11/5: What I Accomplished Today

1. Prepped a class, graded a class, taught a class.

2. Television and Pogo badges.

3. I made a list of things I've been meaning to talk about but keep forgetting to, so this will have sort of a grab-bag feel to it.

4. I've seen more episodes of Jon and Kate Plus Eight, and I may have been unfair in part of my initial assessment. They commented how a babysitter was frustrated, and their take was that her frustration is because she tries to break up every little fight, which really isn't practical with six kids the same age. That makes sense to me. I rescind (or at least temper) my "wolf cubs" comments from a few weeks ago.

5. Entertainment Weekly had an article a few weeks ago about television shows with a high "squirm factor": the examples they listed were The Office, Arrested Development, and The Sarah Silverman Show. Yip. I would add Letterman, at least over the last few years as he's mellowed; Alan Kalter is invariably squirm-inducing, and then there's the crazed employee who comes out on stage and flips everyone off now and then.

About 10 or 20 years ago, I remember Letterman also being included in a discussion of "Hot" versus "Cool" Post-Modernism (and the article was so cool that this was called Po-Mo). I don't remember much of this article except David Byrne was mentioned as well, and I think he and Letterman were in the same category, although I forget the specifics. (I don't even remember where I saw the article; it might have been Newsweek, and it might have been Utne Reader.) But I'm wondering if these shows could also be fit into the framework that was established in the previous article; if not, I suspect they'd make an interesting extension of its original premise.
I don't remember it enough to formulate it myself, but I wanted to make the connection.

6. Skin care and Hygiene. We all know life expectancy has gone up quite a bit as the cultural expectation for personal cleanliness has increased; we're also beginning to see some environmental and immune negatives to this.

In a story that will seem unrelated but isn't, it's also seemed to me that the best skincare regime involves no chemicals or goop at all; it's just a) get enough sleep; b) get enough nutritious food; c) get enough water; d) keep clean (but not too clean). I've never seen studies that balance the benefits of hygiene, which are legion, with its downsides: bacteria get hardier as we become more resistant; our immune systems weaken as we live more cleanly than the human body may be able to accommodate; over-washing dries skin and hair; the environmental impact of daily water for washing and the electricity to bring it to an acceptable temperature can't be ignored. I'd like an unbiased study (not sponsored by a soap or shampoo company, for starters) that balances these and all other factors and comes up with a range of best-case-scenario bathing. Three times a week? Four? Five? I can't imagine it'd be more than five. On a global scale, three is probably untenable--but I don't wanna wash less often than that, and I'm usually happier with four or sometimes five if we do a lot or I'm more physical than usual. (This doesn't happen very often.)

7. BigFishGame is King Mania or some such. Not bad, but I didn't finish the hour; after about 40 minutes, I wondered why I was still doing this.

8. Level 35 Human Paladin. Desolace. Dinged 36. I downloaded Auctioneer about a week ago, and I've been having the Dwarf Rogue experiment with some techniques; it's not windfalls, but she's made about 15 or 20 gold over the past four days, which I don't think is bad for about half an hour's time.

9. Hoping to finish The Secret Supper tonight.