Monday, September 26, 2005

NPR's weird science

My blood pressure ticked upward this morning as I lay in bed listening to NPR. They had a segment on the Dover, PA, Intelligent Design case. Problem is, they had Barbara Bradley-Hagerty, their religion correspondent, cover it, and in Maslov's science classroom, she gets low marks.

First, she repeated without qualification the creationists' mantra that "Evolution is a theory, not fact." This perpetuates the popular misunderstanding of what constitutes a scientific theory. Used colloquially, theory can mean "speculation" or "conjecture." But a theory, as scientists use the word, is a well-tested model that explains observed phenomena. All scientific facts are provisional, awaiting counterexample; a theory is the closest thing science has to a fact. New theories that have not faced much challenge are often thought of as weak, but theories such as Darwinian Evolution that have withstood close scrutiny over a long period of time are considered strong.

The other thing that annoyed me about the NPR piece is that a pollster was cited as having found that a majority of Americans support the teaching of both Intelligent Design and Darwinian Evolution in the classroom; therefore, Bradley-Hagerty suggested, teaching both "theories" constitutes good education. Wrong! Science is not a popularity contest. Intelligent Design asks questions that are not scientific in nature. It is not science, and it is not an appropriate subject for a science class, particularly if taught as a competing theory. The poll only demonstrates its respondents' ignorance on scientific matters.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Neon

The first car I ever bought was a 1995 Dodge Neon -- the year the model was introduced. This week I found out that the 2005 model year is its last, and the last one rolled off the Belvidere, IL, assembly line just this past Friday, almost eleven years to the day since I bought mine.

When it was introduced, the Neon was quite a marvel of design. Its 130 horsepower engine was exceptionally powerful for a small 4-cylinder, yet it still got nearly 30 miles to the gallon. The high, domed roof provided extra headroom for the tall or claustrophobic; the rounded form anticipated the new VW Beetle by a couple of years.

Speaking of bugs... While I did like my car, the Neon was not entirely free of flaws. The most visible of these was the 1995/6 pastel blue paint; after a couple of years, this paint would start to delaminate and peel off in sheets. Fortunately, I got the dark green, which did not have this problem. The early model years also had a flaw in the cylinder head design that made it prone to blowing the head gasket -- that did happen to my car twice.

Not just another department store

Macy's? That's just another department store, indistinguishable from any other. When you want to go shopping in downtown Chicago, you go to Marshall Field's.

On Tuesday Federated Department Stores, parent of Field's, Macy's, and Bloomingdales, announced that they would discontinue the Marshall Field's brand and convert all the stores to Macy's, including the one on State Street. Maybe Macy's is every bit as good as Marshall Fields. I wouldn't know, nor would many other Chicagoans, because Chicagoans don't know the Macy's brand.

As America homogenizes the world, so does America homogenize itself from within. I don't mind so much if the shopping-mall locations get changed to Macy's; does it make that much difference if the store in Grand Forks, North Dakota, is a Field's or a Macy's? But to a Chicagoan, Marshall Field's is the solid, old building on the northeast corner of State and Washington.

Until recently, they had a wine department staffed by a sommelier, and their Frangos were made in a chocolate factory up on the 13th floor. The building itself, a Daniel Burnham design, is a palace of commerce, with its Tiffany glass ceiling (couldn't resist the pun) and its famous clocks.

There is an online petition to save the Marshall Field's brand. On September 21, the day after the Macy's announcement, the site was inundated with signatures, and since that date, 12,841 signatures have been added (according to a grep count -- I do love the Mac OS X Unix kernel!), not including mine.

[09:05:00 25 SEP 2005] Update: I did a little research on the online peition and found that it was created by a 25-year-old resident of Minneapolis named Nick Potts. So I guess it's not just in Chicago that people are upset about the name change.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Heartland: Ashamed to be right (wing)

A few months ago, I wrote a piece on right wing think tanks and gave brief mention to The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank. Go ahead and check out their website -- it'll give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.

The Heartland Institute was founded by David Padden, who has served as a director of the right-wing Cato Institute. Funding comes from the Koch, Olin, Bradley, and Scaife Foundations, which are all in the business of promoting conservative ideas. Their board is populated by a number of fellows and board members from other notorious right-wing think tanks, such as the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and AEI.

I'll grant that the views of Heartland's members are not entirely uniform, but here is a sampling:
They support the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004, which is a court-stripping bill that would make it illegal for the courts to hear cases on church-state separation; judges who do so would face impeachment. The author of the linked article is an economist; he must be a follower of that "Supply-Side Jesus" I've been hearing about.

They tout the Enron collapse as proof that unregulated free markets work. Um, because the fraud created an unsustainable imbalance, and the markets corrected it by wiping out the company. The fact that it also wiped out a lot of innocent people is, I guess, a small matter.

Global warming? Who cares what the scientists say... it's pure fiction. (Did I mention that they get money from ExxonMobil?) Second-hand smoke? ... Not harmful at all! Smokers can wheeze a sigh of relief.

One of the oddest things I found out about The Heartland Institute is that among the list of "legislative advisors" are quite few Democrats who would usually be against everything The Heartland Institute stands for. One of these was my very own representative in the Illinois General Assembly, Harry Osterman. I sent him an e-mail, asking him what his role was with Heartland. A few days later, he called me on the telephone.

It seems that when Mr. Osterman was just starting out in politics, he signed up with The Heartland Institute to receive policy papers from them. He figured there was no harm in getting different points of view, and you can't fault him for that. Otherwise, he has had no involvement with the organization.

Before I contacted him, Mr. Osterman was unaware that The Heartland Institute was advertising him as a legislative advisor. He did some investigation and decided that this was not something he wanted to be associated with, and so he has contacted them to ask that he be removed from their roster.

I suspect Mr. Osterman's situation is not unique and that many of the Democrats are listed without their knowledge or consent. And I suspect that The Heartland Institute does this to give the organization a veneer of nonpartisan legitimacy. The first thing they say in their FAQ is: "The Heartland Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization" (emphasis added). But their positions are pure movement conservatism, and they seem to be a little embarrassed about it. Otherwise, why would they feel a need to claim as members those who are against their agenda?

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Peace be upon you

And upon you, peace. (Anyone familiar with Semitic languages knows the pattern of those words.)

Today, September 21, is the International Day of Peace. Not as fun as Talk Like a Pirate Day, but considerably more meaningful.

Some words spoken by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
September 21, the International Day of Peace, is ... meant to be a day of global cease-fire, when all countries and all people stop all hostilities for the entire day.

Twenty-four hours is not a long time. But it is time enough for combatants and political leaders to consider the destruction they are visiting on their people, and on their lands. And it is long enough to look over the barricades, or through the barbed wire, to see if there is another path.

It is easy to be jaded in these times, when it seems my country is engaged in a perpetual war, and when conflicts are simmering in many parts of the world. If mankind holds peace up as an ideal, we are falling well short.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Centipede

Not the classic '80s arcade game. This:

centipede

I found it in my cat's water dish this morning. To give you an idea of the scale, the bowl is about 4 inches (10cm) in diameter.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Arrr, mateys!

Today, September 19, is Talk Like a Pirate Day, but my employer wouldn't give me the day off for it.

I'm no good at talking like a pirate. I think I sound more like Scurvy Steve, pirate accountant, than Long John Silver.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Here I am

I've posted a few pictures here -- some of family members, but not one of me... until now.

wadingpool

I'm the guy on the left.

If it doesn't look like I was enjoying myself, it's probably because I wasn't. I can barely open my eyes in the blinding sunlight. I'm sitting in lukewarm water up to my navel, and the inflatable pool has that characteristic odor of warm polyethylene. Mom kept my shirt on, wisely protecting my shoulders from harmful radiation, but now the tepid water is starting to soak in, creeping uncomfortably upward to my chest. Oh, how I wish I were napping in my crib! I'd get up, but I know I'd just end up with grass clippings on my feet. You can be sure that when Mom comes back, I'll raise my arms, asking to be picked up.

Look at that guy across from me, the one who looks so happy. He's totally bought the hype, but then he's younger than me, and less experienced in the ways of the world. I wonder if he might have peed in the pool. Maybe that's why he's laughing.

The little lady in the middle is my sister. She's thinking that sitting in the pool might not be the best thing she's done, but maybe if she just waits a little bit, something good will happen. And she wouldn't want to miss out. Anyway, her bathing suit matches the color of the pool so perfectly, and that counts for something.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

One man's treasure

There was a neighborhood rummage sale yesterday, where old, unwanted possessions were redistributed among the residents of Edgewater. At some yards, you could tell they just weren't in the spirit -- how much did they really want to get rid of that electric typewriter that they priced at $30?

For fifty cents, I bought myself a paperback copy of Isaac Bashevis Singer's Gimpel The Fool, a collection of short stories translated from Yiddish by the late Chicagoan Saul Bellow, among others. I also found an artist's posable manikin.

[Update 11 SEP 2005 20:20:00] Changed the title. I didn't like the old one: "What I buy at a rummage sale."

Want to help the animals?

In the evacuation of areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, thousands of companion animals were left behind. For some, their human caretakers won't be back for months. In other cases, their owners will never return.

Animal welfare societies have been working to save these unfortunate creatures, but sheltering this many animals is a challenge. In order to make room, shelters in and around Louisiana have had to rotate their animals out to far away locations.

Last Tuesday, PAWS Chicago sent a contingent to Arkansas to pick up scores of homeless pets from a Humane Society shelter. You can help by fostering or adopting one of these dogs or cats. Or you can support the organization's efforts by making a donation.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Buffalo Grove band in the news

On Labor Day, the Daily Herald, suburban Chicago's largest daily newspaper, ran a big feature article on the band I'm in (may require registration). A few paragraphs...
They come from all over — audiences to listen and musicians to play.

And in its first few years of existence, the Buffalo Grove Symphonic Band is on track to build a strong reputation for quality.

That reputation is attracting musicians. While many players live in the town or its neighboring suburbs, some band members come from as far away as Cicero, Gurnee, Wheaton, and Mundelein to play. They say the band’s uniqueness and quality are reasons for making the treks.

There are no full-time professional musicians in the group, yet their sound says otherwise. [Band Director Howard] Green has high standards while choosing music that resonates with audiences.

I saw a printed copy of the article at band practice tonight, and it had some nice pictures that are unfortunately nowhere to be found online. One photo was from our Libertyville concert last month, taken right at sunset -- I was the second shadowy figure from the right.

Expensive gas

That's natural gas, not gasoline. During the 1990s, the price of natural gas was roughly $3 per million BTUs. Sounds pretty cheap -- I mean, you get a whole million BTUs of natural gas, and it costs less than a Grande Cafe Mocha at Starbucks. But it turns out a BTU is a fairly small unit of measurement; if you run a single 100-Watt light bulb for three hours, it dissipates 1000 BTUs of energy.

At the $3 price, it was costing me about $90 a month to heat my apartment during the coldest months of the year. Then last year the price jumped to $6 per million BTUs, and my gas bill doubled. This past week, natural gas hit $12, and if it remains at this level when winter comes, I'll be feeling some pain.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Obama on Katrina

My senator, Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, spoke on the floor of the Senate chamber yesterday about the Katrina relief efforts. A transcript of the address has been posted on his website. From the transcript:
I just got back from a trip to Houston with former Presidents Clinton and Bush. And as we wandered through the crowd, we heard in very intimate terms the heart-wrenching stories that all of us have witnessed from a distance over the past several days: mothers separated from babies, adults mourning the loss of elderly parents, descriptions of the heat and filth and fear of the Superdome and the Convention Center.

...[W]hat must be said is that whoever was in charge of planning and preparing for the worst case scenario appeared to assume that every American has the capacity to load up their family in an SUV, fill it up with $100 worth of gasoline, stick some bottled water in the trunk, and use a credit card to check in to a hotel on safe ground. I see no evidence of active malice, but I see a continuation of passive indifference on the part of our government towards the least of these.

I encourage you to go the website and read the whole thing. When Obama spoke, he made some slight deviations from the transcript, so if you want to get every word verbatim, watch the video.

My car narrowly escapes its demise

Coming home from work, I was turning into the alley, 500 feet from my garage, when the oil indicator light went on. I drove the rest of the way home, figuring the risk of ruining the engine would be small over such a short distance.

I popped the hood and cleaned off the dipstick. Put it back in, checked the level... And the dipstick was completely dry. Yikes!

It's a good thing there's an auto supply store around the corner. I bought three quarts of oil and ended up using two before the level registered in the normal range. I think the car should be OK, but I'll need to find out where the oil is disappearing to.

I know some people who have had the oil light go on and assumed they could drive a few more miles to the nearest gas station. But you know what happens when you assume.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

This is America

This past week I've spent too much time on Yahoo! News, compulsively hitting the refresh button, hoping I'd see the top headline replaced with something along these lines: Sun Comes Out, Flowers Bloom, Birds Sing.

I went over to the American Red Cross website and made a donation. Every little bit helps, but my little bit didn't make the depressing headlines go away.

And I even have to wonder if my donation is doing any good at all, given that the Red Cross hasn't been allowed into New Orleans. From their web site:
Acess [sic] to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

The editorial in yesterday's Chicago Tribune began with the question: Is this America? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. It is.

Hurricane Katrina exposed the same pathologies in our society that I was horrified to discover in my own home town ten years ago. In the seven days beginning July 13, 1995, Chicago experienced a heat wave in which the temperature hit 106 degrees-F. There were no spectacular floodwaters, no smoldering ruins for TV crews to film. The magnitude of the disaster was nothing compared to Katrina. But over 700 people died -- the poorest, the oldest, the weakest, and often the darkest among us.

As for the current situation in New Orleans, I won't say that President Bush is to blame, but I will say that some of the things he said this past week demonstrate how out of touch he is. At times, I detected some subtle (and inappropriate, in my opinion) hints of conservative themes of limited government and self-reliance. He called for zero tolerance on looting, without making any exception for those who are scrounging for necessities such as food and water.

The catastrophe that is playing out in New Orleans is a prime example of why an effective, well-funded government is necessary. The free market does a pretty good job of making sure economic resources go where they are needed, but in New Orleans, all this has shut down. And we can see that without massive amounts of assistance, it doesn't take long before people start dying. I hate to say, but so there, Mr. Norquist. I wish we didn't have such a vivid example.