That is Saba's preferred cuddling spot, between me and the computer (I took this with the camera on the computer). She's a big sweetie, unless she hears the dogs next door barking. The other night something set them off, and Saba sat on the desk growling a low growl at their noise. She was pretty pissed off at those dogs, let me tell you.
And this, too: Yesterday I should have prefaced my between-mugs, anti-English student rant with a disclaimer: I was a double major, Biology and English. Yes, I have a degree in English literature. I have been one of those types that I was ranting about, frankly.
I could never decide between science and literature, nor did I ever think I had to. (Until graduate school came along, that is, but that's another story.)
In fact, if I were to write a rant about science students, it would have to include the sad fact that not many of them can write worth a damn. I don't know what the basic English requirements are for a science degree (since I took practically every English class I could, I never looked at the minimum requirements), but I would guess that most science students probably took those and nothing more. It shows, too. It shows on their GRE scores. It shows in their grad school application letters. It shows in their dissertations. It shows in their grant proposals. I've read some shitty, shitty writing not just from students, but from scientists who are already working in the field. And if they write reasonably well grammatically, they're still often unable to communicate effectively, with writing so dense or lacking in syntactical dexterity that it defies comprehension.
Sometimes in science classes, simply because I can write a coherent sentence, I was the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind.
So, yes. I've been on both sides.
And that's my disclaimer.
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