- Science: it’s a girl thing.
- Human fossils hint at new species. (From Will.)
- Fight birth-control battle over the counter.
- Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee voted to endorse a bill that would allow Arizona employers the right to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on religious objections. (From Lauren.)
So can a Jehova's Witness employer refuse to cover blood transfusions for his or her employees? After all, we don't live in the Soviet Union.
It's getting hard to know what to be the most furious about. I thought allowing doctors to lie to pregnant women about their health was scraping the bottom of the barrel, but allowing bosses to question their female employees about their sexual practices may be even worse.
Interesting to see that some of the people in favor of the laws to deny health coverage based on religion are the same ones that are also against Sharia law. I do not believe reglion, regardless of which it is, should trump basic humanists moral code that all believers and non-believers agree on.
I think if you are female and check "single" on your tax return your employer shoud be allowed to conduct annual virginity checks on you. Clearly if you aren't a virgin then you shouldn't be single. It is wrong to force employers to hire or retain whores if it violates their religious prinicpals.If you are male you should be subject to an annual gayness check. If you get a boner when shown gay prornography then clearly you are going to someone's hell. Besides offices are full of attrictive men and you are constantly going to be knocking things off of desks with your stiffy. It's a safety hazard.
Limbaugh had better hope his next employer is not Wiccan. Aren't Viagara and Prozac tested on animals?
I am not going to talk about the birth control shit because it is making incredibly angry.
So, instead, little girls and science. I liked the suggestion, months ago, about asking children what they're reading, rather than complimenting them on appearance. When kids birthdays come around, get them books. My niece gets a number of sciencey books for her age, because a) she loves them and b) she has nerd parents (my brother is an engineer, my s-in-l is a chemist). A friend's child gets neat science books as I can find them (Amazon is awesome for sending gifts to kids).
I only buy books for kids birthdays. As the Schmoo and her gang click over to the 7-8 range it has opened up a huge range of options.
A friend of mine runs a college course called Chemistry for Beauticians. Everyone laughs when he tells them, but it's an interesting and popular course. I wouldn't mind taking it myself. Beauty parlours and hairdressing salons are full of all sorts of interesting chemicals, many of which can be very dangerous if allowed to mix. One of the main things he has to get across is how explosives work, so that when the students get a job they don't accidentally blow the place up. He does lots of practical demonstrations :-)
About the article about the ‘Science: It’s a girl thing’, I agree with the role model thing. But also, waiting until my daughter is ‘ready’ for a classroom setting is a huge mistake.
Also when reading the article, I felt that there was some sort of division of the sciences from art. The arts can be a GREAT way to introduce kids to ‘science stuff’ and ignite their imaginations. For example there is Elyse's post about the lemons!
http://madartlab.com/2012/03/12/an-art-blog-gets-a-lemon-she-makes-lemon-art-badly/
I love stories told by naturalist about their hikes! Some of their accounts/observations are so right on and amazing. My daughter loves music right now and she wants to know how it is that they can make music in different ways. She goes around experimenting all over the house making different sounds, she thinks everything is music. So learning about wave lengths and vibrations is easy as it is just an explanation of what she already knows from her ‘experiments’. Not to mention for all of those that already know that creating art uses so many kinds of technics and materials and is pretty sciency stuff. J http://video.pbs.org/video/2189483449
Also, since we are in a recession and have been moving around for education, my family has been financially strapped for some time. Sending my daughter to science camp and to a special class/activity is hard. (Although I try and I have managed a $20 month long weekly class here and there, it is hard to find these reasonable priced.)
The flurry of anti-choice bills coming out of the Arizona legislature coincides exactly with Planned Parenthood Arizona's largest annual fundraiser. It really does seem deliberate. I'm hoping these awful bills won't pass, but at least when we had Napolitano at the governor's desk we could count on a veto. With Jan Brewer we don't have that safety net.
Jen,
Thatn story about a previously unknown human species is pretty interesting.
Fight Birth Control OTC has some good points, but some problems. Once it goes OTC, it becomes far more available, but there is no coverage. So if you were lucky enough to have it covered under your plan, more than likely you will now be paying full price. Good news is that usually generates competition and the price comes down eventually and more generics are produced. The other problem is failure of birth control due to interaction with other medications does not usually result in hives. You get a baby. I have a nephew that was conceived due to that very reason. Medical and Pharmacy counseling is so important for this reason. Most people do not read the warning labels now. Did you know just drinking Grapefruit Juice can affect some medications? Make it easier to get, yes. Make it cheaper, yes. But I feel extortion is a harsh word for medical and pharmaceutical counseling that could save such a life altering event.