November 1997 Notebook Entries

Notebook entry, November 27, 1997

Today is America's Thanksgiving holiday.  My family and I have much to be thankful for as we have all of the basic requirements of life in abundance, plus many more that we all seem to take for granted.  I look out my window and think of those on the planet that do not have the minimums of food, shelter, and safety from harm.   I ponder what more I could do.

Most students are home for the holiday break and the numbers of visitors to the site falls dramactically.  I updated the Bigotry and Prejudice essay by referring to the Time magazine article (Dec 1, p. 52) concerning the confrontation between Hispanics and African-Americans in East Palo Alto California.   Once again, bigotry is not about skin color.  The new updated version is at: http://www.evoyage.com/bigotry.html

Notebook entry, November 24, 1997

A Knight-Ridder News Service article from the chief of the reproductive epidemilology section at the California Dept.of Health that sperm counts have dropped an average of 1.5% per year since the 1930s.  The speculation is that  the chemicals found in our water and food in North America and Europe have found there way to the womb.  I muse on the matter. Is humankind responsible for fouling our environment for profit, and is nature adapting by taking steps to solve the problem?

Notebook entry, November 16, 1997

A newswire by USA Today reported on some of the major findings of the American Society for Human Genetics held last month. Findings support evidence that trace the origins of humanity "back to a common founding population in Africa about 150,000 years ago."

Notebook entry, November 10, 1997:

Updated my Apple Computer essay with the latest from the newswires. News conference held by Steve Jobs reveals some of their products and strategies for the upcoming year. Essay is at: http://www.evoyage.com/Apple.html

Notebook entry, November 4, 1997

I have received several electrontic messages from males claiming that I have been too harsh on the male gender in my Male Gender essay.

I am sorry, but sometimes the truth is harsh.  However, I will admit that part of the reason that I wrote the essay with such a slant was to make males angry so that they would make the statement and beg the question: "Not me!  Maybe there are different "variants" of males from highly agressive to meek?  And are the "variants" universial?  And proceeding down this path: Are there different "variants" of females?  Do both genders, adapting to their Cultural Longitudes and Latitudes, (CLL's), age groups, and genetic predispositions create the mix we call humanity?