Turning 46 tomorrow. Another birthday to be spent alone.

The best thing about Billy Collins' BAP might very well be that there are no poems by Billy Collins in it! I'm hoping at least that there are no poems by him in it.

I can't seem to get angry enough to blog properly. One thing you should check out, though, is the shoddy science behind Sax's popular book on gender differences, as exposed by Mark Liberman on Language Log. To prove that men and women see the world differently, the guy looks at differences in RAT EYES, and gets it completely wrong on top of that. He makes absurd claims about the greater aural sensitivity of girls, in the service of a rancid gender ideology. Mark is doing a valuable service in exposing this charlatan.

Anyone can cite a scientific study in a popular book, with the assurance that few people will check out the study to see if it really says what it is purported to say. Most people wouldn't even have the expertise to do it anyway.