the warm-up

I learned some things today, but this post is mostly an exercise in demonstrating to myself that I'm not currently writing-impaired. Writing ability is important this evening because I have to tune up the paper I was going to present - the part that will get published in the conference proceedings despite the fact that I can't go personally tell people about it. Tuning up something nerds are going to read seems to fall out of the realm of stuff I can handle easily. I'm pretty good at weekends, in that I'm well enough to grocery shop, ride a bike, keep house, and occasionally go out to dinner. Weekday activities are harder, but I'm very pleased that this project involves writing. I appear to enjoy that kind of thing, if this blog is any kind of indication.

Ok, it looks like I can at least type and use three-syllable words, so I'd better get to work. I'll leave you with a few tidbits before I go:

• Burning wood in your fireplace produces multiple nasty chemicals in addition to particulates. I already knew woodsmoke would kill me, but apparently it'll kill everybody else, too, no matter how appealing a crackling fire is.
• Diversity training actually reduces the diversity of company management unless employees volunteer to attend. According to the study cited, covering your backside lawsuitwise by requiring attendance should actually be opening you up to lawsuits.
• Cell phone companies funded a study that reported that radiation from cell phone use disturbs people's sleep afterwards, so all those teenagers who talk on their phones into the wee hours show up to school the next morning with ADHD. So I feel compelled to report that cell phones will kill you, but the cell phone companies took these results to be inconclusive.