Davison online
The life and times of the world’s
most self-deluded online superstar
News & Commentary
Protesters convicted of trespassing during 2024 Portland State protest as new DA follows through on promise
About time
At age 3, child assigned male at birth picked a girl’s name and clothing. What did these parents do?
This is the divide.
Just Stop Oil says it will stop throwing soup at paintings and end disruptive protest
Too late
White House pulls Stefanik’s UN ambassador nomination amid concern over narrow Republican House majority
Stefanik’s presence in the House guarantees a slim GOP majority.
Mahmoud Khalil: Trump administration accuses pro-Palestinian activist of hiding info on green card application
This will need to be adjudicated.
U.S. Supreme Court ruling ends Oregon youth climate case
I’m amazed it got this far.
Advice for Democrats
Doing the wrong thing repeatedly will not somehow yield success.
A laser focus on literacy for summer learning programs runs into opposition at Legislature
I’m not sure good ideas can survive the Democratic Party in Oregon
A Portland center for Black culture closes its doors
It only cost Portlanders a million dollars in public safety.
Oregon Republican lawmaker reads sexually explicit passage on House floor to call out bill that would ban book bans
Public libraries are one thing. School libraries are another.
Essays
Folding@home
Scientists need your help in fighting the virus. Time to be a hero.
Proteins are long chains of amino acids that perform a vast array of functions within organisms. They differ from one another primarily in the sequence of their amino acids. These sequences typically fold into specific three dimensional structures that determine what the proteins do.
Viruses, including everybody’s new favorite, have proteins that suppress the immune system, help reproduce themselves, and so forth. Determining exactly how these proteins work is important in creating therapeutic treatments.
The (Practical) Biological Impossibility of Non-Binary
NOTE: Society is coarse nowadays. What is Not Safe For Work (NSFW)? When everything goes, maybe nobody cares? Regardless, this brief essay is about sex, the language we use to describe reproduction. Human sexuality typically makes for mature reading. Depending on your workplace—perhaps this is fine for a medical office, but you know, hold off if you’re teaching Pre-K—you might want to read this in a more private setting.
We start with biology. Or, rather, we’d like to start with biology. I’d love to start with biology. Why can’t we start with biology? Well, because in today’s world, we can’t even agree on that.
The singular “they”
Several years ago we crossed the lexicographic Rubicon as Merriam-Webster gave “literally” the same definition as “figuratively.” Outrage by language purists understandably followed. Responses from pundits to Merriam-Webster’s pronouncement were, uh, uncharitable…
Tesla Model 3
This may come as something of a shock, but I’m about to spend $60k on a car, the Tesla Model 3. There are some good reasons not to, the most obvious being the eye-popping price tag. It’s also a fair question as to whether or not cars are the future of transportation. (In big cities the answer is a resounding, “No, they’re not.†The future there is ebikes, electric scooters, Segaways, and the like.)
Still, I have five major reasons to head down this path, and I thought it might be illuminating for some to hear what they are.