Settlers of Maine

So Gwyn has been really into games lately, mostly Crazy Eights and Uno. So, on Friday night I decided to teach the girls how to play Settlers of Catan. It turns out, you actually don't need to know how to read to play. Gwyn has her own distinct strategy of buying lots of development cards, which has actually served her pretty well. The girls wanted to play again Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday we upgraded to Seafarers, since Miriam was complaining about too many sheep. Overall, we are very cooperative traders and pretty good neighbors on the island, except Gwyn who likes to cut people off. It's pretty exciting that we can have a full game with just our own little family (who needs friends, I guess). And it is great relief to think we might be permanently past the mind numbing, Chinese molasses drip torture of Candyland.

Where will we be next year?

Not Maine, as I found out today. Any guesses? Suggestions?

Depressing thoughts

Okay, so it has been a while, and now all I have is a bunch of loosely related, depressing thoughts. Maybe somebody can offer some hope here. The world hasn't ended, yet.

So the recent disaster in Haiti shows how easily the barely functional countries of the third world fall apart. Here, luckily, it was just one country, but if we are unable to do anything about global warming, we should have problems of a similar magnitude across the board. And the developed countries' capacities and willingness to help, lukewarm at the best of times, will be noticeably diminished.

The chance of the United States doing anything meaningful about global warming just shrunk measurably with the Massachussetts election of Scott Brown (who, btw, for any social conservatives who may be reading this blog, posed totally naked for cosmopolitan in 1982). Even more irritating and ironic is the suggestion, probably real, that Massachusetts voters were fed up with debate on healthcare, since Massachussetts gained, under the leadership of former governor Mitt Romney, a more liberal healthcare plan than either of those being considered in congress. But, of the existing states with near universal coverage, Massachusetts plan is most like the one Congress is trying to pass, and polls suggest they are generally ok with it (slightly more in favor than against). So basically, we've got ours, but no one else should? I don't get it. Does independent mean ideologically incoherent? Winston Churchill's remarks on democracy seem particularly apt.

Also, I am reading about East Asian societies that basically imploded while rival factions in government kept anyone from instituting the meaningful changes. Even without the perfect hindsight of history, there were contemporaries who knew what needed to be done, but were prevented from doing it by conservative faction who were unable to do offer any constructive solutions to these problems, but just criticized and stymied those attempting reform. Tens of millions of people died.

More Dissertation Fun

So, I have been writing, editing, formatting, etc. my dissertation. So I downloaded the formats for the front matter, and started thinking about acknowledgments, writing an abstract, and I was curious how people I know who have written dissertations did theirs. So I downloaded a few, then I decided to get Mike(Palmer)'s as well. So I now have a pdf of Mike's dissertation, if anyone wants a copy. Probably too big an attachment for e-mail, so skype me. As I think I'd heard from mom, it is dedicated to his advisor, which is pretty classic. Perhaps, Pam's contribution's went without saying. Also, just randomly, I took a short break on Saturday, after working for 6 hours in the morning and we drove to Freeport to check out a coastal state park (I would say beach park, but there wasn't really any beach). It was pretty cool though. There were some tiny islands offshore with houses on them. Seriously, the islands were just big enough for a small house and maybe thirty trees. Then on the way home in Freeport we stopped inside the Northface and Patagonia stores and realized they were outlets. There were some pretty good deals, 60-70% off, but the kids were sort of at the end of their leash (they were tackling each other in the aisles), so we just got a few small things. Anyway, so there is another reason to come visit us in Maine, if that's what you're into.

Hawaii Rocks

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/health/policy/17hawaii.html?ref=health

More evidence that providing everyone insurance lowers costs.

Open call for dissertation readers

So, a number of people have expressed interest in reading my dissertation, and have complained that I have never sent them a copy. The main reason I haven't is that there is always some part of it I am working on, so it never feels done. I think "I'll just finish --- first, and then send it out." Anyway, I am getting to the point where most of that is finished, though not all, and I'm going to have to turn it in one way or another soon, so I might as well get as much feedback as possible. So, if you want a chance to read it before the general public (consider it a sneak peak at the much anticipated, by at least one person I can think of, work) then leave a comment for me with your preferred e-mail address, and I will send it to you sometime over the next couple weeks (I really need to polish up the introduction first). As an added bonus, if you give me lots of useful feedback, I will include your name in the acknowledgments section (a very heady thought, I know.) Think of it like a fun online drawing, for extra work, which everyone wins. Let the fun begin.

Chairs and bookshelves

So we've been looking for chairs, and we finally found some groovy old chairs at an antique store. The chair Gwyn is sitting on folds into the one next to Gwyn. Perfect for our nomadic lifestyle.
That was on labor day, on our way home from the beach. Another post by Bekah perhaps. Anyway, so Saturday I made a bookshelf, which we've also been needing. It took about 2-3 hours to make, and 10 minutes to fill. So we need another one now I guess. I was kind of experimenting with building it without nails or glue or anything, so it comes apart as well (just in case.) I also started working on a kitchen stand, but I was trying something more involved, so I had to set it aside for now.