http://www.joshporter.org Josh's mysterious blog. Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:57:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Here's a poem I wrote last spring while waiting for the bus. Where I grew up in Jersey was a really different place With lots of winding country roads and lots of open space. I think that rural Hunterdon did have a public bus, But no one I knew took it; it was ... http://www.joshporter.org/blog/2007/09/09/the-mta/ I recently read an article in the New York Times about how our sexual desires are largely genetically determined. An interesting article, and worth a read – but be careful what you read into it. A line of thought I have heard goes something like this: "Sexuality is genetic/natural; therefore, we ... http://www.joshporter.org/blog/2007/04/27/genetics-nature-and-morality/ On April 16, I received the following email from Focus on the Family Action: Dear Joshua, I have warned you for weeks that the U.S. House would attempt to gag our ability to keep you informed about the mischief in Congress and thus, hinder your ability to let your voice be heard ... http://www.joshporter.org/blog/2007/04/19/manipulation-deceit-and-hr-984/ Someone asked me last night whether it was worth my time to recycle plastic bottles. I answered yes, but I didn't give a very good explanation about why. The following is hopefully a better explanation. Modern America is living in a way that, to use a buzzword of the day, is ... http://www.joshporter.org/blog/2007/04/12/worth-my-time/ My sister has been spending the spring semester studying abroad in Beijing. She's been keeping a blog called Silly Times in China that details her wild adventures there for the entertainment of her friends and family. I really should have posted a link to this before; her blog has been consistently ... http://www.joshporter.org/blog/2007/04/09/silly-times-in-china/ Had enough with junk mail credit card offers? Today I submitted my name and address to OptOutPreScreen.com, a site run by the major credit reporting companies where you can choose not to receive pre-approved credit or insurance offers in the mail. This ought to save some time that would be ... http://www.joshporter.org/blog/2007/01/19/two-helpful-sites-to-simplify-your-life/ While reading comments today on an online bulletin board, I noticed that the people posting there were confusing two words that sound similar but mean very different things. voracity: the quality or state of being voracious. voracious: having a huge appetite, or excessively eager. To use it in a sentence: "That boy is ... http://www.joshporter.org/blog/2007/01/14/words-of-the-day/ Welcome to joshporter.org! If you've been here before, you might notice that the format is a bit different. I've decided to turn my site into a blog for several reasons. My old site, a static page, was a pain to keep updated. By making it easy to add and edit content, ... http://www.joshporter.org/blog/2007/01/12/hello-world-2/