Women, sports and science

I don't like any type of polarization that becomes extreme, turns to hate and ends up in pitchfork mentalities.

That being said, the last decade has been concerning to say the least on both sides. The nuances are gone. Watching and reading women unable to differentiate between the men who harm and those who do the opposite.

I am avoiding key words so readers will have to infer what I'm writing about.

Spouse is involved with the rights of women and what I can share is what she gives me permission to. One of the things spouse is particularly angry about is that the movement isn't getting anywhere. Women who rise emulate male behavior instead of insisting to be allowed the choice of how feminine and nurturing they want to remain. (Greer recently mentioned something similar). In the Stem sector the women who make it receive little help or mentorship from the women who made it before them.

A perfect example was Serenas win while preggers. Feminist called her "badass". Of course it was an incredible feat, but feminists had no regard or understanding that such extreme exertion might be dangerous. They had already moved on when Serena almost lost her child and her life as a result.

The recent win of Alysa liu also went a little unnoticed, but gives me hope for the future. As she disclosed in the 60 minute interview; at the ripe old age of 16 she quits, goes to college, comes back on her own terms; no more radar gun for speed by her traditional father, no more dieting and she manages her practice. Her father accepted. A healthy looking athlete wins.

My training as a Varsity athlete was mixed gender (we only split at competition). A very  progressive great coach addressed us one morning. He made it clear that anyone who didn't eat breakfast before morning training would be off the team.

Woman have allowed and participated in being reduced to their repro organs during demonstrations, when in fact their entire physiology is different. Unless female scientists represent half the population that research will not be done. Very few talk about that while women do better in STem initially, they leave later on. But I did not see a single sign during those demos representing half the population demanding that half the specialist physicians or scientists should be female. They need to be.

When I correct or mention scientists/science there is no interest (that's fine) but do self proclaimed feminist even know who Ilaria Capua (and what was done to her) is? Are the incredible accomplishments of women celebrated by women? Promoted?

IRL a woman asked me to explain psychopaths and sociopaths to her. Then she asked if it was mostly men. According to the irrefutable statistics, yes, I replied. Then why do women do it? Her question made me think. Why indeed? Is it socialization that turns some women into mean girls rather than wing men for eachother the way males do?

Of course I've encountered it in blogs as well, it's disappointing. Conversations that harp on about the misogyny of all men, tearing the normal ones down as well. Going back to precisely what we should be moving away from.

I've seen sudden criticism of Einstein for a few years. I even corrected a comment about facts (despite his century, he promoted women and was a humanist). I ended up with pseudofeminist backlash, from someone who didn't know what she was talking about. Apparently, Maria Popova noticed the same online and she posted this today:

https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/02/28/einstein-curie-letter/

"Don't heed the haters: Albert Einsteins wonderful letter of support to Marie Curie in the midst of Scandal".

I'm in good company.

Someone else who was an exceptional husband, father and genius was Darwin. (who among many other things custombuilt a stair slide so he could hear his children laugh while working) The preeminent Darwin scholar is a female Harvard historian Janet Browne.

Food for thought.

Inhumanity

 

Something that had to do with my father recently came up and needed to be dealt with. I will have to be vague. I dreaded the call to a particular department, but in the interim there have been changes in the law and I wanted to ensure that they were implemented.

So. I initially called for general information and based on that I was expecting to be transferred to a different department. As is now routine, it started with a service center who insisted on answering my questions. Incorrectly. The rep refused to transfer me until I politely told her that she lacked the training. She transferred me.

The last time I had spoken to this department I was anguished. In despair and anticipatory grief because there was still the possibility of preventing my father's needless suffering, abuse and theft. I had groveled, played nice accepted anything they told me because it was inconceivable that people who are not dysfunctional psychopaths would willingly harm another human being, when they are paid to prevent harm.

Ms. Blank picked up. I asked questions, she wanted to know unrelated details. I don't have to answer those I told her. You're right she said she was evasive started to misinform me so I put her on speaker and had my tea.

I was numb. Emotionally it didn't matter anymore. My father was gone. I didn't have to argue to convince her because I knew that she was trained to lie. This is one of the individuals that had given me the wrong information in the past and was doing it again. 

I asked for her team leader who was away and why did I need to speak to him? Been here done that. Same script. When she rambled on my mind wandered. How does this happen to a person? How do they become inhuman? Her decision in the past had destroyed a human life.

I don't know the answer. But when customer service robots replace her I doubt I'll notice a difference.

Specialty stores. Buttons and brushes.

 

As children we explore the world through our senses. Then we stop in part because all of the "do not touch" signs are eventually obeyed.

When I was in Europe I usually wander around beyond the quaint old towns to discover some unique stores. Simply to touch and look. These specialty stores are often family owned and have been around for over a hundred years.

They now have a name: Slow retail stores.

One of the stores that I entered like a fish out of water was a button store. They also sold other sewing related supplies, but the wall of buttons was something to behold. Buttons of every imaginable color. Some out of very intricate and ornate medal. Plastic, mother of pearl. Whatever else buttons are made of. When the salesperson approached me I felt like an imposter. Does one even say "just looking" in a button store? 

Another store I came across was a brush store. An entire store! Just brushes. Many in shapes that I could not even begin to discern the purpose of. Bristles ranging from badger hair to ostrich feathers. Artists brushes made of Sable hair can be quite expensive, but spending 200 on a shaving brush or 130 for a dustbin set seemed excessive. Does a grandchild really want to inherit a broom? To be fair most brushes were handmade with wooden handles. Still.

It's not a luxury store per se and it's nice that these stores somehow attract enough customers to continue.

It was neat though and the craftsmanship dating back to another time was obvious.

Any unique stores you've come across?

Would you like a little dementia to go with that?

 I am too angry to write a proper post but wanted to share this in the meantime. 

There have been a few studies of this kind in the last couple of years, but they are still preliminary. That cov causes serious long term damage is no surprise. That many diseases will be blamed on viruses because we now have the ability to make a lucrative vaccine also likely.

Getting rid of seniors...well....

but here's some food for thought. If AI replaces highly skilled humans, because theyre now a little stupid, eventually buying power goes down as does the wealth of the wealthy. 

Anyway here's the article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-02-25/how-long-do-covid-s-effects-last-brain-issues-are-still-being-found?

Psychic personality test?

A blogger described herself with an enneagram number. I'd never heard of it...and down the rabbit hole I went.

In my immersive journalism pretentions, not only did I look it up, but took one of them. (I was bored). I was not concerned about any data they could use, took precautions and looked for a free test with free results.

It's a personality test, allegedly used by companies to hire people or blah blah blah. The test claims to have been put together by psychologists. Two hundred questions, very basic preferences; "when there's a deadline do you prefer perfectionism to team work" or "do you like helping others" etc.

Half way through, I realized that it was biased self reporting with some questions that offered no possibility to answer accurately.

The made up example that I'll use:

When you drink Acai berry juice, do you prefer it sweet or tart?

I've never had Acai berry juice.

No option to skip it or choose not applicable because it it was a strongly agree/disagree/sometimes response.

Poorly designed unscientific questionnaire. Then I got a number for my personality and the free result printout would be 99 dollars for a limited time.

Looked it up elsewhere. Basically the same grift as psychics. It told me what I already knew because I had told it what I already knew about myself. The rest was wrong.

Psychics do the same. Everytime I watched van Praagh, (he's been debunked), it's mostly cold readings. But he comforts his subjects, so I can understand the appeal.

Ah well.

Where I recently got confused, including this type of test, is the redefinition of introvert vs. extrovert. I think it's a label that limits and doesn't take into consideration that people change over time.

The test wasn't clear on work vs leisure. The behavior is quite different in each scenario. It also kept guiding the subject into either/or answers.

Not an insightful or useful test.

Cake as metaphor

 

I've returned to a world I do not recognize. There were several posts meant to describe how serious our global situation is and that without understanding it, we can't make necessary changes.

What's the use or the point?

I'm still dealing with long covsshh. After an appointment, I needed to pick up a few things; the only place in the vicinity an overpriced health food store, but I simply did not have the energy to get to and through the regular kind.

While looking for a few staples I'm starting to ignore the new vegan cold cuts and new choices that aren't. BUT. It was quiet. I could spend time reading labels and fine print. No hassle and bustle. Friendly customers, when I almost collided with another shopping cart, laughter about the right of way. No eye rolling or impatience. A father who was calm, while his little toddler girl was talking to yoghurt, instead of throwing a tantrum. No weirdos in the store. I spent a little extra time there because it was civilized. Normal.

The idea of cake as metaphor happened on my walk home. Imagine that the goal of global interaction is a perfect cake. Nuts and ingredients are perfectly distributed throughout. Every ingredient comes together to create a delicious whole. Every country gets an equal piece at the end, at which one is satiated and satisfied because it hit the spot perfectly.

Obviously, perfection doesn't exist.

How many of us need to be taught to stop eating cake batter as immature children? It requires an adult often an exasperated mother to come up with giving us a little bowl with batter in it. Or watching like hawks so we don't pull the cooling cake off the rack. If the cake is destroyed somehow, we start all over. With the same ingredients or new additions. Sometimes there's a natural disaster; the oven burnt it. Mistakes were made. And yet we continue to bake cakes. If a recipe doesn't work out, we find a new one just to keep baking cakes.

Global diplomacy is the same. Since the late 40s we've tried to get a great cake made. Treaties, tireless diplomacy, accepting lesser ingredients just to end up with a cake. Incremental because some want to eat the whole thing, others want the biggest slice. Some don't even want to contribute baking soda. Others contribute baking powder instead. Then real Vanilla is replaced with the synthetic kind. A neighbor refuses to give you a cup of flour. Someone picks out all the raisins and so on. The recipe keeps changing.

We ended up with a mess. Eventually, I hope, we'll get back to baking.

Aging is a state of mind

 

In my thirties, I decided that I was never going to "act" like a senior once I became one. Obviously, physical constraints permitting, I was not going to age gracefully. When there was a trend of forty is the new thirty, I thought that we are heading in the right direction. I am not a senior but it has been a long time since I have done something like sledding or snowball fighting with other adults. I am a goofball at home, but when did everyone get so serious? The last time I went impromptu sledding was when someone borrowed food trays from a cafeteria and down a hill we went. We were all laughing so hard, steering was optional.

I came across this video recently of two Canadian women trying out all winter Olympic sports with a good dose of humor.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LtwjMsJoOZc

When did life get so serious that one forgets to have that type of stress-relieving fun?