I have only a few term papers to read, and I don’t have to deal with students at all for a while. I like students and am happy to work with them most of the time, but right now I am so looking forward to retreating into my lab and dealing nothing but things. No committee meetings, no office hours, no engagement with human beings at all, just microscopes, cameras, and most importantly, spiders. Yesterday I only had a little lab time, and it was so soothing to see all the long-legged beasties hanging upside down in their sprawling webs, waiting for food. Today I give it to them, and they will be so appreciative. And undemanding.
It’s a good life, being a spider, all solitary and patient.
Spiders may not be people, but are they just things?
I mostly feel like I only want to work with things. That’s why I’ve been mopping floors for two years.
Well…is there, or isn’t there, an internet of spiders?
Say it Ain’t So, PZ! Say it ain’t so!
https://www.cnet.com/news/giant-spider-fossil-exposed-as-clever-hoax/?ftag=CAD-04-10aai8c&bhid=25304418153974495499371274589457
The new Piltdown spider?
The introvert’s dreamworld. I feel so relaxed when it’s just me and my computer or me and a good book. I wouldn’t even mind a Spider of Damocles hanging over my head, watching.
Dogs may not be human, but there are benefits of their company.
A study has shown that people who were exposed to pet dogs before the age of 13 were up to 24% less likely to later being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
There was no discernable mental health effect of being exposed to cats in childhood (I suggest general frustration or physical trauma would hide any positive effects but that is just me being an asshole).
There was no study of the benefits of having pet arthropods or cephalopods, an obvious oversight.
That’s why I quilt , read , draw and dance on the weekends and after work . I need to recharge my batteries. Introverts paradise indeed!