College Tuition

29 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 29th,2012 | Finances, School |  Comments Off

“Student subsidies of classmates’ tuition add to anger over rising college costs”. The first personal story they give is of an out-of-state student. Guess what? Out-of-state students have ALWAYS paid higher tuition, and that “extra” money has ALWAYS gone into the university coffers to be used as the university deems fit- including to fund grants and aid to lower income in-state students.

Please don’t try to make me feel sorry for someone who chose UC Berkeley as an out-of-state underclassman. (Berkeleyfamously dislikes freshmen and sophomores and only takes as many as they have to to maintain 4 year status.)

Caught in Amber

28 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 28th,2012 | Science |  Comments Off

Paging Jurassic Park, paging Jurassic Park. Who needs a mosquito preserved in amber when instead you can have a mite- and not just any mite, but one that is 230 MILLION years old. That puts us firmly in the Mesozoic Era, but is actually in the Triassic period (which is one step older than the Jurassic period). This was the time of the first dinosaurs, and when the supercontinent that was the only landmass on earth began to break up, eventually to form the continents of today.

If only the mite could talk, can you imagine what we could learn.

BBCA’s Copper

27 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 27th,2012 | Television |  Comments Off

I’ve been enjoying the new BBCA show Copper, about an Irish cop in the Five Corners area ofNew York, just as the Civil War is winding down. There are some characters that aren’t fully fleshed out yet- the black doctor’s wife, who seems to exist solely to pull guns on the Irish cops needing her husband’s help, the second of the main character’s two closest friends, and the super rich father of the rich officer our main character (and the black doctor) saved the life of while they were all serving in the war. But I’ll give it time.

Blog Feature: Newlyweds on a Budget

25 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 25th,2012 | blogging, Finances, Marriage, Relationships, Writing |  Comments Off

Today has been a space cadet day. It may be late, but you are still getting a Blog Feature. I knew on Friday I wanted to feature Newlyweds on a Budget, but then forgot to actually right the post. This is a great blog for talking about finances in a relationship, even if they aren’t quite so newlywed anymore.

I loved this post on what she misses about being single. While C isn’t quite this bad, on Thursday, I was craving having my last piece of pizza for a snack when I got home- C had eaten it for lunch.

Your Money Friday- I got nothing

24 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 24th,2012 | Finances |  Comments Off

Friday is normally a link to a thread over on the Your Money message boards, but this week, there was not anything useful. Basically it was insider conversations, with everyone talking about what they know about other posters and analyzing their lives (whether that is what the poster was going for or not). Other threads were just judgmental- only stupid people could have $200k in student loans for that degree, a semester studying abroad is just a vacation, etc. Or complaints that having over $500k in assets made them “upper class”.  Sometimes I’m not really sure what I’m doing there.

Invisibility Cloak Science for Broadband

23 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 23rd,2012 | Science, Technology |  Comments Off

Despite the fact that I have written about the invisibility cloak twice (here and here) that’s not what I’m excited about. Yes, it’s proof that the science is sound, but read what Kymeta is doing- in two to three years, they plan to have a device out that will enable people anywhere in the world to have broadband access to the internet, at a not super high cost. And since it creates a hotspot, not everyone will need one. Towns, villages even, could invest in this to provide internet access for their citizens.

Broadband for the entire world? Yes please.

School Rules

22 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 22nd,2012 | School |  Comments Off

I remember that my schools had dress codes and rules we had to follow, but lately it seems like things have gotten out of hand. In just the last few days, I have read articles about kindergartners not being allowed to wear t-shirts for out of state colleges (apparently, gang members never attend in state colleges), a high school valedictorian not receiving her diploma because she said “hell” in her speech at graduation, and a girl almost being kicked out of her gifted and talented program from having pictures on her notebook.

Do schools really need to go that far?

Speeding Around the Forest Moon

21 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 21st,2012 | Science, Technology |  Comments Off

I am having a geekgasm. Even though I will likely never ride one of these- I may never even see one in person –just knowing that there is a hover bike, much like the speeders from Star Wars, in existence makes me ridiculously happy.

It’s not only real, it is being flight tested in the desert (at 15ft, 30mph) and not crashing. They have been successfully tested in trees and under bridges. The only sad thing is that manned versions are not in the immediate future. Aerofex (the company making geek dreams come true) is currently focusing on unmanned uses.

Why Abortion Must Remain Legal

20 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 20th,2012 | Discrimination, Healthcare, International Politics, Politics |  Comments Off

I am Pro-Choice. I would love to see an entire world where abortion is legal, safe and rare. But before we can get to the rare part, we absolutely must focus on the legal and safe parts.

This week in the Dominican Republic, a 16 year old girl died of cancer because doctors at first refused to give her treatment on the off chance it would terminate her pregnancy. Their Constitution says the right to life is inviolable from conception until death. But apparently, the right to life is only inviolable for fetuses, and not for the women carrying them.

Blog Feature: The Straightness of Trees

18 Aug

Erin Shanendoah |  August 18th,2012 | blogging, Dogs, Pets, Writing |  Comments Off

I found The Straightness of Trees during a blog hop. I don’t remember exactly when. It likely had something to do with Pit Bulls. One of the things I noticed right away, besides the great name, was the fact that she too had lost a dog to hemangiosarcoma, the same cancer that took our Smokey angel.

She’s only been writing sporadically recently, but I am always happy when I see a new post. This last post especially made me happy for her. She has finally realized that she has a job she truly loves. Late Bloomer or not, that’s wonderful.

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