1) Reading up on mountain lions/mountain lion attacks. Here are some things I've learned:
-Mountain lion attacks on people apparently increased dramatically since 1986.
-The only way to eliminate the danger of lion attacks is to eliminate the lions
-However, we have learned that these animals are vital to our ecosystems, and in the long run, much more harm to humans may come from eliminating them than any short-term harm any of these predators has ever done to us.
-In California, from 1986 through 1998, exactly two people died from mountain lion attacks, whereas in one year alone, over 4,000 people died in traffic accidents, including 800 pedestrians. This means that your car or someone else's car is ~2,000 times more likely to kill you than is a mountain lion.
-Over 300 people have been killed by domestic dogs in the U.S. between 1979 and the late 1990s. This means that your family dog or your neighbor's dog is ten times more likely to kill you than is a mountain lion and hundreds of time more likely than is a coyote.
-we should be much more worried about meeting a car or the dogs we see every day rather than a mountain lion.
-The general advice to avoid being eaten by a mountain lion is to travel in groups.
-Thus in California, there is an average of one attack every two years, and one death every five years.
2) I have become a tax-payer.
By this I mean I work in an office now. This has always been my dream. This means two things:
-I can now complain about what my tax dollars are up to.
-I can stand around a water cooler and gossip.
And another thing:
-I am not advocating gossip here. I just assume that is what people in offices do. Gossip around the water cooler. Usually about people with very generic names such as "Sherri" or "David."
One more thing:
-Up to this point in life I assumed "Casual Fridays" were just a myth. However now I am suspicious it's true. I'm still not sure though. I don't know the rules of it either. Maybe that is a subject for another blog.
3) I went camping with middle schoolers a few weeks ago. That is one of my favorite things to do. We didn't take pictures, but these other ones I found pretty accurately sum up the trip:
4) I'm taking a biology class online. Which means I do science experiments at my house.
-I need a lab coat.
-I don't have a lab coat.
-I don't realy "need" a lab coat, I just want one so it will feel authentic.
-Goggles also.
5) I have been reading through Deuteronomy the past few weeks. I realize that is more serious than what is normally found on this blog but I like it a lot and want to mention it for a few reasons:
-When reading through the old testament you get to Leviticus and Numbers and by the time you finish you feel as though 1000 years has gone by and you don't remember anything from before. Deuteronomy summarizes everything that had happened up until Leviticus and Numbers so you're all caught up with Moses and the gang before they move on to conquer the promised land.
-During the summation it brings up the golden calf again, which reminds me of Exodus 32:20 where Moses grinds the golden calf into powder, puts it in water, and makes the Israelites drink it. That is one of the funniest things I have read in the Bible. Maybe that is how all idolatry should be handled.
-If all idolatry were handled that way, people would be less eager to be on American Idol.
-Upon writing this blog I searched "Moses and the golden calf" on google and this picture came up:
6) I watched a documentary on the Civil War with Brandon the other day in honor of July 4th, and they refered to the growing railroad system in the 1800's as "America's Tentacles." I like to think of America as a squid or an octopus. Any sort of sea monster really.
I guess that's it for now. I would like to promise more blogs and more consistently but I always make that promise and never come through. I will do my best.
