As a budding behavioral ecologist, I've read about eugenics but figured it was all a part of our society's dark past. Not so, dear Reader -- it seems to be alive and well and lurking at Princeton in the form of Peter Singer. I first read about this enlightened individual a few months ago (although I can't remember the original source -- maybe my pal Kim?). He advocates the termination of babies up to twenty-days POST-PARTUM if there is indication that they may be physically or mentally disabled. He claims these are "mercy" killings in that children and adults with disabilities have a lower quality of life compared to individuals without disabilities. Of course I and all of my disabled friends scoff at this, and I thought most of society would as well, so I put Singer out of my mind until last week when I read that this gem of humanity had been awarded the 2003 World Technology Award for Ethics by the World Technology Network. I had to read the article twice to be certain it wasn't some sort of sick hallucination. It's quite difficult for me to believe that this man can advocate animal rights while at the same time advocate the slaughter of babies because he and some others might think their quality of life is lower. Hypocrite? I think so . . . .

I'd like to talk with this schmuck for just a couple of minutes to tell him how horrible my life has been. I'd like to show him my grades and honors I've received in high school and college. I'd like to give him a copy of my study that was published by the scientific journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and then show him a list of eight other scientists who have cited my study in their own works. I'd like to tell him about my teaching career or introduce him to my friends and colleagues who don't see anything different about my life. OK, so I have to rely on others to get in and out of bed and dress and bathe and brush my hair and cook my meals, and I'll admit that that can be stressful at times when an attendant is ill and I have to find a substitute, but who is this asshole to say that my life is shit because I have a muscle disease? I think I've done pretty well the last 32 years, thank you very much!

But my life is a pretty pitiful example. Where would the music world be without Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles? Where would the physics community be without Stephen Hawking? Where would the United States of America be without Franklin Roosevelt?

I think I should apply to Princeton for grad school . . . .

There are some things so beautiful in Nature than man could never recreate them nor have sufficient language to be able to put the experience in to words. I had just such an experience moments ago as I stood outside after a massive thunderstorm complete with wall cloud and stunning rotation (for you non-Midwesterners, that equals possibility of tornado). I could spend hours trying to describe to you the shape of the clouds and the effect of the setting sun upon them, but it would be so weak as to be laughable. It was one of those times where I was sorry we all live in buildings.

Well, another holiday weekend has come and gone. Too much food and too much heat (July has hit full force in Kansas) -- needless to say, it was a blast, no pun intended. I tried to spend some time with my uncle who is beginning his chemotherapy treatments today for colon cancer. He will receive chemo once a week for a full calendar year, plus six weeks of radiation five days a week beginning in September or October. Mom made the comment that he just didn't seem like himself this weekend, but go figure.

In other news, I have my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but haven't started it yet. I need to finish The Goblet of Fire first, which should only take me another day or two, provided people leave me the heck alone and let me read.