmabeta
And also, “honestly, we are not trying to jinx your experience, but we would still like you to pay in advance.”

——

This is just plain gorgeous:

——

And finally, this seems like it should be a really terrible joke, but somehow, this book exists.

No. Really. IT EXISTS.

And over at SBTB, they have a review of it.

I HAD A PERFECTLY LOVELY LIFE WITHOUT THIS KNOWLEDGE AND NOW I CAN NEVER LIVE A LIFE WHERE I DID NOT READ THIS.

No, seriously. Someone wrote Dinosaur Erotica AND IT WAS PUBLISHED.

I discovered Bird and Moon comics, and quite enjoyed it.

For example:

 
—————
 

I found the statement M.I.A. made regarding being sued by the NFL very interesting.

First, because the NFL is being insanely stupid this. But secondly–and more importantly–because of this comment:

The frame you’re looking for has my middle finger in the foreground, and the larger picture where it zooms out is a row of 10-15 cheerleaders, young black females, that Madonna got from a local high school in Indianapolis, and they were all under 16. If you look at them, they’re all wearing cheerleader outfits, hips thrusted in the air, legs wide open, in this very sexually provocative position.

So, now, they’re scapegoating me into figuring out the goalposts on what is offensive in America. Like, is my finger offensive, or is the underage black girl with her legs wide open more offensive to the family audience? That’s basically what it comes down to.

You can click on the link to see the picture if you choose. But she’s right–why is it okay to have teenagers hyper-sexualized, but flipping someone the middle finger is horrifying?

And really, had no one in the NFL ever SEEN an M.I.A. video? (The second video is really quite disturbing, but that was her point.)

 
—————
 

I also discovered Evil Diva comics.

This comic answers the question: What if you don’t want to be evil but were born that way? (After reading through the archives, I do believe her father is my favorite character.)

 
—————
 

Mental illnesses as monsters

I really liked these depictions.

 
—————
 

Apparently, Serbian research (and Romanian publishing) have a few problems they need to work out.

Authors spoof pub with Ron Jeremy and Michael Jackson references

They also throw in references to the “Journal of Modern Illogical Studies,” which to the best of our knowledge does not and never has existed (although perhaps it should), and to a researcher named, dubiously, “A.S. Hole.” And, we hasten to add, the noted Kazakh polymath B. Sagdiyev, otherwise known as Borat.

Oops!

 
—————
 

And for no reason except that I love it, and it’s good to end on a positive note:

Joshua Nelson and the Klezmatics (I don’t even try to embed YouTube videos anymore. SOrry.)

I COME IN PEAS!

Since I seem to have nothing to post at the end of the week anymore (Should I bring back Friday Cat Blogging, perhaps?) here are some of the things around the Internet that interested me this week.

A couple weeks ago, I put WWII Today in my RSS feed. It posts events from WWII 70 years after their happenings. I fully admit that I scan many of the posts, but some of them are quite fascinating. Take this post from the 14th: Auschwitz: selected to work by Mengele. It IS a depressing read, but also a fascinating one.

I looked up and saw the paradoxical Auschwitz sign, “Work makes you free.” By leaving Auschwitz, I felt that we had a new lease on life. A large group of people were being led into the camp. They were gypsies, and I had to think of the contradiction, that they, people who loved so much their free spirit, were also chained in Auschwitz.

And the photos are amazing, especially placed in context.

This was my grandparent’s generation, and as far in the past as it seems, my father was a child during this part of the war.

——–

As you can tell, I’ve been baking more, now that the temperatures have dropped, and think I really need to make this recipe for pumpkin sweet rolls.

As there are conflicting reports as to whether the weather this summer has damaged many pumpkin crops, I’ll be making sure to pick up my pumpkins early this year.

——–

I supported Stacey, in her walk in memory of Mo, my friend Janiece’s daughter, who committed suicide this summer.

I’ve talked recently about depression, and know it’s a terribly difficult subject for some people to discuss–or even admit–but if you’re feeling depressed, TALK TO SOMEONE.

——–

I’ve started listening to the WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE podcast, which is very demented and not for everyone.

But I like it.

——–

And I’ve spent a lot of time this week being annoyed at Microsoft. This isn’t particularly anything unusual, considering my job, but I have found parts of Office 365 to be expecially egregious.

Like this:

“Searching in People” and “To search in People.” Seriously, how did someone not stop and think, “this is really screwed up”?

——–

And if anyone cares, I’m on Pinterest. I tend to pin… well, yeah. I pin stuff I find interesting. I think Geek Stuff and Vintage get the most pins.

So that’s this week’s wrap-up. Anything interesting in your neck of the woods?

I have no explanation for this.

Today, I lost my Fitbit.

Which isn’t really that surprising, since it was falling apart to the point that I had ordered a replacement pedometer.

Which was not, incidentally, a FitBit.

Why my new pedometer is not going to be a FitBit goes back to a complaint I’d made early on after jumping on the FitBit bandwagon: I paid $100 for a pedometer, and I couldn’t get my own data without paying them an ADDITIONAL yearly subscription.

This annoyed me. So right now, Michael is attempting to get my data for me, via this. (http://citizen-statistician.org/2012/09/30/getting-data-from-fitbit/) Because the thought of having to read and follow instructions was making my hyperventilate.

I’m not sure that the Withings Pedometer I have on pre-order will be better as far as the data goes, but I’m willing to give it a try.

And in the meantime, I found my old Omron Pedometer, replaced the battery and SHAZAM! Working pedometer!

And I grabbed my Omron database from my old computer, and KAPOW! All my old data from the three years I used Omron, right there for me to look out.

But because I love statistics and data so much, here are my Fitbit totals (this is for about a year and a half, from late January 2012 to mid-Jult 2013)

Lifetime Stats
Steps: 5,289,030
Floors: 13,470
Distance: 2,661.12 mi
Active Score: 408,160

Bests
Steps: 32,271 on 2012-07-18
Floors: 152 on 2013-05-26
Distance: 16.26 mi on 2012-07-18
Active Score: 2,280 on 2012-07-18

Steps
Lifetime: 5,289,030
Best: 32,271
7 day ave: 10,110.29
30 day ave: 9,725.57
1 year ave: 9,613.49

Floors
Lifetime: 13,470
Best: 152
7 day ave: 27.43
30 day ave: 25.87
1 year ave: 24.93
Previous: 16.71
Previous: 34.33

Addendum the First: Michael got my data, so I now have my own copy, with which I can do as I please. So yay!

Addendum the Second: the above totals came from StepStats, which I’d hoped to be more useful in letting me get my data, but wasn’t.