Attenborough on Creationism
Sir David Attenborough has revealed that he receives hate mail from viewers for failing to credit God in his documentaries. In an interview with this week's Radio Times about his latest documentary, on Charles Darwin and natural selection, the broadcaster said: "They tell me to burn in hell and good riddance."
Telling the magazine that he was asked why he did not give "credit" to God, Attenborough added: "They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator."
Attenborough went further in his opposition to creationism, saying it was "terrible" when it was taught alongside evolution as an alternative perspective. "It's like saying that two and two equals four, but if you wish to believe it, it could also be five … Evolution is not a theory; it is a fact, every bit as much as the historical fact that William the Conqueror landed in 1066."
[Riazat Butt, "Attenborough reveals creationist hate mail for not crediting God", Guardian [UK], 27 January 2009.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Saga of the 'Cello Bow
On Sunday, 22 January 2009, Isaac had planned a recital featuring himself playing some organ music, plus a whole array of friends performing a nice variety of music. This is just the latest installment in a recital series that has seen at least two, sometimes three programs a year since about 1993, the year that the new Casavant Frères pipe organ was installed at St. Matthew's UMC in Bowie, where he is the musical director.
As happens often enough, I was one of the friends to play that day. Our friend Helen-Jean was playing a sonata by Johann Joachim Quantz (18th century) for two recorders and continuo. I was providing the continuo.
Before the recital we had practiced and then I had left my instrument in its place, ready for our piece, which was up as soon as Isaac played an opening fanfare. In preparation for the 4 o'clock start time, I went to tighten my bow about 5 minutes before then.
It wouldn't tighten! The threads on the frog (technical explanation: the thingie at the hand-end of the bow where the bow hair is attached) had suddenly stripped and this bow was never going to tighten again.
Oh dear. I got a little bit frantic, but less than I might have been expected to I'd say. I went to Isaac in the narthex and explained. Our first thought was to call a nearby friend who had a cello and might be able to loan an emergency bow. She didn't answer her phone!
Isaac had a brainstorm: in our basement at home was the viola of a friend who had stored it there some time ago. It must have a bow.
"A viola bow!" I wondered, but perhaps a viola bow was better than no bow. So I drove home with all seemly haste while Isaac rearranged the program slightly, ran to the basement, and threw open the viola case. In fact, there were two bows. On one the hair had fallen out completely. It was unplayable. The other, however, still retained about half of its hair. Better than nothing? Well, at least the music I was playing for the day did not make great technical demands.
And thus it was that I played the Quantz sonata with a viola bow that had only half its hair. Nevertheless, the performance came off well: we were pleased and our audience was pleased.
My only recourse, really, was to buy a new bow. In some ways it seemed an extravagance for someone with as little income as I currently have, but how could I live without playing, so it also seemed a necessity. I decided I would buy a modestly priced bow, even though that would still cost several hundred dollars.
I quickly settled on a bow made by CodaBow, specifically, the "Diamond NX" model:
Rather than being made from exotic Brazilian wood, the stick is manufactured from a bonded Kevlar core wrapped in a weave of graphite fibers. Look carefully at the stick and you'll see that they let the graphite weave create a snakeskin pattern along the stick in a way that I think is attractive. I actually find the high-tech, modern materials design and manufacture rather appealing, but I am a dorky kind of cellist.
I ordered one (from Cellos2Go, with whom I had a very satisfactory interaction) and it arrived a week ago. I haven't had much time to spend with it yet, but I like its weight and balance. However, I know that it's going to be better than the miserable, bent thing I'd been playing with for the past 40 years or so.
Already I'm imagining myself playing with incredibly enhanced technique!
In: All, Music & Art, Personal Notebook
On Reading The Little Ice Age
Earlier this year I read the book Brian Fagan, The Little Ice Age : How Climate Made History 1300 – 1850, by Brian Fagan (New York : Basic Books, 2000; 246 pages). He takes a close look at the relatively cool period between the "Medieval Warm Period" and the current warming period, and considers in careful but fascinating detail the ways that global climate change affected European society and culture. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think he did an excellent job assembling all of his facts and dates and locations and keeping them well sorted out and in line with his thesis. I gave it high marks in my book note.
Anyway, here's an excerpt that interested me. This was one of his many entertaining and enlightening asides, this one a nicely done short history of sunspots.
Sunspots are familiar phenomena. Today, the regular cycle of solar activity waxes and wanes about every eleven. years. No one has yet fully explained the intricate processes that fashion sunspot cycles, nor their maxima and minima. A typical minimum in the eleven-year cycle is about six sunspots, with some days, even weeks, passing without sunspot activity. Monthly readings of zero are very rare. Over the past two centuries, only the year 1810 has passed without any sunspot activity whatsoever. By an measure, the lack of sunspot activity during the height of the Little Ice Age was remarkable.
The seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were times of great scientific advances and intense astronomical activity. The same astronomers who observed the sun discovered the first division in Saturn's ring and five of the planet's satellites. They observed transits of Venus and Mercury, recorded eclipses of the sun, and determined the velocity of light by observing the precise orbits of Jupiter's satellites. Seventeenth-century scholars published the first detailed studies of the sun and sunspots. In 1711, English astronomer William Derham commented on "great intervals" when no sunspots were observed between 1660 and 1684. He remarked rather charmingly: "Spots could hardly escape the sight of so many Observers of the sun, as were then perpetually peeping upon him with their Telescopes…all the world over." Unfortunately for modern scientists, sunspots were considered clouds on the sun until 1774 and deemed of little importance, so we have no means of knowing how continuously there were observed.
The period between 1645 and 1715 was remarkable for the rarity of aurora borealis and aurora australis, which were reported far less frequently than either before or afterward. Between 1645 and 1708, not a single aurora was observed in London's skies. When one appeared on March 15, 1716, none other than Astronomer Royal Edmund Halley wrote a paper about it, for he had never seen one in all his years as a scientist–and he was sixty years old at the time. On the other side of the world, naked eye sightings of sunspots from China, Korea, and Japan between 28 B.C. and A.D. 1743 provide an average of six sightings per century, presumably coinciding with solar maxima. There are no observations whatsoever between 1639 and 1700, nor were any aurora reported.
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Beard of the Week LXXIV: A Pious Father
This week's pious beard belongs to St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. He was given the name Francesco at his baptism the day after his birth on 25 May 1887. Continuing with his official Vatican biography
On 6 January 1903, at the age of sixteen, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars at Morcone, where on 22 January he took the Franciscan habit and the name Brother Pio. At the end of his novitiate year he took simple vows, and on 27 January 1907 made his solemn profession.
After he was ordained priest on 10 August 1910 at Benevento, he stayed at home with his family until 1916 for health reasons. In September of that year he was sent to the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo and remained there until his death.
He died on 23 September 1968 at the age of eighty-one.
Pio had a devoted following at the time of his death, a following that has only grown since he died. Apart from his saintly desire to live a simple life of servitude, he was notes and admired as a stigmatist, i.e., one who exhibits the stigmata of Jesus. In the words of the [US] National Centre for Padre Pio
On September 20, 1918 the five wounds of our Lord's passion appeared on his body, making him the first stigmatized priest on the history of the Catholic Church.
This is undoubtedly why images of Pio frequently show him standing in an orant posture (hands raised and apart), exhibiting the bloody bandages wrapping his hands.
Padre Pio was canonized by John Paul II on 16 June 2002 in a liturgy that broke attendance records at the Vatican.
Padre Pio became almost too familiar a face to us from our first visit to Rome in October 2001. Already then religious fervor was on the rise in anticipation of the canonization that was only a few months away (beatification was on 2 May, 1999), and images of Padre Pio were everywhere we looked.
Unfortunately, there weren't very many different images to choose from; the one we have here is one of maybe three that were very, very popular. On later trips we discovered that large statues were becoming popular in the trendier churches. I'm afraid we found the somewhat dour face of Pio became a little easy to make fun of after the first hundred or so little or big shines to him that one trips over.
I've seen that I'm not the only one. You might enjoy looking through the lovely items in the "Padre Pio Gift Shop Online" (from the Padre Pio Foundation of America). And I would be remiss if I did not draw your attention to this lovely Padre Pio Watch (from this page). Ah well. Although his popular images don't show it and his followers would probably be horrified, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Pio developed quite a sense of humor about it all in his eternal afterlife.
As I write I am sitting in front of my own 6-inch statuette, painted in not terribly life-like colors, of Padre Pio, a souvenir of a more recent trip to Rome. In his upraised stigmatic hand he holds a nice multi-color rosary made of small, wooden beads. I also have a beautiful 8-by-10-inch 3-D picture showing two of the more famous Pio images, the one above being one of them. I'd thought someday to assemble my own little shrine as a memento of our visits to Rome.
But let's end with something nice and less silly. On this page is a beautiful icon of Pio, painted by Terrance Nelson, along with an appreciation of Pio's life and sainthood.
Reich on Reaganomics: Thoroughly Tested, Thoroughly Wrong
The basic idea of Reaganomics was that the economy grows from the top down. Lower taxes on the wealthy make them work harder and invest more, and the benefits trickle down to everyone else. Rarely in economic history has a theory been more tested in the real world and proven so wrong. In point of fact, nothing trickled down. After the Reagan tax cuts, increases in the median wage slowed, adjusted for inflation. After George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, the median wage actually dropped. Meanwhile, most of the income went to the top. In 1980, just before the Reagan revolution, the richest 1 percent took home 9 percent of total national income. But by 2007, the richest 1 percent was taking home 22 percent.
Obamanomics, by contrast, holds that an economy grows best from the bottom up. Obama's program increases taxes on the top, and uses the proceeds to raise the living standards of average Americans by giving them lower taxes, better schools, and more affordable health insurance. That may not seem very radical, but compared to the last quarter century it's revolutionary.
[Robert Reich, "Is Obamanomics Conservative or Revolutionary?", Robert Reich's Blog, 11 March s009.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Who Opposes Marriage Equality?
It is clear from the polls that the vast majority of those who oppose same-sex marriage and civil unions do so for religious reasons, and freely admit to this explanation. Indeed, the groups most vehemently opposed to civil unions are white Evangelicals (29% to 67%) and those who claim that they attend church every week (36% to 57%). But religion is not a sound basis for making law in a free society committed to the separation of church and state.
[Geoffrey R. Stone, "Civil Unions in Illinois: One Small Step", Huffington Post, 6 March 2009.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
Beard of the Week LXXIII: Neo-Classical Painting
This week's precisely styled beard belongs to Victorian artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912). This image I've cropped from his famous "Self-Portrait" of 1896. (visible, e.g., here.) I like the short biography at "Olga's Gallery", but perhaps the quick introductory summary from the longer Wikipedia article on Alma-Tadema will serve us here:
Born in Dronrijp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean sea and sky.
Universally admired during his lifetime for his superb draftsmanship and depictions of Classical antiquity, he fell into disrepute after his death and only in the last thirty years has his work been reevaluated for its importance within nineteenth-century English art.
I have seen him referred to as "that painter of Victorians in togas", apparently a phrase coined for a 1973 show of paintings by Alma-Tadema at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a fact I deduced from the name of the catalog of the show: Victorians in Togas: Paintings by Sir LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA from the Collection of Allen Funt, March-April 1973 ; catalogue by Christopher Forbes.
It seems that it was an apt title. Alma-Tadema's favorite subjects in his mature works were ancient and classical settings, Egypt and Rome. What they lacked in historic accuracy they made up for with animation, color, and style. For some reproductions of paintings, look here, here, and here.
I've read various descriptions of his style, none of which struck me as quite right until I read that he had admired the pre-Raphaelites (some example paintings). That was the similarity that had struck me in the paintings I had seen: the idealized, quasi-classical scenes of an imagined golden age of humanity painted in high-tone colors. It's not a style I'm terribly fond of, but on the other hand, it's hard to dislike the pre-Raphaelites very much. Alma-Tadema also puts me very much in mind of the paintings of the somewhat peculiar Abbott Thayer.
This all came up because this past weekend our friends Tom and James visited and we went to the National Gallery of Art to see the exhibition "Pompeii and the Roman Villa". There had been much talk about it and it was a very interesting exhibit with a number of interesting artifacts. One of the things we saw there that surprised me was this painting:
It's "A Sculpture Gallery", painted in 1874 by Alma-Tadema. That's Alma-Tadema himself, posing as the art patron with the scarf around his head (and dashing beard), along with members of his family, looking over some Roman antiquities.
This imposing painting was in a separate room, accompanied by reproductions or borrowed examples of 6 of the artifacts shown in the painting. The NGA exhibition page for this gallery notes:
Alma-Tadema’s painting exemplifies the vogue for antiquities that peaked in the nineteenth century. The artist and his family are portrayed as ancient Romans being shown works of art for purchase. Sir Lawrence sits at left and gestures toward his wife, Laura, who stands next to their daughters. Laura’s sister and brother are seated at far left.
Follow the link for more information about the objects and as a way in to the online materials for the entire exhibition, which closes on 22 March.
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
"Too Big to Fail", et al.
Specious elements of the current financial crisis I'd like to see laid to rest:
- We have to pay high bonus to retain the top talent–but that talent is by now clearly untalented since that "top talent" precipitated the current crisis
- We give the money to the financial institutions ("nationalize the risk") and let the experts, the top talent, continue to manage its use; see #1
- "It's too big to fail"
If something is "too big to fail," then it's too big to be in private hands.
The term "too big to fail" is a euphemism for any institution that is so important to the entire nation's most basic well being, that society cannot let that institution fail. This is why one of the foundational principles of civilized society has always been nationalization – i.e. government control – of the institutions that are "too big to fail": institutions like the military, whose failure would mean a basic loss of national security; law enforcement, whose failure would mean a basic loss of civil order; and infrastructure construction, whose failure would mean the crumbling of commerce. The government, as the most powerful representative of society as a whole, runs these institutions/services because they are too important to be allowed to fail.
[David Sirota, "If It's 'Too Big to Fail,' Then It's Too Big to Be Private", Campaign for America's Future, 3 March 2009; via.]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Common-Place Book
Meet Grant
This handsome gentleman is Grant, my first glimpse of him and likewise his first glimpse of us. (He's looking at Isaac, whom you can see reflected in the car's window just to the right of his nose.) As you can see he's a dark brindle color. There's a touch of white on his muzzle and he has two white toes, but otherwise is all dark brown. His face is a remarkable dark-brown color that is more intense than the photograph suggests. It makes a handsome effect with his medium-brown eyes.
Grant's track name was "Whiskey Knight" (pedigree). We believe that he raced some–we haven't looked at his records yet–but it can't have been for long. He was born in 2004 and has been living on a dog farm / greyhound training facility for the past 3 years. The extant theory is that he wasn't such a good racer but his trainer liked his personality and kept him around.
Grant came to us through the agency of a volunteer greyhound-adoption group in West Virginia called Grey's Landing. (You might enjoy their "Fun Facts about Greyhounds".*) Volunteer Lisa was delivering another greyhound to folks in Allentown, PA, so we all agreed to meet up in Breezewood, Pennsylvania, which is about a two-hour drive from our house in Bowie.
And so yesterday we wolfed down a bit of lunch, gathered up necessary stuff like water and treats and camera and crochet projects, got Azalea into the car and headed out. This was Azalea's first big trip in a few years but she seems quite fond of riding in the car and she settled right down for a good sightseeing trip.
In fact it was a very pretty day, bright and sunny. The fields in the hills along I-70 in Pennsylvania were beautiful in various tan and sandy shades. There were lots of interesting farm houses that I like seeing but didn't manage to photograph. We made good time with only one stop at the first I-70 rest stop in Pennsylvania. Azalea had a good time walking around and sniffing in the "Designated Pet Area".
Soon after we arrived at the hotel/restaurant parking lot where we saw Lisa's car and Grant waiting for us, just as in the picture. We talked and walked around and let Grant and Azalea get acquainted for awhile. It's too soon to say whether they'll become great friends but they seem easily to tolerate each other, which is always a relief.
After an hour or so we headed back home. Grant and Azalea both quickly settled down for the ride. It soon started getting dark and then as we were near Germantown (north of Rockville) it started snowing. We had no snow difficulties on the way home, but our timing was fortuitous. The snowing kept going and by morning we had some six inches accumulated.
But the snow's another story except to note that Grant and Azalea both thoroughly enjoyed chasing each other in the powdery white stuff. It looked like fun!
———-
* I may disagree a wee bit about how much fun it is to watch newly retired greyhounds tackle stairs for the first time, but that's mostly because Dowland was so very neurotic about stairs. Fortunately Grant seems unperturbed but still far from graceful on the stairs, since–as I write this–he's only been up them twice so far.
Carol on Porn vs. Religion
…a lifetime of sexual repression can really screw you up. There's no evidence whatsoever that anyone, of any age, has ever been harmed by seeing porn, but there's ample evidence that a repressive religious upbringing is instrumental in turning children into sexually violent adults. I don't care if your kid turns into someone who likes to look at skin mags and movies with their hand in their pants, or even if they become someone who makes porn movies, but I damn well do care if you are raising your kid to be a rapist – that's something that actually does do serious harm. Yet we don't hear people talking about banning the Bible and fundamentalist religions to "protect the children", do we? What do you think causes that?
[Avedon Carol, "Devolution", The Sideshow, 28 February 2009.]
Park's "Physics Plan" Diet
Conservation of Energy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics are probably the two most important concepts in physics that have thwarted the aspirations and claims of inventors and charlatans for decades. Someday we hope that the public will understand this.
WEIGHT-LOSS: SCIENCE CONFIRMS THE “PHYSICS PLAN“.
Atkins, Pritikin, Jennie Craig, South Beach, NutriSystem . . . all had one thing in common: they made their inventors very rich. But how could it be that every diet plan seems to work? It’s nothing but consciousness-raising; any plan will make people aware of how much they’re shoveling in. Nine years ago, however, WN came out with the “physics plan.” The plan is based on the Conservation of Energy: “burn more calories than you consume” http://www.bobpark.org/WN00/wn022500.html. Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations. On Wednesday, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a two year study of 800 overweight adults. Headed by Frank Sacks of the Harvard School of Public Health, the study confirmed that people lose weight if they cut calories; it doesn’t matter if the calories are fat, carbohydrates, or protein. That, of course, is the WN "physics plan."[Robert L. Park, What's New, 27 February 2009.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Pretty Sky Alert
A special notice from Spaceweather.com:
PRETTY SKY ALERT: When the sun goes down tonight (Friday, Feb. 27th) step outside and look west. Venus and the crescent Moon are having a beautiful close encounter in the sunset sky. If you point a small telescope at the pair, you will see that Venus, like the Moon, is a crescent. The phases of the two are almost the same, adding an extra dimension of beauty to an already lovely show. Don't miss it!
It looks like we might miss it here, alas, because we have mostly cloudy skies and a good chance of rain. I'll look but may have to rely on vicarious experiences.
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science
Reich on Income Distribution
The incomes of the top 1 percent have soared for thirty years while median wages have slowed or declined in real terms. As economists Thomas Piketty and Emanuel Saez have shown, in the 1970s the top-earning 1 percent of Americans took home 8 percent of total income; as recently as 1980 they took home 9 percent. After that, total income became more and more concentrated at the top. By 2007, the top 1 percent took home over 22 percent. Meanwhile, even as their incomes dramatically increased, the total federal tax rates paid by the top 1 percent dropped. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top 1 percent paid a total federal tax rate of 37 percent three decades ago; now it's paying 31 percent.
[Robert Reich, "Finally a Progressive Budget", Robert Reich's Blog, 27 February 2009.]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Wall-Street Gall: Handy Summary
Making such pronouncements particularly galling is the fact that many of the banks summarily raising interest rates [on credit-card debt] and piling on the penalties have received billions in bailout money. Our money. We gave Citi $45 billion, Bank of America $45 billion, JPMorgan $25 billion, AmEx $3.4 billion, Capital One $3.6 billion, and Discover $1.2 billion. In fact, American Express, Capital One, and Discover all converted to bank holding companies to make themselves eligible for bailout funds.
[Arianna Huffington, "The Credit Card Debt Crisis: The Next Economic Domino", Huffington Post, 26 February 2009]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Common-Place Book
Beard of the Week LXXII: Mardi Gras
Today's beard belongs to the attractive gentleman in the leather coat enjoying street festivities during Mardi Gras, 2002, in the Latin Quarter of New Orleans. I might add that the Fu Manchu mustache his companion wears is certainly not chopped liver.* I'm particularly enchanted by the sign for The Wishing Well LaunDRYteria.
Fu-Manchu man seems to have a good collection of "throw beads" going. I had trouble finding good information but the story seems to be that "throw beads" were "traditionally" thrown from floats in Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans when people called out "throw me something". Why they might call that out I don't really see, but this is how traditions go.
Of later vintage, however, the tradition seems to be that one increases ones collection of throw beads by exposing something to would-be throwers, breasts for the girls, dicks for the boys. I know this must be a popular "tradition" because I saw quite a number of nervous types explaining to other nervous types that it most definitely was not part of the real tradition and certainly not a requirement. Obvious sanctimonious spoil sports.
Mardi Gras is not in my canon of traditional observations, probably because it's strongly related to the religious observation of Lent, and not particularly noticed during my midwestern upbringing.
Some commenters seemed of the opinion that Mardi Gras was invented in New Orleans, but of course it's a much older tradition from Europe (otherwise known as "Carnival" in Italy and "Fasching" in Germany), largely associated with Catholicism but certainly not exclusively.
Lent, of course, is a period of fasting in those traditions, a time when partying was not allowed and certain foods were banned. Thus the day before Lent began was the obvious time to whoop it up and get rid of all those rich, soon-to-be forbidden foods.
So, although I don't observe Lenten restrictions I can definitely get behind the idea of a good party. Happy Mardi Gras!
———
* I"m amusing myself by trying to imagine how this sentence would mean to non-English readers after being translated literally by google. I can't, of course, but I can try.
In: All, Beard of the Week, Reflections
Penn on Equality and Shame
I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.
–Sean Penn, accepting his Oscar for Best Actor, in "Milk", 22 February 2009; source)
Beard of the Week LXXI: The Power of Words
Last week I read in one of my regularly read blogs (no doubt in the sidebar list, but just who it was escapes me at the moment–remind me if you read this!) that the author was unable at the time to find any bloggy birthday celebrations that compared the contributions of Darwin and Lincoln. Now, while I know that the total dearth of such comparisons was strictly not true,‡ it was an interesting question to think about. So I thought about it.
I finally settled on one thing for which both men should be held in the highest esteem: their ideas. These two ideas,
- common descent through evolution by means of natural selection; and
- emancipation of slaves in the United States.
Surely these are two of the most powerful ideas that shaped the course of history following their publication, the first in 1859, the second in 1862.
I think perhaps this is my point, too: these ideas were written, they were published. I have known people who claimed to think that words are merely words, that they have no power, that it is only actions that can effect change. Clearly I disagree with the viewpoint; I think it's utterly silly and, while one might be able to sustain the argument in a purely scholastic and trivial way, it has no useful meaning, and no utility except to win junior-debating points.
Humans inhabit a world of ideas. Indeed, it may be the fact that we have developed a culture in order to perpetuate ideas that identifies us as human. If I'm asked to name an event that separated humans from our not-quite-yet-human ancestors, I would name the invention of language.
It is with language, both spoken and written, that we use to embody ideas outside our own minds and share them with others of our kind. That ability gives us–each of us but also all of us–a past we can remember and learn from, and a future we can imagine.
That is a very profound, and very human similarity between Darwin and Lincoln: they gave us ideas that continue to echo in our minds and guide the growth of our culture. That, most definitely, is something to celebrate.
———-
* Arnold Zwicky recently wrote about the conventions and ambiguities involved in saying they were born "on the same day"; later on (we're on safe ground saying "later on" at least) he wrote about the difficulty of referring to when he wrote that post (in "Time Stamps").
† This week's photograph, which comes from the [US] Library of Congress' collection. (source; persistent URL) The Flickr page provided the following information; I was particularly interested to see that Lincoln's haircut was mentioned.
Walker, Lewis E., 1822-1880, photographer.
Hon. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States
[Washington, D.C. : E. & H.T. Anthony], ©1865 Feb.
1 photographic print on stereo card : albumen silver ; mount 8.2 x 17.1 cm.
Notes:
"The short haircut was perhaps suggested by Lincoln's barber to facilitate the taking of his life mask by Clark Mills. Lincoln knew from experience how long hair could cling to plaster." "An 1865 stereograph long attributed to Mathew Brady was actually taken by Lewis Emory Walker, a government photographer, about February 1865 and published for him by the E. & H. T. Anthony Co., of New York." (Source: Ostendorf, p. 198-9)Published in: Lincoln's photographs: a complete album / by Lloyd Ostendorf. Dayton, OH: Rockywood Press, 1998, p. 197.
Purchase; 1909; (DLC/PP-1909:43670).
‡ For instance, I was quite interested to read at Language Log ("Lincoln vs. Darwin in the OED", 12 February 2009) that
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Darwin is credited with the first known English use of 144 different words, including creationist, phylogeny, archaeopteryx, alfalfa, and rodeo. And his birthday-mate Lincoln? Only one: Michigander.
From that list I am a bit confounded by rodeo. Why? Where?
In: All, Beard of the Week, Reflections
Meteoroids, not Space Debris
SpaceWeather.com (operated by NOAA) reports that people all over the US are seeing meteors and are concerned that it's space debris from that dramatic orbital collision between Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251. Apparently there was also a large meteor seen over Italy that led to similar thoughts.
I've also seen reports that the FAA has warned pilots to be on the lookout for space debris, although it's not clear to me what they're supposed to do if they see some streaking by except get hysterical.
It's easy to understand why people will have this reaction, so it's also useful to note that meteoroids and space debris enter the atmosphere in different–and distinguishable–ways.
Anyway, here is what Spaceweather (for 16 February 2009) had to say about those fireballs:
WEEKEND FIREBALLS: A daylight fireball over Texas on Sunday, Feb. 15th, triggered widespread reports that debris from a recent satellite collision was falling to Earth. Those reports were premature. Researchers have studied video of the event and concluded that the object was more likely a natural meteoroid about one meter wide traveling more than 20 km/s–much faster than orbital debris. Meteoroids hit Earth every day, and the Texas fireball was apparently one of them.
There's more: On Friday, Feb. 13th, people in central Kentucky heard loud booms, felt their houses shake, and saw a fireball streaking through the sky. This occurred scant hours after another fireball at least 10 times brighter than a full Moon lit up the sky over Italy. Although it is tempting to attribute these events to debris from the Feb. 10th collision of the Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 satellites, the Kentucky and Italy fireballs also seem to be meteoroids, not manmade objects. Italian scientists are studying the ground track of their fireball, which was recorded by multiple cameras, and they will soon begin to hunt for meteorites.
Videos, eye-witness reports and more information about these events may be found at http://spaceweather.com.
In: All, Current Events, It's Only Rocket Science
Carol on "State Secrets Protection"
There's not much evidence that "protecting state secrets" ever gets invoked for any purpose other than to prevent embarrassment to officials who have behaved incompetently, irresponsibly, or illegally, but it's a dead cert that it's a source of injustice and erodes freedom.
[Avedon Carol, "Let the sun shine", The Sideshow, 12 February 2009]
25 Things About Me
I kept getting tagged to do this meme,* so I thought I'd get it over with and just link to it again in the future as necessary. Unless I keep thinking of things to add to the list, of course.
- This is not, strictly speaking, a random list of things about me; I don't know how I would randomize thoughts from my stream of consciousness.
- The first item may already tell you more about me than the rest of the list.
- My first year in graduate school I bleached my hair. It came out sort of blondish-auburn. I liked it but never did it again.
- Speaking of hair, I have always cut my own hair since I was 20.
- I have played 'cello since I was in fourth grade. Most people who know me know this, but I am continually surprised by the occasional person who knows me well but will suddenly exclaim "I didn't know you played 'cello!"
- I secretly like the fact that my having a Ph.D. in physics can intimidate people who have Ph.D.s in social "sciences".
- I used to be convinced that every guy named his penis, until I found out otherwise. I had to alter my world view.
- Many people seem not to know that I compulsively crochet doilies and have done since 1994; I've got quite a pile by now.
- I'm pretty sure most everyone knows that I've written and published fiction, mostly adult gay fiction (i.e., gay porn), since 1998 under my pseudonym, Jay Neal.
- I have been attracted to men with facial hair for about as long as I can remember.
- I don't remember what it's like not to know calculus.
- Red is my favorite color; purple used to be, and I still like it, too.
- I've always wanted to be better at painting and drawing. During my senior year in college I took two art courses: life drawing one semester, advanced studio the next. I had several pieces in the senior art show.
- A job recruiter once asked me what would be my perfect job. I suggested "one that requires a knowledge of partial differential equations". He was confounded but I still think it's the most accurate, succinct answer I could make.
- I've never really liked to color inside the lines, except sometimes.
- I used to smoke at least 2 packs of unfiltered Camels a day.
- When he was president of the Czech Republic, I thought Vaclav Havel was the world's sexiest leader, because of his mustache; Lech Wałęsa was pretty hot, too.
- I love deviled eggs.
- I also like anchovies.
- My two favorite cousins were both adopted.
- I generally prefer boxer shorts, or nothing at all.
- I recognize that Mozart was a great composer, but most of his music I find remarkably tedious, but there are a few exceptions.
- Karl Popper may still be my favorite philosopher; I don't think anyone has ever understood how science works better than he.
- I think "meme" is an interesting, if not terribly profound, idea, and very similar to a concept Popper wrote about decades before Dawkins, although I think this internet notion of "memes" is silly and trivializes the concept.
- I am old enough that I know–again–that my opinions are correct, but occasionally I can still change my mind.
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* Or, to plague Melinda, let's say "I keep getting tagged to meme this".