If you like learning about your brain and how your body works, you may enjoy The Itch, by Atul Gawande (The New Yorker, June 30, pp.58-65). It discusses a new theory in neuroscience circles called the "brain's best guess" idea.

[Perception] is the brain's best guess about what is happening in the outside world. The mind integrates scattered, weak, rudimentary signals from a variety of sensory channels, information from past experiences, and hard-wired processes, and produces a sensory experience full of brain-provided color, sound, texture and meaning. We see a friendly yellow Labrador bounding behind a picketfence not because that is the transmission we receive but because this is the perception our weaver-brain assembles as its best hypothesis of what is out there from the slivers of information we get. Perception is inference.

We are close to Visalia, CA, relatively far from the fires, but air from all over California gets trapped here in what is called the Fresno Eddy, and we've got lots of smoke. The air quality is bad. It's not record ozone levels. It's not record particulate matter levels. But it IS a record to have exceedingly unhealthy levels of both at the same time. In applied terms, it's not good to run or jump or wiggle the way kids need to, especially outside. We have to stay inside.

Right now, we're at 110 for ozone (unhealthy for sensitive groups) and 163 for particulate matter (2.5 ppm, just plain unhealthy). This means that breathing deeply is bad for your health, no matter what your condition may be.

Check out AIRNow and find out how your air is today, all over the country, then take care of yourselves.

I'd write more, but I'm in a scurry, trying to pack for camping so we can go high in the mountains today, where all this is still bad to breath, but at least it'll be cooler. We have 100 degree weather down here in the valley.

Paul Krugman wrote a nice, short synthesis of how poverty affects children in the U.S. today, called Poverty is Poison. It ties much of what has been discussed on MotherTalkers lately: stress, poverty, John Edwards' effect on our national debate, how environmentalism has nothing to do with poor people because they are too busy trying to survive in the system that exists. Here's some of what he says:

As the [Sunday Financial Times] article explained, neuroscientists have found that “many children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development.” The effect is to impair language development and memory — and hence the ability to escape poverty — for the rest of the child’s life.

So being poor inhibits neural growth, making those neural cells less "bushy" and more truncated. That's a bummer.

According to the New York Times today, the Ecomom party is replacing the more traditional, tupperware party.

Move over, Tupperware. The EcoMom party has arrived, with its ever-expanding "to do" list that includes preparing waste-free school lunches; lobbying for green building codes; transforming oneself into a "locovore," eating locally grown food; and remembering not to idle the car when picking up children from school (if one must drive). Here, the small talk is about the volatile compounds emitted by dry-erase markers at school.

I was recently asked to sum up The Feminine Mystique, and to do it defensively after a good friend dissed the complaints of 1950's stay-at-home housewives with,"they really had it pretty good and didn't have anything substantial to complain about".

In context, my friend is a, "having it all/doing it all" result of the feminist fight, running around doing everything perfectly (career and mothering), and WAY too busy for my taste most of the time. She's enjoying school break so much (she's a college professor), positively reveling in the SAHM lifestyle for a few short weeks, so she's not looking forward to jumping back into her hectic schedule. She definitely deserves some venting wiggle room. However, I had to remind her why I disagreed with her brisk assessment. Further, I'm doing it in an unconventional, biological manner (I'm leaping to conclusions, all by myself), so I'd love to hear what any of you think of my musings.

Today I was accused of wanting to bear John Edwards' children, much to my astonishment. I'm not much in the mood to bear anybody's children these days, as I wrangle my busy toddler and simultaneously try to complete a coherent thought about the state of politics in the U.S. But the accusation that I loved John Edwards (PeeWee Herman style "Why don't you marry him?! Huh Huh!"), along with today's NYT Op-Ed, made me remember a claim I made years ago. I love Jared Diamond, not to the point of bearing his children, but enough to read his books and opinions with groupie-like reverence. That guy is smart, and I don't know if I'm worthy enough to even drink a beer with him, never mind getting relaxed enough for sex.

Jared Diamond's piece is called What’s Your Consumption Factor? It's short, and he starts by talking about the number 32, comparing the relative consumption rate of developed countries (i.e. U.S., Europe, Australia, Japan) to developing countries.

I'm at the computer again, sad and sentimental and just a little angry after a lovely Christmas day. This is the first Christmas since my dad passed away last April, and my family spent it strewn across the entire country with various in-laws, as usual. We're a sorry, fragmented lot without him this year, sorting ourselves unevenly and trying to fill up the very large gap he's left behind. I don't think anyone feels like they're meeting expectations, at least I'm not. Healing after such a big loss takes a really long time, eh?

So I miss him dreadfully, and I wish a lot of things could be different, but I wanted to make a list of a bunch of good things this holiday week:

You wont believe people are doing this. It's basejumping, but it's basejumping with a little "play" wrapped in it. They're hugging the canyon walls, touching the cliffs, buzzing roads. It's incredible.

To decompress after watching it, here's a little Rocky & Bullwinkle, similar but much less terrifying.

I am a sucker for these studies. Thanks for posting, Tarantula! -Elisa

Children in 30 countries around the world are gaining 0.3 intelligence quotient (I.Q.) points per decade. It's true: humans are getting smarter every generation, much quicker than genetics and evolution can explain, and its called the Flynn effect.

In this week's The New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell reviews James Flynn's book, What is Intelligence? very favorably, and describes the Flynn effect.

Check out this gorgeous poem from The New Yorker (11-26-07, p. 124). I like it. It captures the end of a typical day with kids under five fairly well.

First Snow
by Louise Gluck

Like a child, the earth's going to sleep,
or so the story goes.

But I'm not tired, it says.
And the mother says, You may not be tired but I'm tired.

You can see it in her face, everyone can.
So the snow has to fall, sleep has to come.
Because the mother's sick to death of her life and needs silence.

Fast and furious: that's how the toddler years are. It's tiring, but as long as you get that sleep, it's good. On the days without sleep....watch out!

There are some interesting, short video clips up on Al Gore's Current.com site. Go check them out and vote on your favorite. In his own words (mass e-mail), Gore says:

The Alliance for Climate Protection challenged people from around the world to make provocative ecospots -- short video messages that inspire people to get involved in solving the climate crisis. Hundreds upon hundreds of ecospots were submitted. George Clooney, Cameron Diaz, Orlando Bloom, Rihanna and the rest of the judges picked the semifinalists based on which were the most inspiring and relevant to climate change.

Now you get to tell us which of the semifinalists' entries inspired you the most by picking the winners of the �:60 Seconds to Save the Earth� Ecospot Contest.

I'd love to debate the merits of each one, but in short, I think humor is the way to go. The heartbreaking music and views of the fragility of Earth are good, but too dismal to inspire anyone to do more than collapse on the couch in defeat already. What do you think and which one did you vote for?

Consider this a discussion thread about climate change. I'm alarmed about climate change, but I'm up to it (I hope). Last week, Al Gore gave a heartbreaking UN speech, a 19 minute speech in light of the disastrous IPCC (United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)report. This IPCC panel is a conservative group, so they're definitely not exaggerating. Thanks to DailyKos' Barcelona for the information.