What’s the first thing you do when you visit someone’s house for the first time? Admire their kitchen backsplash? Poke through the medicine cabinet? Not me. I go straight for the bookshelves. I LOVE snooping through other people’s bookshelves. If they have books I’ve read and loved, I know we can be friends. And if not, well, at least now we have something to talk about until I can come up with a polite excuse to leave the suddenly-awkward party. Back when I had a book review blog, I used to track everything I read in a spreadsheet. At...
Science is the Celebration of Constructive Ignorance
I have a theory* that there are three kinds of ignorance. The first kind is what I’d call neutral ignorance. The gentle, perfectly understandable kind that arises due to a simple lack of knowledge: Ignorance: lack of knowledge, education, or awareness (Merriam Webster) There is no shame in not knowing something, and there’s no shame in not having access to the education or experience that would provide that knowledge. This kind of ignorance is much closer to innocence, and doesn’t bother me a bit. In contrast, deliberate ignorance makes me absolutely crazy. This is the kind that persists in...
Allergy-Friendly Rhubarb Crumble
We are the caretakers of a very unusual bequest – the Tech Support family rhubarb plant. The original was planted over a hundred years ago, and cuttings have followed his family all over the United States and Canada. Our particular bush was started from a cutting Tech Support’s dad sent us through regular mail. Seven days in a dark box later, we stuck it in the ground and walked away. It’s the lowest maintenance, hardest to kill plant we’ve ever owned. It is also delicious, and since it’s taking over my flowerbed once again, it’s time for a crumble...