Eclectic Visions

Sexism continues to plague us in many areas.

It would be wonderful if psychiatric medications could be better targeted to the conditions they treat /and/ have fewer side effects.

New osteological evidence contradicts earlier assumptions based on grave goods, such as the presence of swords and other weapons, regarding the sex of the individuals buried. In the 14 Viking burials in Eastern England examined by the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Western Australia, as reported in the Early Medieval Europe journal, 6 were women, 7 were men, and the sex of 1 has not yet been determined. 

“You didn’t pronounce that correctly.” We all hear this sometimes, but is it true? Our pronunciation and even word choice vary greatly, based on where we grew up and where we currently live. This article links to an interesting site with lots of detailed information about the dialects found in North America. Of interest to historians, genealogists, teachers, and writers, as well as anyone who’s interested in linguistics.

I love the creative new approaches to wind turbines that may help to make them more practical for multiple applications.

Our bodies. We love them and hate them. We live in them. We use them. Everything we do, we do because we have a body, including our more cerebral activities. They are integral to who we are as people, yet we do not want to be defined by them.

Our bodies change without our willing it. As we grow from infants to adulthood we gain in body strength and coordination, only to have these attributes taken away again by time. Yet, our own actions can alter our bodies, as can the actions of others. Exercise, accident, and malice have always had the ability to change our bodies in extraordinary ways, and in today’s world, our bodies can be changed in ways that were unimaginable only a short time ago, leading to the development of a subculture of body modification.

All of this is, as Juliette Wade indicates, a rich source of inspiration for writers, particularly writers of science fiction and fantasy.

While Kirsty Hartsiotis has collected local folklore in this work, she has also reworked the stories. While the original “local legends and fragments of tales” she gathered might have been of greater interest to scholars, her retellings of old stories, and the stories she wrote based on the stories she gathered, will still be enjoyed by those of us who love folklore and spooky stories. As such, she is part of the folklore tradition whereby stories move between oral and written retellings, and their newer media cousins.

Both of my parents have sufferred from age-related macular degeneration, so I know I’m in the high risk category for also developing this disease. When my mother was diagnosed, twenty or more years ago, there seemed little that could be done for her. My 83-year-old father’s situation has been very different. His physician placed him on AREDS and recommend he include more of the fruits and vegetables (blueberries, avocado, bell peppers, etc.) believed to contain the nutrients associated with eye health. This has not only helped improve his eyes (we’re told that his macular degeneration has been reversed), but has improved his overall health. In particular, I notice that his memory and overall cognition have even improved over the past few years, rather than decline, which has got to be the best “side-effect” possible.