Anthropology: FAIL

Something tells me this anthropology topic is going to become a regular staple of this blog. We've already discussed The Pragmatic Economist's displeasure toward certain individuals in the class. You would never believe it, but the same two people just cannot hold their tongues.

After talking at length about simple Mendelian genetics, Punnett squares, and the like, this girl asked the professor how two parents who didn't display recessive traits could have a child with a recessive phenotype. Seriously? We spent half an hour talking about this, and we explained this exact example as well. At least it's joke material.

As if this isn't enough, when talking about bone formation she asks the professor:

Q:) "Where does the calcium in our bones come from? Does our DNA make it?"

A:) "No. You ingest calcium. See me after class."

Oh the good times you have in freshman classes. I don't mean to seem like an ageist/elitist, but I don't remember ever asking things like that in a 101 level class.

In other news, I have a thesis director and second reader! All I have to do is fill out my prospectus. My thesis title/idea is something to the tune of "Developmental Effects of State Privatization in post-Command Economies". I'm very excited, it's a step in the right direction.

Google Voice, Part 2

Hooray for me, I finally have a Google Voice number!

After waiting about a month, I got a 202 area code number. Once I saw they had 202 numbers I quickly scanned through the dozen or so numbers they had available and picked the best one for me. I am super excited! I've only had GV for a few days now, but here are the features that I love about it so far:

1) I can send and receive texts on the internet for free. I'm over my texting limit for the month, so it'll be nice being able to send texts from my computer more often. After all, I spend tons of time on my computer so I might as well use the free texts online.

2) Voicemail transcription. Now you can leave me a voice message, and I'll get an email telling me what it said! Sweet. Below is an example (published with my friends consent of course) of the transcription and her actual message. Granted she was mumbling a bit, but GV did a pretty good job!

"Hey, This is Melissa, so it and go straight to voicemail and ring like 3 times. He asked, and we're it's a yeah, here's Andrew andnumber is 123456789, Okay bye." (The words GV guesses on are prehighlighted in gray. Tres cool.)

3) No more creepers. How many of you have had this happen to you?

You're in a bar/Starbucks/library/whatever and some guy/girl come up to you and start chatting. You're not terribly interested, but you smile and nod and try to avoid physical or verbal contact. Despite your efforts, this individual will not go away, and asks for your number. You say "no" but this person is persistent, so you give up a fake number. Lo and behold, this guy actually calls your number to make sure it's legit, and oops! it's not. And then you have to give him the real number because you feel like a tool for getting caught.

Well no longer! Just give this guy/girl/tortoise/lampshade you Google Voice number and if he calls you, it will ring! But to sweeten the deal, you can then later block his number so he thinks you've dropped off the edge of this flat Earth. Brilliant.

Here's my challenge for you: I am going to put a widget on my page that will connect you to my GV number. Give me a call and leave me a voice message. I'll put them online along with the transcription. Get creative! Speak Spanish, play your guitar, sing, read a poem! Ring me!

PS: Just so you know, you still incur normal phone charges for calling me on my GV gadget.

Google Voice Part 3