April 28: Meghna's delight of Mars

I listened to  NPR's "On Point" with Meghna Chakrabarti while on my meals on wheels route yesterday. The episode was called "Exploring Mars to Better Understand Earth." She interviewed Ken Farley, the geochemist and project scientist of Mars 2020, responsible for the landing of the Perseverance Rover on Mars after 8 years of development and a 7 month voyage of  300 million miles. She started by playing sounds of wind on Mars, and the sound of the driving of Perseverance on Mars, which began my delight in the episode.... I delighted in Meghna's delight, starting with her delight in these sounds, and continuing throughout the episode. She repeatedly says things like she is "in awe", in "amazement of the accomplishment", the landing was "spectacular", that story "is fantastic", the lasers making a popping sound "is awesome." She says she realizes scientists have to maintain a certain rational skepticism even as they engage in these "super exciting" projects. I knew that this was going to be my blog entry for the day after she gives this amazingly delightful laugh at 4:50 and says, "I'm never gonna outgrow my like 12-year-old self when I hear about theses kind of accomplishments in others parts of the solar system. It is so great." It was so great to hear Meghna's excitement about this exciting scientific accomplishment. Here are a few facts I learned:

• Perseverance has landed in a crater, that 3.5 billion years ago was a large lake (40km across hundreds of meters deep) that would have been a very habitable environment, so it is a good place to seek evidence of life. On Earth at that time, there was just microbial life so it is most plausible that any life to be found on Mars will be microbial, but even these microbes could be very different than microbes on Earth. -- perhaps life "as we don't know it", possibly not a DNA based life, possibly containing different compounds.
• There is lots of evidence that there was once water on Mars: canyons and shorelines, evidence of oceans, lake, river delta, etc. Clearly the climate changed, but scientists are not sure why (and they are not sure how Mars was ever warm enough for water to begin with). One theory is  maybe it lost its magnetic field, which resulted in a loss of atmosphere, which created the current climate on Mars, now extremely cold and dry, with a very thin atmosphere, and a surface that is not habitable for life. 
• Perseverance contains the MOXIE experiment ("it is pretty exciting") and it was able to successfully convert carbon dioxide to oxygen, which is important if there were ever a human mission to Mars. MOXIE =  Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment
• Ingenuity is the "rotor craft" (helicopter or drone) that completed the first flight on Mars and has dual blades more than a meter across. 
• It is incredibly complicated to calculate the probability of life in the universe, considering we have discovered billions of stars and most stars have planets around them, and the fact that life may not be as we know it. Meghna says that "I just look at the sheer numbers, the vastness of space and the universe, and it does not seem possible to me that in all that space that we're the only ones."
• The Mars Society held a competition to create plans for a permanent Martian city that would house 1 million people, and be as self-supporting as possible, with plans for its economy, politics, society, culture, and the production of a wide variety of products, including food, clothing, electricity, consumer goods, machines, and vehicles. (The top 20 plans will be published in "Mars City States: New Societies for a New World,” due out in 2021, and it is definitely on my to-read list!)
• Near the end of the episode, Meghna says, "Every time we do a space show, someone sends us a message that says this...", and then she reads the most recent message: "Mars: a big huge dead rock hundreds of millions of miles away, we spend billions to explore it. I'd be more impressed if your guests journeyed a hundred feet to engage with their neighbors and explore the relationship with community and the precious earth under our feet; it is a colossal waste of time and resources." So she asks, "What is the argument for the effort and the money and the cost for exploring another planet?" Ken gives a couple of interesting answers (especially that the money spent is modest compared to, for example, military or pandemic spending), but his best answer is: "This is part of being human. Exploration. Art. These are things that we do in addition to simply staying alive. And I think it has great value from that point of view and from the point of view of inspiring scientists of the future to go on and do great things that may have nothing to do with Mars exploration. It is part of the encouragement of a scientific, science based culture." 

It was a delightful episode and I'm glad I caught it! 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 27: My New Elliptical

I have struggled with weight issues my entire life. I was the biggest baby ever born at the hospital at the time of my birth, and I was at the top of all weight charts as a child.  In high school, I lost some weight, but in college my weight was like a roller coaster (birth control made me gain weight, weight watchers helped me lose some). After I broke up with my ex in 2010, I went to the gym every day and I was at my lowest weight since like 2nd grade, but then I gained it all back after a summer of eating and drinking in Chicago. Every time I start to gain weight again, I join a gym to try to lose what I gained. A few years ago, I started the keto diet, and it has served me well until recently. My sedentary pandemic life (and obesity genes) has caught up with me, and even while on keto, I started gaining weight again. I considered joining the brand new YMCA in Gloucester, but I really, really did not want to wear a mask while running. My favorite piece of equipment to use at the gym has always been the elliptical, so I did some research on home elliptical machines. I settled on the Sole E25, especially after trying it out at Dick's Sporting Goods, and I picked it up last Sunday. I spent all day Monday assembling it, which was incredibly frustrating (especially after I dropped a screw and a washer inside the machine and had to use a magnet on a stick to get it out.) But by the end, I was delighted in the results (though too exhausted to actually use it) so I took my inaugural run on Tuesday. And it was amazing. It was delightful to run in the privacy of own home, I could wear what I want, do what I want, play music without headphones, not have to wait for a machine to be available or worry about it being gross or broken (or nowadays, worrying about COVID and wearing a mask). I didn't have to pack up my stuff and get in the car and drive to gym, find parking, lock my valuables in a locker, deal with other people, and drive back home. The gym is now in the comfort of my house. Yes it was expensive, but it really amounts to little over a year of a gym membership, and I feel like I'll get so much more out of this machine than I would at the gym. I am much more likely to actually run for 30 minutes every day (which is my current goal) at home than at the gym (because 30 minutes of running at the gym turns into over an hour of a time commitment considering packing, driving, parking, etc etc). I hadn't run in several years, and the feeling afterwards was amazing, full of euphoria and energy and endorphins, such a great natural high. Of course, being a nerd, I designed a spreadsheet to record my results and it lives on a clipboard near the elliptical. It is a delightful machine, and I hope it will have delightful results. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 26: A Sharp Knife

A little over three years ago. I broke my favorite knife in our knife block, so I bought myself a fancy new kitchen knife (specifically, a Wusthof Classic Ikon 5-Inch Santoku Hollow Edge Knife) and I immediately fell in love with it. I especially delighted in how smoothly it cut through a big fat carrot. Incredibly gratifying. I use it at least once a day, but usually two or three times a day, to cut everything from leeks to celery to green beans to Brussel sprouts, all with the same delightful result, the finest most delicious dicing. And not until just recently did the knife start to dull. That's pretty good life expectancy for a knife. After being super frustrated with it for a couple of days in a row, I mentioned it to my husband. He immediately took out the honing steel from our knife block that I have literally never used (and had no idea how to use), swiped it a few times on the knife, and it was like magic, the knife was just as sharp as I remember it being. I've used it every day since, and each time, I become so full of delight when producing my favorite intricately diced vegetables, it's like I have a brand new knife again, and I mention it to my husband each and every time. (it's a thing we do... "have I told you lately... that I love what you were able to do with this knife?") It's crazy how something as small and simple as a knife has produced such delight in me. 

This all reminds me of a stanza in my favorite poem, "At the River Clarion" by Mary Oliver. 

Of course for each of us, there is the daily life.

Let us live it, gesture by gesture.

When we cut the ripe melon, should we not give it thanks?

And should we not thank the knife also?

We do not live in a simple world.

I used to use this poem all the time in sermons to illustrate gratitude for the simple things. This blog has allowed me to finally practice what I preached. I am so thankful for this amazing little knife, and for my husband, who brought it back to life. Being thankful for the small things can change your whole perspective on life. I used to be so focused on the big things, living day to day waiting for the big thing to happen, planning for it, using all my energy for it, waiting and hoping for it to give me delight, while feeling miserable and neglecting all the things that happened every day that could have delighted me. I no longer crave the big things, I no longer waste the moments I am living each second of each day waiting for delight; I find delight in the seconds. We do not live in a simple world, and I delight in its complexity. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 25: Strixhaven Draft

As I sat with 8 of my friends (me being the only girl, FWIW) during our latest Magic draft on Sunday, I thought back to my journey into Magic. 

-It all started with my brother. He was obsessed with Magic when we were in high school (circa 2000), which of course had the side effect of me wanting absolutely nothing to do it. I judged it negatively, and never thought I would ever learn or play it. I especially thought it wasn't fair that it seemed like the more money you spent on cards, the better your decks would be. 

-Fast forward to me meeting my husband in 2012. Soon after we met, he decided to try Magic (his first purchase was a huge box of random cards). He and his best friend start getting really into it, and he really wanted me to learn. I resisted, but eventually was willing to at least try it. As we packed for our honeymoon trip to Hawaii in 2014, we packed up some Magic cards, and while we waited for our plane at the airport, he started teaching me and we played. I hated it, I felt there was no way to win and didn't think the play style was fair, and I ended up crying there at the airport on my honeymoon. 

-But my husband did not give up. He started getting into a style of Magic called Commander that he thought suited us better, and he built me a deck that he thought I would like, especially because it was a strong, winning deck, commanded by Niv Mizzet, a red/blue dragon. The deck had lots of flying and counter spells, which definitely was a winning combination, and I did actually start to enjoy playing, now that I could win. 

-In around 2015, my husband and I started a gathering at our house every Tuesday to play Magic (because the local pizza place does two-for-one pizzas on Tuesday, so we called it "Magic Pizza Tuesday"), with just one or two other friends, soon growing to 20 or more, but then to 10 or less during the Pandemic. 

-After playing more, I decided to build my own deck. My first was commanded by Prossh, another powerful dragon with flying. I have since built several commander decks, including Marath, Ojutai, Tazri, Derevi, Kaalia, Skullbriar, Yurlok, and Depala; I edited prebuilt Atraxa and Lord Windgrace decks; I assisted my friend's Kumena deck; and I'm working on a Hans Ericcson deck now. 

-While I love the Commander style of Magic, I also very much love drafting. It's fun and competitive way to play that I think equals the playing field even more and taps into the creativity of deck building. Every time a new set of Magic cards is released, I gather together a group of 8 people to draft. This particular new set is based on Harry Potter, and like Hogwarts, there are 5 different schools with different personalities. 

Lorehold (Red and White, or Boros): "Leave no stone unturned." Diligent researchers, daring adventurers, passionate scholars of history, they explore the past by pouring over archaeological artifacts and summoning long-dead spirits. 

Prismari (Red and Blue, or Izzet): "Express yourself with the elements." Theatre kids who express themselves with magic. Spells can be spectacles of raw creativity or meticulous artistic expressions.

Quandrix (Green and Blue, or Simic): "Math is Magic." Math magicians who study patterns, fractals, and symmetries to command power over the fundamental forces of nature. They'll solve a Rubik's Cube while contemplating the metaphysical properties of the universe and can recite every number of Pi backwards. 

Silverquill (White and Black or Orzhov): "Sharp style. Sharper wit." Mages who wield the magic of words, from inspiring battle poetry to biting arcane insults with a razor-sharp wit and natural charisma.

Witherbloom (Green and Black or Golgari): "Get your hands dirty." Goth bio majors. They draw power from the essence of living beings, riding zombie crocs, picking herbs for potions, and hanging out in their swamp making grim jokes.

(By the way, other two color combinations do not have "schools" in Strixhaven, but do have traditional names in Magic. White + Blue = Azorius,  Blue + Black = Dimir,  Black + Red = Rakdos,  Red + Green = Gruul,  Green + White = Selesnya)

Some of my favorite cards in the new set have amazing flavor, such as:

• Eager First Year ("Today, she learns the basics. She'll knock out advanced theory later this week.")
• Star Pupil ("When I'm done here, they'll name entire buildings after me.")
• Study Break (You've been cramming all night. You're taking a nap whether you like it or not.")
• Bury in Books ("There are no weapons allowed in the Biblioplex, but a clever mage is never truly defenseless.")
• Divide by Zero ("Misery. Inadequacy. Failure. The common denominator is you.")
• Pop Quiz ("Today is hydromancy? I thought it was amplimancy! I studied for amplimancy!")
• Snow Day ("Advanced Elemental Manifestations is canceled until all students have thawed.")
• Hall Monitor ("No unauthorized summoning. No writing in the library books. And absolutely no indoor dueling!")
• Heated Debate ("While you were wasting time with abstract equations, I mastered ancient Oggyar fire magic. Your move.")
• Sudden Breakthrough ("Rootha created constantly, passionately, in hopes of impressing her greatest critic: herself.")
• Make Your Mark ("Those who do learn from history may still choose to repeat it.")
• Teach By Example ("Learning to imitate a master is the first step in becoming one.")

I first did a sealed draft with my husband on Friday. We each opened 6 packs of cards and  used the cards we got to form decks to play against each other. I created a red, white, and black deck, and I won both games easily. My focus was lifelink (gaining life) and unblockable.

On Sunday, we did an official draft with 8 people (my husband was the 9th, helping out a brand new Magic player). Each of us opens a pack of cards, picks a card, passes the pack to the left, pick another card from the pack passed to us, keep passing, keep picking, etc etc. When that pack is done, we each open another pack, pick a card, pass to the right, etc, and then we do the third and final pack, passing to the left. Afterwards we each have 45-ish cards. We then work to create a deck of at least 40 cards-- we use about 25 of the drafted cards, and 15 or so lands from our land collection. Then we play one-on-one games in a tournament style bracket. After the tournament, we turn in all of our rare and foil cards that we drafted and we do what's called a final draft. The winner of the tournament gets first pick of the rares/foils, second place gets second pick, etc. This time, the most valuable card was worth over $30, others were worth $5-$10, but most hovered around about $1. I created a red, white, and blue deck (with lots of flying, a touch of unblockable, and little bit of tapping/response) and I ended up getting third place, so I had third pick. It was a delightful evening, and I look forward to more and more drafts in the future.

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 24: Long Live the Queen

It was finally a nice warm sunny day, one of the first since we installed our bee packages two weeks ago, so we were able to open up the hives and do a proper inspection. (Last Saturday it was too chilly, so all we did was just open up the hives to get the queen box out (and make sure she had escaped the box) and refill their sugar syrup.) I got bee-suited up with all my tools (hive tool, bee brush, and smoker), and started with the yellow hive. I took off the top and started inspecting frame by frame. They had eaten all their sugar syrup and some of their pollen patties, and it looked like they eaten a lot of the old frame honey I had given them and they were started to refill and recap it. Freshly capped honey has this gorgeous white sheen to it, and there was at least one frame completely capped. On one frame, there were also some brood cells where the queen lays eggs, a few cells with bigger caps that will be drones (males) and a few cells with smaller caps that will be workers (females). That means the queen is alive and well. I continued inspecting the frames, looking for the queen, until I finally found her! It was super exciting and absolutely delightful. She is much bigger than her female workers, with a long slender body with a distinct pointed end (unlike the drones that are her size but fat with rounded butts). There was no sign of infection or pests, and I saw everything I needed to see: capped honey, brood cells, queen, even a bunch of bees returning carrying pollen. One healthy hive, check. I closed up and moved on to the blue hive, where I saw all of the same things, though seemingly fewer brood cells. And on the very last frame I checked, we found the queen! It is delightful to have two healthy thriving hives, with two accepted and living queens, and I hope for their continued success. It's a good sign that things have started off so well. 

A few delightful bee facts:

Queens: The queen's main responsibility is to lay eggs, as many as 200,000 eggs a year! She also produces pheromones that control and organize many of the behaviors of her colony. We received queens who have already been mated. (After a Queen mates with drones, she stores the drones’ sperm in an organ called the spermatheca. The queen will then use this stored genetic material to fertilize her eggs for the rest of her life. No need to mate again.) Unfertilized eggs develop into males that become drones, while fertilized eggs develop into the female workers.

Workers: They are all female and they do all the work: collecting pollen and nectar, cleaning, filling, and capping cells, feeding the queen and developing brood, drawing out new comb, and managing food stores, and guarding the hive. 

Drones: They are the only males found in the hive, they only do one task: mate with virgins queens (not our queen, but other queens out in the world.) We do not necessarily want drones in our hives because they don't do any work and eat up honey that could be used to feed the female workers, but drones are necessary for the continuation of the bees species at large. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 23: Boathouse Grille

Ever since the Pandemic began over a year ago, our favorite restaurant, Boathouse Grille in Essex, has been closed. The other day we took a drive out to Georgetown to pick up cannabis at Mission, and drove by the Boathouse... and saw that it was open again! So yesterday when I asked my husband if he wanted anything while I was out in the world (I was going to Nostos in Ipswich to pick up our draft booster box of new Magic cards for our draft this Sunday), he suggested I pick up lunch AND surprisingly even gave me a suggestion for WHERE I should pick up lunch- the Boathouse! The two things we loved to get there are still on the menu- he, a cobb salad with buffalo chicken fingers, me, a beet salad with no beets with blackened salmon (yes, I get a beet salad with no beets, because the salad has arugula [my favorite salad green], pistachios, goat cheese, and a delightful lemon vinaigrette which all go splendidly with the salmon, and I really really do not like beets!). 

I ordered via phone, pick-up was nice and easy, and the food was delightful. I noticed they have erected a tent in the parking lot and have a four tap kegerator getting set up, seemingly in preparation for an outdoor seating/bar area, which is very exciting. I scheduled my husband to get his first COVID vaccine shot this coming Monday and his second shot on May 28, and maybe after that (since presumably it will be much warmer, and we will both be fully vaccinated) I can convince him to eat outdoors there, our first dining our experience since March 2020. I am looking forward to life getting back to a new normal, and seeing the Boathouse open again gave me a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 22: Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo

As I mentioned a few entries ago, one of my categories for this week's Jeo-Party featured trinomial tautonyms, like "bison bison bison" which is the scientific genus/species/subspecies of the The Great Plains Buffalo. This inspired my friend to mention the sentence "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" which is a grammatically correct sentence made up of homonyms that creates "lexical ambiguity". It has been discussed since 1967 when it appeared in Dmitri Borgmann's "Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought." (which I must put on my to-read list). 

The  sentence works because the word "buffalo" can mean three different things:

Buffalo: city in New York (used as a adjective to mean "from Buffalo")
buffalo: bison (noun)
buffalo: confuse (verb)

So the sentence, "Buffalo buffalo, Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo" basically means:

"Bison from New York, which confuse bison from New York, confuse bison from New York." Makes sense when you lay it out like that!

By the way, I have now typed the word buffalo 26 times and my brain has started to hurt; the word now looks weird (ironically, confusing) to me. And there's a word for that! "Semantic Satiation" - a psychological phenomenon when a word loses its meaning after being repeated over and over without interruption. David Balota, a researcher and professor of psychology and neurology at Washington University in St. Louis, explains, "What that means is that neural systems in the brain can be fatigued by repeated stimulation." This happens to me ALL the time, with the most basic words if repeated over and over and over again. 

As typical, I have fallen into a lexical wormhole (or rabbit hole), and have found several other delightful examples of words that can also be put together in sentences of lexical ambiguity.

"Police police, Police police police, police Police police" means "Cops from Poland, whom cops from Poland patrol, patrol cops from Poland" because:

Police: city in Poland (used as a adjective to mean "from Police")
police: cop (noun)
police: patrol (verb)

"Will, will Will will Will Will's will?" means "Boy1, will Boy2 bequeath to Boy3 Boy2's document?

Will: name of three different boys (proper noun)
will: question of intent (verb)
will: to bequeath (verb)
will: document of inheritance upon death (noun)

"Fish fish fish fish fish fish" means "Fish, that other fish fish, that other fish fish, fish." (this explanation is super helpful)

fish: animal living in water (noun)
fish: to catch an animal living in water (verb)

I so delight in words. In a future life, I am going to be a lexicographer (one who studies words and compiles dictionaries) or an etymologist (one who studies the origin and history of words)  or a linguist (one who studies language and its structure, including the study of morphology, syntax, phonetics, and semantics). Until then, I'll just blog about words and ask questions about them on Jeo-Party :) 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 21: Supergirl

I decided to watch all 5 episodes of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (The Arrowverse's epic crossover show), which was very good, so I decided to start watching "Supergirl" (one of the crossover shows) from the beginning. I was hooked after the pilot; it is a delightful show. I love the main characters, I love especially Kara's (Supergirl's) admitted nerdiness, I love the alien emphasis (kind of like the X-Men mutant vibe, complete with anti-alien advocates like anti-mutants, which of course screams of anti-immigrant bias, and of course I love that the show encourages you to be pro-alien/mutant/immigrant, ESPECIALLY in the current episode I am watching "Strange Visitor from Another Planet" which has a genocidal theme [white Martians sent green Martians to labor camps, killed all women and children in furnaces and kept the men as laborers] that is so brutal, so awful, and so motivational to want to things to change), I love that it co-stars Chyler Leigh (who played Lexie on Grey's Anatomy), and I especially love its emphasis on strong female lead characters. It is also delightfully self aware and often makes fun of itself and common superhero tropes. I enjoy having it on in the background while I blog and prepare jeo-party, because it is light-hearted and entertaining (but still in some moments, deep and meaningful).  

As usual, I did some Googling, and discovered that the star of Supergirl, Melissa Benoist, rose to prominence after playing Marley Rose on Glee, aka "the new Rachel", and I totally remember her but totally didn't recognize her! ...which totally reminded me of a conversation in the second episode about recognizing who Supergirl is. Kara is being asked to do an interview as Supergirl with Cat Grant, her boss, and is worried she will be recognized.

    Kara: Ms. Grant's not stupid. She'd recognize me, like, in one second.

    James: She will look at Supergirl right in the face and she will not even see her assistant. 

    Kara: How can you be so sure?

    James: Because she doesn't see you now. I watched it happen for years with your cousin. Why don't you think that people recognize him as Clark Kent?

    Kara: Reading glasses and a good slouch?

    James: No, he's able to hide because the world can't believe that there's really a hero in their midst. 

I love that the scene was both thought-provoking and tongue-in-cheek. Absolutely delightful.

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 20: Justice for George Floyd

When I got in my car to go pick up the pizzas for Magic Pizza Tuesday, I was delightfully presented with some wonderful news on the radio-- Derek Chauvin, the police officer who knelt on the neck of George Floyd for almost 9 minutes (effectively killing him) was convicted on all three charges (manslaughter, 2nd degree murder, and 3rd degree murder). Of the 140 police officers arrested on murder or manslaughter charges related to on-duty shootings in the past 16 years, he is one of only 8 who have actually been convicted. I breathed a sign of relief, as I know many, many others did (in fact, the first couple of people interviewed on NPR were asked how their felt and they all said "relieved"). I'm not naïve and I know much more work needs to be done in this world in terms of racial justice, but this was definitely at least a step in the right direction. I hope that this guilty verdict is the start of something that will truly change America and the experience of Black Americans, who have been brutalized, their lives trivialized, and their right to justice denied since they stepped foot on this continent centuries ago. So my delight is definitely tinged and blunted by the tragedy of not only Floyd's death, but the deaths of all those unjustly taken by law enforcement and the fact that racial inequality still remains deeply rooted in American society.

A few good quotes I found while reading the news:

Gloria Browne-Marshall, civil rights attorney and professor of constitutional law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that the Chauvin trial was a "rare example of 'zealous prosecution' in hundreds of years where prosecutors have failed to prosecute White people for crimes against Black people."

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said, "Today, a jury delivered justice and accountability for the murder of George Floyd. While I feel a sense of relief about today’s verdict, systemic racism and disparate policing still exist in the US —necessitating the urgent passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act." 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said, "The jury has reached a just verdict. But nothing will bring back George Floyd or all those who should still be alive. We must move urgently to defeat systemic racism in all its forms and the Senate must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act."

Ben Crump, the Floyd family attorney, said, "Let's pause for a moment to proclaim this historical moment -- not just for the legacy of George Floyd but for the legacy of America. The legacy of trying to make America for all Americans. This is a victory for those who champion humanity over inhumanity."

With delight (and hope),

♥Jamie

April 19: A Tautonym Rabbit Hole

It all started with a crossword puzzle that my husband was completing. One of the answers made him google a certain phenomenon where an animal's genus and species (and sometimes also their subspecies) are the same words, so their scientific name sounds funny, like "Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla." This phenomenon has a name-- it is a binomial (or trinomial) tautonym. 

Binomial: two-part 

Trinomial: three-part

Tautonym: scientific name in which the same word is used for both genus and species (and sometimes also the subspecies)

Wikipedia has a delightful list of all binomial and trinomial tautonyms (these occur just in the zoological world, so mammals, fish, reptiles, birds, etc etc, but not plants). From there, I ended up on a "list of people with reduplicated names" (like Yo-Yo Ma), then a "list of tautological place names" (like River River River or Desert Desert) where I learned about tautological hydronyms.

Tautological: repetitive (you may also know the other meaning of tautology/tautological as a statement of logic or "any proposition which is true because of its logical form" such as "If p and q then p" or "If the box is small and red, then it is small")

Hydronym: a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water.

Toponym: the name of a place

Somehow then a Google search for "pop culture tautonym" landed me on a scientific journal article titled "Taxonomic etymology – in search of inspiration" which provided many examples of the scientific names of animals named after mythology, legends, classic literature, fictional and nonfictional pop-culture characters (e.g., music, movies or cartoons), science,  politics, and famous people, which of course also has a name: "eponymous taxon".

Eponymous: named after something or someone

Taxon (plural taxa): a unit of biological classification, arranged in a hierarchy from kingdom to subspecies (I grew up learning the acronym for taxa as: Kings Play Cards On Fat Green Stools to memorize Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, though it turns out there are many more taxa than those). 

I then Google searched for things like "taxonomy from fiction" and stumbled upon several delightful articles including "11 Plants and Animals Scientifically Named After Fictional Characters" and  "Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature". 

Nomenclature: the devising or choosing of names for things

Eventually I ended up on a delightful "list of organisms named after famous people". I now have SO much material for Jeo-Party! The best part is, this Thursday is Earth Day, and my friends requested more science questions (as opposed to pop culture questions), so I will be able to deliver a thematic Earth Day Jeo-Party this week, with all these delightful tautonyms and eponymous taxa. (But the best best part is I'll still be asking pop culture questions, like names of actors, musicians, TV shows, etc but under the guise of animals/science!! hahahahah!!). 

I very much delight in all the new vocabulary words I stumbled upon, and the many categories of Jeo-Party it inspired, in perfect time for Earth Day! I delight in words and being a nerd 😀

With delight,

♥Jamie

PS: Another delightful thing: I got my second COVID vaccine shot. So far, only a sore arm and a little lethargy as side effects!! Fingers cross that will be it!

PPS: Speaking of nomenclature, we have come up with a name for one of our baby chicks. She is the most curious and feisty baby, and I jokingly called her salty (which is funny because we also have a chicken named Pepper). My husband, inspired, came up with this name for her: Saltina! A play on Salty, Saltines, and Tina (Tina Weymouth is my favorite bass player!). He is most definitely a Master Nomenclature-ist. 

April 18: Thornwatch

 I spent most of the day on Sunday preparing to teach a new game to a group of my friends. It is called "Thornwatch" and it is a comic-book inspired game that has elements of a lot of different games, most notably Dungeons and Dragons (roleplaying, campaigns, and a dungeon master), Magic the Gathering (attacking, spells), Pandemic (cooperative style of playing), Pandemic Legacy (continuing story like campaigns, result of games affect future games), Dominion (playing cards for actions), Red Dragon Inn (different character boards with personalities), Scythe (attacking, character boards), Risk (rolling dice for attacks), Villainous (each character has their own deck and special abilities), and Wingspan (tucking cards). 

I took the role of the judge, like a dungeon master in D&D. I chose people's characters, character traits, and the story that we could go through. The game comes with like 15 different stories we could do, but it also leaves open the possibility to create your own (like D&D). I really enjoyed being the judge, because it totally played into my leader personality. (I also very much enjoyed teaching the game that played into my educator personality). 

A little bit of background: the Watchers of the Thorn (or the "Thornwatch") are heroes who are summoned by villagers in the Eyrewood when help is needed. All villagers have to do is tie a special knot of thorns around a birch tree and the Thornwatch are summoned. In the story I chose, a farmer and his wife summoned the Thornwatch because an evil creature from the wood kidnapped their baby. The Thornwatch (each of my 5 friends) had to work together to destroy the Splinterkin, spiders summoned by the evil creature (and controlled by me, the judge), in order to move on to find and to fight the evil creature itself and return the baby. We only got through scene one, the Thornwatch destroyed the spiders, but we didn't make it onto the next scene to rescue the baby. The game seems infinitely playable, with different people, different stories, different scenarios, with different results leading to different outcomes. 

I had a delightful time learning, teaching, and playing the game, and I hope that subsequent playings of the game are just as delightful.

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 17: Yo-Yo Ma

One of the guest stars on NPR's "Ask Me Another" this week was Yo-Yo Ma, the famous world-renown cellist (65 years old, Chinese, child prodigy, graduate of Julliard and Harvard, lives in Western Mass, has 18 Grammys and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He often plays with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; we saw him play at Tanglewood a few years back. He is an amazing cellist, and it was a delightful concert). 

Ask Me Another is a radio game show; it used to be performed live at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY and featured contestants from the audience and just one "celebrity" guest contestant. (We saw a live show there a few years ago). During the pandemic, they pivoted to doing the game remotely with only famous celebrities as all of their game contestants. The host of the show, Ophira Eisenberg, interviews them and then plays a game with them. 

Yo-Yo Ma's interview this week was incredibly delightful, and he played the game they came up with (about naming classical songs sampled in pop songs) very well. He seemed like such a good person, thoughtful, caring, kind, giving, and perceptive, but was also well spoken and humorous and super easy to listen to him. I think I could listen to him talk and tell stories all day. In one of the lead ups to the interview, before a commercial break, Ophira says, "It's awesome, he's awesome, and listening to this may even make you a better person," which I would definitely agree with. She also says it was one of her favorite interviews. Here are some of my favorite highlights of the show:

• He brought his cello into the clinical site for his second vaccination (because his wife told him he couldn't just leave his super expensive important cello in the car!) A nurse asked him to play, so he did. (He specifically did not just want to show up with his cello and start playing without being asked, very humble of him.) He said about the experience, "I love to play in all kinds of places, and what was lovely was that there was an elderly gentlemen who obviously needed the music, because he just turned his chair around, came really close but socially distanced, and the whole time I was playing he put his head in his hands and he was just kind of drinking it in." 
• He also noted that he appreciated how the clinic was well-organized and well-ordered (which sounded a LOT like me!), and that it was an ultimate demonstration of people doing civic duty. "This is who we are, this is the country that I think we live in...people are giving of their time and abilities for the public good."
• During COVID, he got creative with how to perform, and did a little traveling gig on the back of a flatbed truck. He commented that it was best way to perform because it is "so liberating". One spot the truck stopped at was a dairy farm, and "by the end, all the cows had moved over to our side of the fence. They were drawn to something!"
• He started playing cello when he was 4 but played violin before that and "failed". Ophira wanted to know more about that. He says he is 2 1/2 and his parents determined he was very bad at violin and gave him a cello instead! That is just crazy!! 
• He has a grandson who started to play cello and wanted to take over, and Yo-Yo laughingly said, "But I don't want competition! I need my job!"
• It was also fun learning about the songs featured: Graduation Song by Vitamin C samples Pachelbel's Canon in D, This Night by Billy Joel samples Sonata Pathetique by Beethoven, Love U Crazay by En Vogue samples The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky, and Lady Linda by the Beach Boys samples Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring by Bach.

(Another delightful note: In a previous episode, Ophira (a Canadian) had talked about studying for her US Citizenship Test, and she asked her cohost, Jonathan Coulton, one of the questions from the test. "What did the US Declaration of Independence do?" Jonathan jokingly answered, "Technically, nothing." So this week, Ophira talked about her experience actually taking the test, and the Declaration of Independence question was her first question on the test. Ophira answered by saying, "It declared that America was free from Great Britain." And her proctor said, "Yes, but it is also a trick question, because the Declaration of Independence didn't actually DO anything." To which Ophira responded, "That's what Jonathan Coulton said!!" hahahahaha!)

With delight,

♥Jamie

PS: Also on NPR on Saturday was a rerun on a This American Life episode (Gardens of Branching Paths) about the multiverse!! 

PPS: Another delightful little moment on NPR was an interview about how to get people to follow pandemic guidelines and get vaccinated, and the interviewer posited that if we could see how we were all interconnected, more people would act for the common good. 

April 16: Station 19

This is going to be one of those posts that's not *exactly* delightful, but was incredibly meaningful, and I delighted in being so moved. Station 19 is a spin-off show of Grey's Anatomy (one of my favorite TV shows that I have been following live since season 2 aired in 2006. (side note: that's a crazy long time. This show has followed through my entire lifetime in Massachusetts, 15 years, 10 apartments/houses in 9 cities (Boston, Groton, Pepperell, Cambridge, Brookline, Waltham, Ipswich, Gloucester, plus of course a summer in Chicago), two major relationships, dozens of jobs (including bakery worker, nanny, census taker, minister at 3 churches, after school program director, chaplain intern, phoneathon fundraiser, gardener, beer captain, tour guide, packaging assistant, events manager, entrepreneur, CBD retail worker, cannabis store manager, music teacher), and 7 pet cats (Charlie, Fidel, Fuggles, Barley, Bernie, Fela, Sanders). Not many constants through all of those changes, but Grey's has always been there).

Anyways, Station 19 is about firefighters who work in Seattle, where's Grey's hospital is located, so there are many opportunities for crossovers. This season, both Grey's and Station 19 have aired some very meaningful episodes about COVID 19, but recently Station 19 has had a story arc about police violence, which started when 2 Black firefighters were arrested for trying to help an abducted girl (the white firefighters on the scene were not arrested, so it screamed of racism.) The most recent episode continued to discuss the ramifications of that arrest and the legal action that the Black firefighters are pursuing against the white police officers, interspersed with the typical saves of the firefighters, including helping a woman giving birth and saving her husband who had a heart attack. Near the very end of the episode, cell phones started dinging with alerts about something happening in the news. Someone turns on the TV and the breaking news is all about the (real life) murder of George Floyd by police in Minnesota. The last quotes of the episode gave me chills and almost brought me to tears. 

"8 minutes 46 seconds." - Dean (referencing the amount of time the police officer had his knee on Floyd's neck)

"We held compressions on Wayne for 7:32." - Andy (Wayne is the husband/new father they saved earlier)

"They took more time ending that man's life than we did saving one." - Dean

Rewatching it just now to get the quotes right gave me even more chills. The scene was beautifully tragic and I thought it was tastefully and respectfully done, in order to confront the real problems of racism and police brutality. Dean's line really got to me, because I've always considered firefighters and police officers to be on the same side, the same team, trying to help people. But so often, that is not the case, and police are doing way more harm than good. It was a sad reminder of what is happening in our world, but it also gave me a glimmer of hope that maybe something can change. I know it's just one episode of one fictional TV show, but it moved me, and maybe it will move others, and maybe being moved will encourage people to stand up and fight for what's right. Again, definitely not delightful subject matter, but I really was delighted that Station 19 addressed this issue and did it so well, and I delight in the hope that maybe things can eventually change.

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 15: Dark Matter

My world has recently been just riddled with delightful coincidences, and this is one of the biggest yet. Just a few days ago I watched (and blogged about) that crossover superhero episode about the multiverse that got me on this spiral of thinking about infinite possibilities. Yesterday, I got to a point in the new book I am reading ("Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch) where the main character finally figures out what's going on. He had been abducted and blacked out and woke up in a world he didn't recognize. Turns out... he had been pushed into a different part of the multiverse, one where instead of him being married with a kid like in the world he knew, he was a rich and famous physicist who figured out a way to travel to different multiverses. Every page I read gets more and more interesting and bungled with quantum mechanics that I barely understand but absolutely love; so far it is one of the best examples of science fiction that I've read. I have highlighted SO many lines that sparked intrigue in me; here are a few that are especially relevant considering my thoughts regarding "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (and I LOVE that is so easy to copy and paste the quotes I have highlighted from the kindle into this blog. I ♥ Technology!)

"The Many-Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics posits that all possible realities exist. That everything which has a probability of happening is happening. Everything that might have occurred in our past did occur, only in another universe."

"There’s an unimaginably massive, infinite number of universes—a multiverse—where everything that can happen will happen."

"Our existence is all about choices...I think about all the choices we’ve made that created this moment. Us sitting here together at this beautiful table. Then I think of all the possible events that could have stopped this moment from ever happening." [I think about this idea ALL the time. What if I had gone to Valparaiso instead of Northwestern? What if I had went to Berkeley instead of Harvard? What if I hadn't have bought tickets to an Ingrid Michaelson concert and invited my friend (what if I never met her?) and suggested Boston Beer Works for a drink beforehand and gotten there early and sat at the bar by myself? And what if my husband hadn't brought the wrong ticket to the Red Sox game and hadn't ended up at that same bar at the same time as me? So many what ifs. So many (infinite) universes that branch off of these choices that were made. It is fascinating, and gets me thinking that I could write a book about this....it'd be like my memoir, which I have always wanted to write, but also a work of fiction creating these alternative universes of how my life could have turned out. It could be a reflection on choices and paths and interconnectedness and chance and fate and destiny....] 

"It’s terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, branches into a new world."

"We all live day to day completely oblivious to the fact that we’re a part of a much larger and stranger reality than we can possibly imagine." [Yes, this is definitely inspiration for a book. This has been a message I have always preached, and what an interesting way to teach it by writing about the multiple universes that exist from the choices we make.]

"I’ve always known, on a purely intellectual level, that our separateness and isolation are an illusion. We’re all made of the same thing—the blown-out pieces of matter formed in the fires of dead stars." [Also another message I have often preached. It reminds me of a scene from "I Heart Huckabees" that I used a lot as a sermon illustration. Albert (Jason Schwartzman) is searching for the meaning of life, specifically his purpose in life, so he hires existential detectives Vivian and Benard (Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman).  Benard gives Albert a lesson on interconnectedness using a blanket. "Say this blanket represents all the matter and energy in the universe, okay? This is me, this is you, and this is Vivian. And over here, this is the Eiffel Tower, right, it's Paris! And this is a war, and this is a museum, and this is a disease, and this is an orgasm, and this is a hammer. Everything is the same, even if it's different. We are all connected. When you get the blanket thing you can relax because everything you could ever want or be you already have and are."]

Ok now my brain is swirling with thoughts and ideas and possibilities.... infinite possibilities. And it is delightful. I am super excited about this book idea.... just wondering how I should start!

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 14: Baby Chickens!!!

Since one of our adult chicken coops only has three chickens left (Pepper, Patty, and Tokena; RIP Aeris, Smoke, Sharona, and Niche CK), we decided to beef up that coop with more occupants (especially for the winter, it will be safer for them to have the heat of more chickens in that coop; it was built for about 6 chickens, so 3 just isn't going to be enough), so I went to Agway in Danvers and picked up 4 new baby chicks! Two are Chocolate Orpingtons and two are Blue Laced Red Wyandottes (more on chicken breeds later). I spent several delightful hours spending time with them yesterday (the goal is to spend several hours a day with them so that they will warm up to us and be incredibly personable chickens). I already have a long list of amazingly delightful things I love about these little babes. 

• They are SO cute, with their adorable little faces, specked feathers (wyandottes) and yellow butts (orpingtons)
• They stretch out their little legs and wings after they wake up from a nap
• They stumble around and fall asleep randomly (which is why we have to give them a really shallow water dish, otherwise they are known to fall asleep in their water and drown!)
• They sip water with their itty bitty beaks and swallow so cutely
• They are so small they fit comfortably in the palm of my hand
• They are super docile and calm
• And of course, I love their peep peep peep sounds

I've done a lot of research about different chicken breeds, so I might as well record all that information here (along with some specific information about our particular chickens).

Black Australorps

6 born on March 25, 2015: Pepper, Patty, Sharona, Smoke, Niche CK, Aeris

4 born March 28, 2018: Saturn, Neptune, Ouranos, Terra

• Lifespan: 8+ years
• Weight: ~8 lbs
• Eggs: 5+ eggs per week (they hold the world record for egg production)
• Egg Color: light brown
• Personality: docile, gentle, calm, curious, intelligent, people-friendly, cold hardy
• Appearance: black feathers that shine with an iridescent green in the sun, bright red combs, wattles, and earlobes
• History: Bred from Orpingtons in Australia (thus Austral-orp) in the early 1900s

Easter Eggers

4 born March 28, 2018: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury Venus

• Lifespan: 5-8 years.
• Weight: 4-5lb (though one ours is more like 8 lbs)
• Eggs:  4 per week
• Egg Color: Variable colors, thus their "Easter Egger" name. (Ours produce blue, green, and olive.)
• Personality: Friendly, sweet, calm, non-aggressive, curious, tolerate a wide variety of climates
• Appearance: They come in a variety of colors. It is uncommon for two Easter Eggers to have exactly the same plumage. They have pea combs, small and wrinkly. (Ours are: red/orange, black/white, and white/gold.) 
• History: The Easter Egger is a product of either the Araucana or Ameraucana, and started to make an appearance in the late 1970s. They have become one of the most popular backyard chickens in the US.

Chocolate Orpingtons

2 born April 7, 2021: names TBD

• Lifespan: 8+ years
• Weight: ~8lbs
• Eggs: 3-5 per week
• Egg Color: Light brown
• Personality: Quiet, mellow, and docile, winter hardy, love to be held
• Appearance: Chocolately brown plumage, red wattles and ear lobes with a short deep amber colored beak.
• Breed History/Facts: Chocolates are a recent addition to the Orpington breed and are very rare. Named after the town of Orpington in Kent, England where they were bred in 1800s. 

Blue Laced Red Wyandottes 

2 born April 7, 2021: names TBD

• Lifespan: 5+ years.
• Weight: 6-7 lb
• Eggs: 4 per week
• Egg Color: Brown
• Personality: Unshakeable calmness and rarely get upset about anything, friendly with humans, gentle, docile, quiet, reserved, peaceful, very cold hardy
• Appearance: Stunning blue lacing with red feathers, rose comb.
• History: Developed in the United States in the late 1800s, bred to withstand the harsh northern winters. 

We also have Tokena, a big beautiful white chicken that we adopted from someone we knew. We guess that she was born in 2016/2017, and is probably a Rhode Island White or White Rock or maybe even a White Australorp. She's super sweet, lays brown eggs, and gets along well with her new family of Black Australorps.  

I love our chickens, and I especially delight in baby chicks!

With delight,

♥ Jamie

 

April 13: Crisis on Infinite Earths

I have been watching (and loving) the last season of The Arrow (on Netflix) for the first time. All of a sudden episode 8 starts playing, and it is this bizarre episode that looked like it was an entirely new TV show called "Crisis on Infinite Earths". I was super confused, and thought that maybe Netflix messed up so I Googled it, and it turns out that "Crist on Infinite Earths" was a special 5-episode arc over 5 different TV shows (Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, The Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow) that played last year. In the middle of each of these show's seasons, one of the five episodes of "Crisis" was aired, so I found myself watching the 4th episode of the arc, which is why I was so confused. 

I got the gist that the arc is basically about a bunch of different superheroes trying to prevent the destruction of the multiverse (yes, multiverse. apparently saving the universe isn't good enough any more). The superheroes discover that a man named Mar Novu was (unknowingly and accidentally) responsible for kicking off the events that led to the "crisis" that destroyed literally the entire multiverse, so they go back in time to stop him (so in these episodes you get both traveling in time and traveling between universes). 

The superheroes explain to Mar Novu that what he is about to do will destroy the entire freakin' universe, which convinces Mar Novu to stop doing what he was doing (which has something to do with matter and anti-matter, I was a little hazy on those details). So the superheroes think they have saved the day (aka the entire freakin' multiverse). They travel back to their time expecting the world to be back to normal, but back in real time, the multiverse is still destroyed. The bad guy has an AMAZING explanation for them about why their seemingly brilliant and foolproof plan did not work. 

"Some fates are inescapable. You spoke to one man across countless universes, but within the tapestry of the multiverse, there will always be one Mar Novu who cannot turn from his towering ambition, and in that inevitability, there is destiny." 

Oooooh I love that quote, and I love that idea, and I delight in considering destiny in that way! In order to save the multiverse, the superheroes would have to confront EVERY Mar Novu in EVERY universe of the multiverse. Somethings are just fated to happen, no matter what, and if you try to prevent that fate in one universe, it will still find a way to happen in another universe. Very similar to the infinite possibilities philosophy that I also very much enjoy (which posits that everything we can possibly conceive happening, every possible outcome of a choice, will happen in some reality, just maybe not our own reality), and also very similar to the plot of my favorite movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (where Joel and Clementine are fated to be together and end up meeting each other again even after their memories have been erased.) 

I was surprisingly impressed with "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and plan to try to find all 5 episodes and watch them in order. It is quite the feat to have five different television shows involved in a crossover event, and it was delightful to experience one fifth of it (unknowingly and accidentally)!

With delight,

 ♥Jamie

April 12: Cat (no longer) in a Tree

I'm gonna cheat a little for this entry, as the delightful part of the story happened this morning. Yesterday, our big ginger cat Bernie did not come home from his outdoor adventure for second kitty dinner (our cats get four meals a day, 3 cans split three ways and 1 dry food meal: breakfast (can) at around 10am, a little kitty lunch (dry food) around 3pm, first kitty dinner (can) around 6pm, and second kitty dinner (can) around 11pm). When we were ready to go to bed at 11:30pm, he still was not home, so my husband put his shoes and coat on and did a quick perimeter walk of the house to see if he could find him. And he did. Bernie was 30ft up a dead tree in our backyard, positioned in the V of two branches, making a pitiful moaning meowing sound. Just a few hours before, my husband had said, "Remember when Sanders was stuck in a tree?" Well, history repeated itself that very same day, just with a different ginger cat. 

My husband grabbed a ladder and a light to attempt a kitty rescue mission, and I put on my shoes and coat to help. For almost an hour, we called to him to try to coax him down, positioned and repositioned the ladder to try to get it just right on the tree, and my husband climbed up multiple times to try to get him. Twice, he was super close; he was able to grab the nape of Bernie's neck and pull, but it was no use. Bernie's 20 claws were buried deep within the bark of the tree and he was NOT letting go. There was nothing else we could do for the night. I googled some advice and resources for cats stuck in trees; apparently most cats will eventually find their way back down a tree. But I vowed that in the morning if he was still stuck, I would first call the vet for advice to see if they knew of anyone who could help, and I also found the numbers of 5 local arborists whom I would ask for help (despite depictions in pop culture, most local firefighters typically do NOT respond to help cats in trees). Thankfully the temperature would not drop below freezing, and I had hopes that Bernie would either find a safe way down, or would still be up there waiting for us in the morning. We set our alarms for 8am (when the vet's office would open). It was a nerve-wracking night of sleep; I had two different dreams of him being home in the morning, one where he was limping badly, presumably from falling or crash landing from the tree. 

In the morning when the alarms went off, I immediately went to the window to look out. I did not see Bernie in the tree. I also did not see him sprawled on the ground beneath the tree. I breathed a slightly hesitant sign of relief. Did that mean he was okay? I ran downstairs, and sitting at the back door was Bernie! Perfectly safe and sound, though crying (probably from hunger and cold). I let him in and fed him (and the other monsters) an early kitty breakfast, and afterwards he immediately fell asleep on a pillow on the couch and that's where he has been all morning. My big old Bernie, delightfully at home where he belongs. I don't know how he got down, I don't know what was going on in his head the whole time, I don't even know the reason he was in the tree in the first place (was a chasing a squirrel? was a coyote chasing him?). We'll never know the answers, but I am delighted that this story had a happy ending. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 11: Hidden Hearts

My friend and I got together to finish our labyrinth project on Sunday. We met at a yoga studio so we could completely spread out the canvases. We started by using sticky Velcro tape to attach the two pieces of canvas together. Then we worked with our 10 colors of duct tape (red, orange, yellow, dark green, light green, dark blue, light blue, purple, fuchsia and pink) for over 4 hours to finish paths. By the end, we had an absolutely amazing labyrinth of beautiful colors with a delightful heart in the center. I am still in shock that the heart turned out so well, almost perfectly symmetrical and gorgeously curved (even with using square duct tape!). Afterwards, we walked the labyrinth, I noticed all kinds of interesting things, including several hidden hearts in the design that I totally did not intend in the design. Around two different corners, there are shapes that look like the bottom part of a heart, which were really striking to me as I walked around the path. I also loved the symbolism of the "Journey to the Heart". Around the first turn, you pass right by the heart, but you are actually no where near the entrance to it, you still have a long journey ahead of you. The heart is also the perfect shape to have two different people in the center at the same time, so at least two people can walk the labyrinth at the same time. I delight in the possibilities of meditation and metaphor with this labyrinth, and I hope that it is able to help people on their journeys. It was also a delight to see a project through to successful completion. Creation is a powerful thing, and I am incredibly proud of us and our hard work in creating this magnificent masterpiece. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 10: 20,000 Honeybees

On Saturday, we picked up our two packages of bees (each containing about 10,000 honeybees and 1 queen). The sound of 20,000 bees in my car, a constant cacophony of buzzing (that is, before the engine and radio covered it up) was both frightening and fascinating. I tried to drive carefully as to not knock over the packages in the trunk; even though the packages are tightly secured, I had some alarming visions of the packages bursting open and my car being flooded with bees. Safely back at home, we went through the crazy process of installing these packages in our hives. We set up both hives outside, filled the feeders with sugar syrup (6 cups water + 6 cups sugar, divided between the two), filled the beetle busters with vegetable oil to capture any beetles, filled some water containers (we used our baby chick waterers), removed 4 frames in each hive temporarily, and placed half a 'pollen patty' on the remaining frames for the bees to eat. I donned my bee suit (eventually my husband did too, after getting stung. I still can't believe he thought he would be able to help out with this process without wearing his bee suit), grabbed my hive tool and bee brush, and carried the packages from my car to the hives. 

Starting with the yellow hive:

1. Pry open top of package with hive tool. 

2. Remove the queen package (she is in her very own little cage). 

3. Pry open the door of the package. 

4. With one swift movement, dump the bees into the hive. I neglected to remove their food container from the package before dumping, which was a mistake because many of the bees stayed in the package with their food. After removing the feeder, I dumped again, and got out most of the bees. I became immersed in a cloud full of confused bees trying to figure out where to go and where their new home is, which again was both frightening and fascinating. It's a lot of bees. I knocked the package on the hive a few more times to try to get all the bees out, and then left the package next to the hive for any of the leftover bees to eventually fly out on their own and find their new home.

5. Replace the 4 frames I had removed.

6. Poke a little hole into the candy cork on the queen cage to make it easier for the bees to their way through to her. (They eat the candy to release the queen; it's a way for the bees to slowly get used to the pheromones of their queen in order to accept her.)

7. Place queen cage on top of frames.

8. Replace the top layers of the hive: shim, feeder board, inner cover, outer cover.

We waited about 20 minutes for the swarm to die down and then did the blue hive, pretty much exactly the same but a few differences: I remembered to remove the food can before dumping out the bees, and this hive uses a front feeder instead of a feeder board. I did this hive much more quickly and confidently (hopefully the yellow hive will not suffer from my mistakes). 

It was an absolutely gorgeous day for the bees, in the 70s and sunny, and I hope we did everything right to help the bees survive. Each of the hives started with 4 frames of capped honey from our old hives, so hopefully that will give them a good head start, especially as it gets stupidly cold again. We have to wait a whole week before we are able to open up the hives and check on them; fingers crossed they accept their queens and start to build up their homes with comb and brood and honey. 

I used to be afraid of all bees, but now I am in awe of the little honeybee and I completely delight in them. (It's wasps that are the bad guys!) Honeybees are really very docile creatures and the whole bee society they create is fascinating. They are also an integral part of the natural world, so I delight in being able to do my part in protecting the survival of the bee species. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 9: A Giggling Baby

 I got up wicked early again on Friday to babysit my friend's kid. She's not even a year old, but she is already super smart, not to mention incredibly cute. And in all the time I have spent with her (granted, only like 6 hours), she has never once cried. I don't think I've ever babysat a baby who didn't cry. She is always sublimely happy. It is delightful that she giggles and smiles at the most simple things; a quick game of peek-a-boo behind the couch, a piece of plastic corn from the play kitchen, a song playing on her walker. Her face just completely lights up, eyes wide, smile big, and laughs sweetly. It just melts my heart. I also delight in watching her try to figure things out, like how to maneuver herself in her walker to reach the choo choo trains on the train table. I kept putting the trains farther and farther out of reach, and she got to them every single time, after some smart problem solving. (I hope I get a chance to help her learn how to identify letters and numbers and how to read, one of my favorite things to teach a young child.) And probably because her parents are musicians, she gets so happy when she hears a song, she swings her body around and bobs her head and I swear she starts waving her arms like she is conducting. I am still 100% confident in my decision not to have kids, but I do definitely delight in watching other people's kids and being "Auntie" (which of course I now pronounce awn-ty not ant-ty like I learned in Wisconsin). 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 8: Finishing my Homework

Thursday was my last Creative Writing Class at North Shore Community College (remote). For this last class, we had two "assignments" that we were encouraged to complete (since this class isn't for credit or anything, these weren't "real" assignments, but it was certainly enough of an encouragement for me to complete and submit them.) I liked having these "homework" assignments because it forced me to complete two pieces of writing, both of which I ended up being super proud of. 

I've delighted in getting in the habit of writing this blog, and it has been a relatively easy exercise, but writing short stories/fiction has been more of a challenge for me because I've not had any good motivation to write and I've had absolutely no good ideas for what to write, in addition to not being sure exactly why I am writing (it makes sense in my brain why I should write about my daily delights in this blog, but it doesn't quite make sense for me why I should write fiction for fun, at least not yet]. So being given assignments and a deadline (and very specific subject matter for what to write) was exactly what I needed. 

One of the assignments was finishing what I discussed last week, the new perspective of Hansel and Gretel, which was incredibly fun and delightful to write. The other assignment was our "class project". Our instructor wrote the beginning of a story and passed it one student to add to, then another, then another, etc until it finally came to me. I arguably had the hardest job of wrapping up the story and trying to write a satisfying and cohesive ending, but I delighted in the work and thought it turned out quite nicely. I'm still not sure of what my future with creative writing/short stories/fiction/etc is, but I definitely delighted in the class, and at the very least it solidified my desire to continue this blog. 

I guess the question is, do I enjoy creative writing? Do I delight in it? Do I write for me and/or others? Is it enough to just write for me, for fun/enjoyment? Can creative writing be beneficial to me? Does it have to be? Or do I only enjoy writing when it can make a difference for others? I'm still contemplating all these things, and I hope that I will continue to do at least a little more creative writing in my spare time while I figure everything out!

With delight (and discernment),

♥Jamie

April 7: I Got a Job!

I don't believe I ever updated this blog to mention that I was offered the summer job that I applied for, and that then I also turned it down. I delighted in the interview process, and delighted even more in receiving the job (it was a super boost in my confidence), but I wasn't quite sold on taking the job. So after receiving the job offer, I took some time to write up an incredibly long and detailed pros and cons list and thought a lot about it, and ultimately decided it just wasn't the job for me at this time. I was incredibly proud of myself for not just jumping into the first opportunity I was given (which is totally my usual M.O.), and the universe rewarded me for my discernment and discretion (in this case, meaning "the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation.") I am so so so thankful that I ended up not taking that summer job, because I was just invited to start teaching band lessons again in Gloucester!! Instrumental lessons are back in the school district (after a year without due to COVID), and it looks like I'll be teaching clarinet and flute at the middle school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 2pm-4pm starting April 27 and going until at least June 11, but also maybe in the summer (and I'll be making more money in those 2 hours each day than I would have working practically the whole day at the other job). I'm so excited to get back into playing (and teaching) music again. Working this part-time job is absolutely perfect for me and my schedule, and checks all the right boxes on my pros and cons list!

Since I delight in things like Pros/Cons lists, here's my original list for the summer job, and my response to myself regarding my new band job!

Pros [and updates for new job]:

• Having a job, being able to say what I do beside just "home maker" [still a pro, I'm back to being a band teacher!]
• Making extra/bonus money, though not necessary [still a pro, and making 3x more per hour]
• Getting out of the house every day [though not "every" day, starting 3 days a week is still a pro]
• Being outdoors [no longer a pro, but not being required to be at a job all day every day will give me more time to be outside in my yard, going for walks, etc]
• Getting exercise [see above]
• Meeting new people [still a pro, will meet lots of new kids and probably some adult teachers, and new pro- will see kids from my previous years of teacher whom I haven't seen since quarantine]
• Learning new things [still a pro, I will be motivated to learn more about music, and do things like learn to play the flute in order to teach kids how!]
• Boost of self esteem [still a pro; working with kids is ALWAYS a boost to my self esteem]
• Helping kids/community/doing something good [definitely still a pro!]
• Making connections/having an "in" with community groups [still a pro, just a different community group] 
• Only 9 weeks, not permanent [this job is still very flexible, and not necessarily a long term commitment unless I make it one and district allows it to be, which I do hope for!]
• Potential for growth/discernment for the future [definitely still a pro]

Cons [and updates for new job]:

• No longer volunteer for Meals on Wheels [not a con! I can still volunteer AND work new job!]
• No longer morning breakfast/blog routine [not a con! work doesn't begin until afternoon!]
• Early mornings/ wake by 7:30, leave by 8pm [not a con! work doesn't begin until afternoon!]
• Gone all day/ can't help out around the house/run errands/ etc [not a con! work is only 2 hours a day]
• Less time to do Jeo-Party/other social planning [not a con! work is only 2 hours a day]
• Less time for my hobbies (painting, if I ever pick up music or yoga again) [not a con! work is only 2 hours a day]
• Outdoors in any weather, including super hot or rainy [not a con! work is indoors]
• Have to wear a mask all day [not a con! work is only 2 hours a day, wearing a mask for that long not a problem at all]
• Potential for migraines (due to masks/kids/etc) [not a con! especially since work is only 2 hours a day]
• Hard/difficult/tiresome/long days [not a con! work is only 2 hours a day!]

Especially looking at this list now and comparing this new job versus the job I turned down, I am even more delighted! I am so excited about the potential that comes with this job, and I look forward to nurturing the love of music in the kids of Gloucester! (and maybe at some point, I'll be able to fulfill my dream of organizing a Gloucester honors band for kids!)

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 6: To-Do Lists

I had about a billion things to do yesterday before my friends came over for Magic Pizza Tuesday, and I delightfully accomplished them all! :

• Prime and paint the beehives and then get them out of the kitchen. Our bee delivery got delayed a week, so we took the extra time to get the beehives in even better condition. My husband brought all the pieces into the kitchen to work on this weekend, but we didn't get a chance to finish between being busy with Jeo-Party, Easter, and Game Night. But all of a sudden it was Tuesday and we had people coming over, so I needed to get this project finished and put away. And I did! And hopefully we'll finally get the bees this Saturday (and hopefully we'll keep them alive this year!). 
• Polyurethane window sill (again). This was my third attempt at this project. I had put the second and final coat on the sill on Monday and thought I was finished, but the cats walked all over it during the night and I awoke to a ton of pawprints and scratches on my beautifully finished sill. So I had to sand it and polyurethane it again. This time, I covered the whole window in plastic to let it set without our monster cats ruining it. 
• Dishes. Before finishing the window which sits above the sink, I had to empty said sink of all the dirty dishes that someone always seem to pile up. 
• Litter Boxes. I always try to clean out the litter boxes before we have people over. 
• Clean the kitchen. Because of all the projects we are trying to complete in the kitchen, it was in general disarray. So after completing all of the other tasks, I got the kitchen clean and organized including vacuuming, cleaning the countertops, tables, and floors, putting stuff away, etc etc. 
• Work on Jeo-Party. Somehow, I accomplished ALL of those tasks and still had time to spare, so I was able to work on this week's Jeo-Party for a few hours. One particular fact I learned had me laughing out loud: In 2008, Stephen Colbert facetiously asked Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel) why the narrator of the song "Cecilia" would need to get up and wash his face after making love. Simon replied, "Well, it was the '60s, so I can't remember.” This still has me laughing. hahahahahahaha.

I felt so proud of myself for being able to get so much done. I delight in making to-do lists but I delight even more in being able to check off all the tasks on the list as completed!

With delight,

♥Jamie

 

April 5: Labyrinths

I went on another walk at the Tompson Street Reservation (my new favorite place for walking) with my walking buddy. The whole area is starting to remind me of a labyrinth, like the one she and I are constructing after our walks (more on that later).  The paths in the area remind me of a labyrinth because no matter where we happen to turn, we always end up able to get back to where we came from. All the paths seems to be circular, and we have not been able to really get lost, which is quite a comfort. That's one of the things that makes labyrinths so meditative; there's only one way to the center and one way out, meaning there is no way to get lost, even though the actual path has twists and turns and looks like a maze. 

During our walk this week, we took a different turn than last time and found a new little area where someone had constructed a ritualistic shrine (perhaps wiccan?) with a variety of different objects, surrounded by a metal cross and hand made brooms. It was creepy yet delightfully fascinating. We continued the walk and ended up finding our way back to two landmarks from last time: the boulder spray painted with the "Save the Bees" message, and the top of Sunset Hill with the amazing view. This week it was gloomy and overcast so the view was very different, but still delightful. We could see the rain cloud approaching in the distance, so we didn't linger. We thought we got back on the same trail we were on last time to get back to the cemetery, but we emerged at a very different spot, thankfully still in the cemetery, but that's when I started to get the feeling that this whole area is one big labyrinth. We made it back to my car just as the first raindrops began to fall. 

Back at my house, we continued working on our project, making our very own labyrinth. We are using canvas drop clothes as the base, and applying different colors of duct tape to it to make the path. It is a much more challenging project than I had originally anticipated, but it is starting to look absolutely amazing and I look forward to seeing the completed project. My friend will be using it at several different retreats she helps to lead, including ones for abused women, so I feel proud of what we are doing and delighted that it might be a helpful meditative practice for people who are hurting. 

The labyrinth we are making is a classical single-path (unicursal) design without branching or dead ends, and apparently this kind of design has been around for thousands of years. Look at this coin found in Greece dated to 400 BCE: 

In case you are curious, a typical labyrinth meditation consists four stages:

1. Remember. Before you enter the labyrinth, pause to focus on a specific event or situation or question you'd like to meditate on during the journey. 

2. Release. Walk to the center, quieting your mind, opening your heart, taking slow and steady breaths, and moving at your own pace. Look inside yourself and let the world beyond the path ahead of you fall away. It's not about the destination, it's about the journey. 

3. Receive. When you reach the center, stop and stay for as long as you'd like. This is a place of reflection. Listen to the small inner voice inside of you. In the safety of labyrinth, have a heart-to-heart talk with yourself. Decide if there's anything you'd like to let in, maybe a spiritual force or something more specific to your personal life. Take as much time as you need.

4. Return. When you are ready, begin walking out the same path you followed in. Experience a sense of well-being, healing, calm, or peace. Leave with a newfound sense of power and purpose, so that by the time you're outside of the labyrinth, you feel refreshed and ready to resume your everyday life. 

One of my most meaningful labyrinth experiences was when I was touring Harvard Divinity School and contemplating my acceptance, my future, my call to ministry, etc etc. HDS had a labyrinth in front of the main building, out in the parking lot area, and it was exactly what I needed at that specific time in my life. I am delighted to be able to share this experience with others with our portable labyrinth. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 4: "Somalian Pirates Weeeeeee!"

After spending a few hours outside at the family compound for Easter, we went to our weekly board game night at our friend's house. We brought two games, Wingspan and Dominion, and the five of us played both. We played Wingspan first, and I finally won (so my record is now 1-4)! Then we played Dominion. Dominion is a fun deck building game, and we have several expansions for it. To play the game, you have to choose 10 types of cards to play with (and because of all our expansions, we probably have 100 choices), so to make things easier, I've included a small notebook in the game box to record combinations of the 10 cards that have worked for games we've played in the past. Some of the cards are pirate-themed, so one of the first combos we ever created was all about pirates, and we called it "Somalian Pirates We!" after a South Park quote. That was years ago. Since then, we have made several revisions to it, and last night we played a version of it that we last played in April 2020 called "The Revised Somalian Pirates We Version 4.0". 

It was a delightful game; everyone enjoyed the combination of cards and how they worked and interacted together (especially my husband, and I delight in delighting him). There was one card that didn't quite fit so I made a note in the notebook for a substitute suggestion for the next time we play. One of our friends was able to build contraptions with the cards (usually you play one, maybe two or three actions if you are lucky on your turn, but this friend was playing 8-10 actions on a turn because he had picked cards that went so well together). My husband commented that we should change the name of this version of the game to "Somalian Pirates Weeeeeeeeeee!" which was hilarious and also delighted me so. The final scores were super close: 36-34-33-30-27 (my husband got 34 and I got 33), and close games are always the best, because it doesn't really feel like anyone was a big loser. 

In case you are curious and you also play Dominion, here is the card list for "Somalian Pirates Weeeeeeee!":

Treasure Map
Treasury
Pawn
Fishing Village
Wharf
Band of Misfits
Remodel
Smugglers (but we are suggesting the substitute: Storeroom)
Haven
Plaza

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 3: Easter Egg Hunt Jeo-Party

Every Easter, our family has an Easter Egg Hunt for all the kids (upwards of 20 kids!). As the kids got older, I started leading a separate older kid scavenger hunt for some of the oldest kids (usually 6-8 of them) instead of the traditional "hide the eggs" hunt for the little ones. It was super fun to put together this hunt and I was bummed that last year, Easter was basically completely cancelled because of the newly developed pandemic. This year, there will be an in-person Easter gathering at the family compound, but not with a lot of the kids, so I decided to put together a virtual Easter Egg hunt for any kids who wanted to participate. I wrote two rounds of kid-themed Jeo-Party questions (like Disney princesses, names of cartoon animals, superheroes, etc), changed the points to eggs (instead of getting $200, you get 2 eggs, $600 = 6 eggs, etc), and invited everyone via zoom. I also put together gift bags with candy, bubbles, pencils, etc and mailed or dropped them off to each of the families. 

My husband and I edited the Jeo-Party on Friday, and I was all set for Saturday night Easter Egg Hunt Jeo-Party! 10 kids showed up, I explained the rules, and we began. At first I was worried that the questions would be too easy for everyone, but it seemed like they were a good mix; at least one kid knew the answer to every question, but not every kid knew the answer to every question. We relied on many "assists" from teammates and even had a few steals. It was entertaining seeing the kids racking their brains trying to figure out the answer, and one of them even said "it's on the tip of my tongue!" 

One of my favorite moments was stumping the oldest kid there (one of my oldest nieces, and probably my favorite even though I know I'm not supposed to have favorites). The question was "This noble, free-spirited Princess of the Powhatan tribe was the first Native American Disney Princess and the first to be based on a real historical figure. She was lovingly nicknamed “Little Mischief” by her father and accompanied by two animal sidekicks, Meeko the raccoon and Flit the hummingbird." and she could not think of her name! Her mom yelled from the other room that she wouldn't get dessert if she couldn't remember her name. hahaha. (This family is notoriously a Disney-obsessed family, so she really should have known the answer). Eventually her sister had to give her the assist (Pocahontas). 

By the end of the two rounds, the "Chocolate Bunnies" team had 84 eggs and the "Marshmallow Peeps" team had 96 eggs. After I announced the totals, I said that everyone was a winner, and that everyone should have a gift bag waiting for them. The excitement of hearing that I had sent them all goodie bags in the mail full of prizes was absolutely delightful. They were all surprised that I had sent them prizes, and I was so happy that their parents had kept it a secret!

In the gift bags, I wrote a little card, and on the back, I added an Easter joke. I saw one of my youngest nieces start reading the card to herself, and then heard her giggling afterwards, which means she totally got the joke, which made me so happy. Hers was:

Q: What did one Easter Egg say to another? 

A: Heard any good yolks today?

I had all the kids go around and read their jokes, and that is how we ended the evening. All in all, it was incredibly successful and super fun, and I hope to put together another fun family game via zoom in the future. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

April 2: Baby Brains

My husband and I did a bunch of errands on Friday, and listened to a lot of NPR in the car. There was a brief story that reminded both my husband and I of previous (and absolutely fascinating) NPR stories about organoids that we had each independently listened to. Awhile ago, I had put organoids on my list of possible blog entries in the future (I call this my "runners-up" list and I use it to inspire me especially on days when I have difficulty finding something uniquely delightful). So this is it, my long awaited blog about the organoids. I sat down to research and to listen to all those NPR stories, and I am so full of delight (and information) about this new piece of science that borders on science fiction. 

In 2008, researchers learned how to create "cerebral organoids" (which I call "baby brains", most media calls them "mini-brains" but scientists really prefer the term "cerebral organoids" because as UC San Diego professor and neuroscientist Alysson Muotri explained, "We don't want to give the impression that what we have is a fully mature organized brain.") 

Cerebral organoids are clusters of living brain cells usually created by transforming skin cells from a person into neural stem cells which self-organize into brainlike structures with electrically active neurons. Carl Zimmer, science writer for the New York Times, was interviewed on "On Point" the other day, and explained the process incredibly well: "[Scientists] can take just a little skin sample from you, put it in a dish, break up the skin cells, hit them with some chemicals. That basically reprograms the skin cells to become like cells in an embryo that can become any tissue. They hit them with some more chemicals and turn them into neurons. These are like neurons in your brain. In fact, they're neurons like in a developing embryonic brain, and they start to grow and divide, grow and divide. And they form structures much like in a human brain, and they start giving off what look, in many ways, like brain waves. And as the organoids get older, these brain waves get more organized."

These baby brain blobs of cells are no bigger than a pea, but hold enormous promise for improving our understanding of the brain. Scientists have already used organoids to make discoveries about schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, and the microcephaly caused by the Zika virus.

What fascinates me about these baby brains are the possible ethical dilemmas.  

Zimmer said of the organoids, "They can, quote-unquote, live for years, it seems. Giving off these signals, feeding on food that the scientists give them. What are these? Are these alive? Do we consider them a human life? What are they?"

So many questions arise! Can these organoids feel pain? Can they gain consciousness?  Are they self-aware? Will they suffer? Are experiments on them experienced as torture?  Already, even as just teeny tiny pea-sized clumps of cells, these brain organoids are demonstrating coordinated electrical activity among their neurons. How much of this coordinated activity is necessary to deem "living" beings? 

These are questions that bioethicists are starting to raise. (They even formed the new "Brainstorm Project", an NIH-funded project that brings ethicists and scientists together to discuss brain organoid research, and 17 scientists, ethicists, and philosophers posed these questions recently in a commentary in the journal "Nature".)

Hank Greely, a law professor at Stanford University who specializes in ethical and legal issues in the biosciences, has said of the organoid, “In order for it to be a good model, you want it to be as human as possible. But the more human it gets, the more you’re backing into the same sorts of ethics questions that are the reasons why you can’t just use living humans.”

After describing the organoids on "On Point", Zimmer postures an example that definitely creates these ethical questions, "What if we connected a retina to one of these things so now it can perceive light? What then? What if you start flashing signals at it? Can it learn those patterns? What then?" Meghna Chakrabarti responds, "Does that not amaze you? I'm blown away!" Me too, Meghna, me too!

Of course, how can you not think of Star Trek when considering these organoids? Even Muotri connected his research to Star Trek, saying, "It's no surprise that some of the experiments that we have here were inspired by an episode of Star Trek," including the inspiration to attach an organoid to a robot. "The robot is using the brain organoid to coordinate the four legs. By having the robot explore the environment, we are continuously stimulating these organoids and our hope is that as we do, the organoids will mature because now they are receiving some kind of input information."

I immediately thought of both Data and Odo, Star Trek characters who are ambiguously and uniquely "alive" in the series. When Odo was first found, he was just a clump of goo and was subjected to all kinds of awful experiments from which he definitely suffered. And Data had to fight in court to prove that he not only was "alive" but had rights like other living beings. 

Another fun example, Data fought for the "lives" of a computer program of "exocomps" that had evolved to make choices. In that Star Trek episode "Quality of Life", Data asks what it means to be alive. Dr Crusher responds, "Life is what enables plants and animals to consume food, derive energy from it, grow, adapt themselves to their surroundings and reproduce."

Zimmer and Chakrabarti dance around the question of what it means to be alive and listed several possible hallmarks of "life" including metabolism, sentience, reproduction, self-awareness, and/or homeostasis (many of the same hallmarks Crusher outlined), but then also provided many examples of living things that are exceptions to requirements of "life". Data wondered about these hallmarks in consideration of his own "alive-ness": "I do not grow. I do not reproduce. Yet I am considered to be alive." My favorite example is one Zimmer gives to refute the requirement that reproduction is fundamental to being alive: "A Nobel Prize winning physiologist named Albert Szent-Györgyi in the 1940s said, 'Ok fine, well what about a rabbit? Just one rabbit, can't reproduce, therefore not alive?'"  

Zimmer also considers how would we know if an organoid, for example, is or isn't self-aware, especially since we can't (yet?) communicate with it (just like Odo could not communicate with the scientists experimenting on him). That makes me think about what we consider "life" on other planets, like Mars, and why I appreciate the stipulation "life, as we know it". 

And my favorite creepy sci fi quote that I found within this subject of baby brains was from Muotri: "How do we know that we are the way we are and we are not brain organoids in a brain farm just receiving some artificial stimulus like in 'The Matrix,' right?" 

Right?!? 

With delight (and a little creepy sci fi fear!),

♥Jamie