Everyday Junglist
Bio
Practicing mage of the natural sciences (Ph.D. micro/mol bio), Thought middle manager, Everyday Junglist, Boulderer, Cat lover, No tie shoelace user, Humorist, Argan oil aficionado. Occasional LinkedIn & Facebook user
Stories (583/0)
There are some Major Problems at UCSD Women's Health
Recently my wife and I were subjected to almost 4 weeks of horrific treatment at the hands of University of California San Diego (UCSD) Women's Health when she became pregnant and the pregnancy was suspected to be ectopic. Below find a list of issues in no particular order. Because the screw-ups were so egregious I am calling out the clinic by name and urging anyone who reads this to avoid them at all costs.
By Everyday Junglist29 days ago in Humans
On the Viability of Viruses
I was taught in undergrad and graduate school that viruses are not alive as they fail several of the key tests typically required for something to qualify as being alive. There are seven main characteristics biologists like myself generally agree that living organisms must possess. They are 1. The ability to respire. 2. The ability to grow 3. The ability to excrete (waste), 4. The ability to reproduce. 5. The ability to metabolize (nutrients for energy), 6. Movement. 7. Responsiveness to the environment.
By Everyday Junglist29 days ago in Earth
Human Evolution and Climate Change. Top Story - June 2024.
The Question An oft asked question relates to how humans and every other species on the planet will or will not adapt to the new environmental conditions that climate change will quite probably (and arguably already has) impose across much of the globe. For other species the answer is fairly obvious, they will either adapt or they will perish. As has been the case throughout all of earth’s history, evolution through natural selection requires that those with the traits that are best adapted to reproduce will do so and so pass them on, especially when pressed by changes in the environment. Many argue that the changes we are seeing or will soon see as a result of climate change are occurring too rapidly for many species to adapt. In essence that evolution cannot keep up with the pace of change. Mutations simply cannot occur frequently enough to supply a wide enough variety of phenotypes of different varieties to allow for at least one that can survive the new conditions any given species may find itself in. Rapid changes are the hardest for the longest lived (excluding microorganisms), and slowest reproducing creatures to deal with, and they face the greatest threat of massive population decrease or even extinction. I happen to think that adaptation can happen much faster than is typically believed, but am not naïve enough to think that even a greatly accelerated adaptation or mutation process will be enough to save all or even most animal species from the threat of habitat loss or change brought about by global warming.
By Everyday Junglistabout a month ago in Futurism
Great Works of Literature - Vocal Style
In addition to my endless complaining about the absurd word count minimum for story publication on Vocal I also take issue with the nonsensical subtitle requirement. No matter how much I think about it, and it is actually way too much, I cannot for the life of me imagine what potential justification there could be to require every article or story published here to have one. This includes the poets community by the way. A poem with a subtitle is not a thing I even thought existed until I started publishing here. A story without a subtitle cannot even be submitted for screening by the censorship board (sorry I mean submitted for review to the moderators) without one. Can you imagine what the world would have been/be like if this were an ironclad rule of writing and literature, and had been since the beginning of the written word? Luckily, you don't have to as I have imagined it for you below. Normally I would have ended this introductory section right there. Right at the period after the word below. However when I had completed the piece and checked the word count I noted it was nowhere near 600 words. So, after a round of curses, head slaps, and sighs I had to think of a way to stuff more words into this crap fest of an story and the following was the best I could come up with. What you are now reading are the thoughts currently emanating from my brain. In other words you are reading the words coming out of my head currently, totally unfiltered, exactly as I experience them in my head, at this very moment. Or, I guess, actually for you the reader, it will be at some later moment but hopefully you take my meaning. Now, can you imagine having to live with this person 24/7 365 days a year. Ouch, right. Welcome to my world. Do you think I have hit 600 words yet? I am gonna say no, probably another one hundred or so to go. See how I typed out the word one hundred instead of using the numerals one and zero and zero. Smart right? And then I did it again in the sentence right after the first one. I could have typed out the numerals as numerals each time but that would not have padded my word count in the same fashion as fully typing out the words that the numerals stand for, or is it the numerals that stand for the words? Hmmm. That's a weird thing to think about isn't it. Which stands for which? Six hundred and ten. Nice.
By Everyday Junglistabout a month ago in Writers
Satironic Meta Magical Realism
Narrator's preface: The writer who is the protagonist of the below story includes an author's preface in many of his written works. Generally these are full of psuedo intellectual clap trap that sounds intelligent at first blush, but upon closer inspection is actually nonsense. He was not available to provide an author's preface in this case telling me that he was busy "inventing a brand new genre of writing" which he had dubbed satironic meta magical realism. And there you have it, a perfect example of what I meant with that intelligent nonsense comment. Apparently he was doing this in order that he might produce a story he could enter in a writing contest for some two bit website nobody has ever heard of much less cares about. I told him good luck and offered to dream something up to cover his author's preface for this "story." His fan base which consists primarily of persons recently released from or soon to be committed to a mental institution, prisoners, hobos and homeless vagabounds get very agitated when he fails to include an author's preface in any given story he writes. Of course they also get agitated by anything anyone else considers normal. Ah well. Enjoy the below, or don't, it's no skin off my back either way.
By Everyday Junglistabout a month ago in Writers
Dear Son or Daughter
Father's preface: Much of the material below includes adult language and themes. Depending on your age they may not be suitable for your reading just yet. If you have any doubt, ask your mom if it's OK, then do whatever she says. Also, please tell her that I love her and know that I love you, whoever, whenever, and wherever you are. Or should that have been whomever? Hmm. If we check with the grammar police for the appropriate usage we see that the word “whoever” is used to replace words like I, he, she, and they in a sentence. “Whomever” is a subject pronoun, meaning that it refers to the subject of a sentence. The subject of a sentence is the person that doing or performing an action. So, in this case it would be replacing 'you' and you are not an I, he, she, or they. I guess you are the subject of the sentence even though you are not technically doing anything or performing any action. You are just sitting there being asked to tell your mom that I love her and receiving love from me. So, I suppose if you actually do as instructed then you would be doing something, but that would be in the future, not at the time of your actually reading the sentence which ironically is in the future, at least from my perspective. Now that we cleared that up, read the stupid thing below, and I do love you.
By Everyday Junglist2 months ago in Families
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