Innovation in Education

While reading the book "Imagine" by Jonah Lehrer, I started reading the chapter on 3M and it's innovative style. The method they use produces a 1:1 ratio of innovation to employees which I find astounding. Can this method be brought to an institution like Joseph Kerr School? I think the answer is 'yes' but the means will butt up against the structure of the institution itself. I wonder how many of the teachers and other employees at my sight could handle such free time to innovate? Would they relax and brainstorm or would they use the time to grade papers instead?

I keep butting up against the phrase my friend Dean said about change in education; that it changes at a glacial pace. Does that mean that you don't challenge the powers that be and merely accept that nothing will change? Or do you find another avenue for education to innovate and make education more relevant to the students we have today? How do we fund the changes that are necessary? What about Education Code?

Granted these are daunting challenges, but I think I see where this takes us. Like my idea that the current SCOTUS arguments on Health Care were poorly thought out ( I would have included the notion in the Preamble to "promote the general welfare" as part of the argument) where I think it will be inevitable that the Court will rule against it and the only alternative will be to make a constitutional amendment, I think the only way to innovate is to go outside the public system to a private one and use it to demonstrate innovation and thus force change by example. I hope I'm wrong... I'll bet I'm not.

A Black Sword, The Stein's, and Trolley Cars

Day 4 of The Black Sword in the City of Saint Francis

The day has consisted of mostly being with my friend Dena and Eric’s mother Dorothy. Eric is working this week, of course, and so he leaves before we wake up. So today we lounged until about 9:15 and decided we’d go get breakfast and then head out to the SF MOMA to see the Stein’s Collection Exhibit.

The standard good place to get breakfast is the little breakfast shop on the corner of Divisidero and Fulton is Eddie’s which serves breakfast all day. Coffee, juice, and eggs and pancakes with good conversation is such a nice way to start the day. Dorothy is 81 and so, even though she’s in great shape for her age, we need to plan where we’re going to go and be careful of how many hills we might need to climb (I should be doing so well at 81 if I live that long). We get done and head up the street to catch the #5 Line to Market Street and 3rd Street so we can walk on down to the MOMA.

We chit-chat on the way up to the bus stop. Dena is such a kick to have around and I sure as hell hope I can be good enough to keep Dorothy’s sense of humor when I get to be her age. When we finally get to the bus, it’s kinda crowded but we stand for a while then finally get Dorothy a seat. Eventually we all get to sit down as people come and go off the bus. There’s this one point where Dena seems to have lost her mind as she is making the weirdest faces. Then I see that a little girl in a stroller is making faces back at her and just having a blast. When we round the corner onto Market, we get off a little early at the corner of 4th and Market and slowly walk to the MOMA. Yesterday has not been kind to my legs and feet and I’m still feeling the adventure in the Richmond District. As a friend I know might have said,”Boy! The dogs are still barkin’...” and as we keep walking the barkin’ keeps getting louder. Ouch. For those who have lived all their lives in San Francisco, I have no doubt that they are just plain used to this kind of constant physical exercise. But coming from a town where the car reigns supreme, the pedestrian calisthenics that the streets and hills of San Francisco can put you through have just about done me in yesterday and today.

We get to the MOMA, get tickets, and go straight to the 5th floor. We take a look at the exhibit there on the Last 10 years of Modern Art and part of it has this exhibit of sonic sculpture called Sonic Shadows that is just fascinating. Dena and I stand in the middle of the exhibit and close our eyes and are treated to this sonic experience of white sound and oddly melodic noise that zips past us on our left, then right, then above, the left.... and it’s a really cool effect.

We finish the 5th floor, take the elevator down to the 4th, and give our tickets for the Stein Collection. It’s crowded even for a week day and we slowly make our way through the exhibit. The Matisse and Picasso work along wit some other lesser know artists is incredible. I must admit both some admiration and a touch of disappointment at both the Matisse and Picasso selections but I chalk that up to having seen a number of those along with other artists in Paris so any disappointment is just temporary.

The tour takes almost 2 1/2 hours and by the end my feet and legs are screaming at me to sit down again. We exit the MOMA and head back to catch the F-Line to allow us to get Dena’s jeep which Karen has let her park at her condo’s parking garage. The F-Line is a trolley line which is occupied with trolleys from San Francisco’s and other city’s past. We get on an island egress terminal in the middle of Market and here comes a blue and gold 1940’s Sand Francisco trolley. Cool.... but it’s packed to the gills with tourists. Oh great. Somehow we squeeze on and Dorothy finds a seat. We’re set.

Like the modern bus rides, people are squeezing on and off and we get a seat as it curves from Market to the Embarcadero and finally we get off at Sansone and Chestnut, walk to Karen’s condo garage and get ourselves in the jeep. A quick ride later and we’re parked and back at E.F.’s place in the Western Edition. A brief refresher and we’re once again on our way to an enclave at the end of the Western Edition called Hayes Valley. Basically, where Hayes and Gough streets intersect is this wonderful collection of shops and restaurants. We bop around there for another couple of hours where I pick up a cool set of antique cufflinks for a decent price and then drag ( no exaggeration this time) back to E.F.’s place. No sooner do we settle down then he comes home and the decision is made to go out for dinner while we all have any strength left. We trudge to the Japan Center for some outstanding ramen soups at Suzu’s Soups in the Kinokuniya Bulding at the end of the Center.

The conversation is light and playful as usual with our company.... but we’re tired and the Saki is flowing so it’s slow going home. We stop for ice cream for dessert ( Dryer’s Green Tea for me... yummm) and finally walk inside the door with only one thing on most everybody’s mind; go to bed. And that friends is pretty much the way the day has ended with me the last man standing and writing to you while stealing a neighbor’s internet and getting the last pictures off the SIM card from the digital camera. Enjoy the pictures and I’ll be writing to you tomorrow after I figure out where I’m off to next. Later.

The Tiger and the Mantis - A Zen Tale

"The Tiger and the Mantis - A Zen Tale"

© Marcus Alden Meredith, November 2010

The Tiger was well known in the deep forests of China for being the fastest animal. He could rush out from from any hiding spot at a great speed. He could almost out race his own growl and roar it was said. All the creatures of the forest feared the speed and ferocity of the Tiger. The Tiger was very proud of his strength and stamina. There were none in the bamboo forests that could defeat him.

One day while walking through the tall, dewy grass in the morning to track down his breakfast, he caught a sound that he had not heard before. The buzzing was not something he recognized... and it grew louder and louder each second. Suddenly, a Mantis landed upon the Tiger's nose. He was panting from having flown in the heavy morning air and was dripping with dew drops on his hard shell body.

"Pardon me, Lord Tiger for landing on your nose but I have been having difficulty flying in the heavy morning air and..."

But before the Mantis could finish his explanation, the Tiger yelled, "Get off! Get off me now!" Then he shook his head so hard the the Mantis was flipped up into the air. Proud of his strength as usual, the Tiger began to smile. But while flying through the air, the Mantis effortlessly somersaulted in mid air, spread his six legs and landed upon the Tiger's left ear.

"Please wait, Lord Tiger and let me ask a gracious favor that I might..."

"Get off, insolent insect!" and shook his might head again now from side to side. "Get oooofffff!" he yelled again.

But this time the Mantis held on with his forelimbs and said again, " Mighty Lord Tiger let me ex...."

Too late. The mighty Tiger began to run through the grass. The blades struck the Mantis as the Tiger ran. But the Mantis held fast. Faster and faster the might Tiger ran and every time he sped up, the Mantis dug the tines of his forelimbs deeper and deeper into the Tiger's left ear.

"Oooooofff I say!" the Tiger kept yelling. The Tiger ran through one field, then a grove of trees, then another deeper field and on and on. The Elephants stopped dead in their tracks as the Tiger ran past them. The Water Buffaloes scattered and the Deer fled but were amazed that the Tiger was not after them. Faster and faster and faster he went.

"Please off me! I'M .... GETTING.... TIRED!!" he yelled again and again. " JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" he yelled like a child... and all the while the Mantis was firmly attached.

Finally the Tiger slowed and stopped.... panting heavily with each moment. And then...

He just fell down on all fours in the tall, dewy grass trying to catch his breath and exhausted from the fastest running he had ever done in his life....

And still the Mantis was there on his left ear.

After a moment, the Mantis let go, deftly scrambled over the Tiger's head to his nose, turned and looked him in the eyes. Then, he bowed a deep bow, and said, "Oh Mighty Lord Tiger, my apologies for what must have startled you. I merely wanted to ask permission to dry myself in your lustrous coat of fur so that I might remove the heavy dew that was keeping me from flying off and had put me on your nose. I meant no disrespect of your might form."

The Tiger was astounded at the grace and courtesy of the Mantis. He now felt bad about being so short with the Mantis. "Is that all you desired? I would gladly have let you had I known you were such a gracious insect. Why had you not told me so?"

Still gracious, the Mantis said, "Lord Tiger, I did try but perhaps you could not hear me over the wind in your ears. Perhaps I should have spoken louder but that is not my way."

Now the Tiger felt quite sheepish and that he had done the Mantis a great wrong. "My apologies to YOU Great Mantis. I had perceived you as a problem and was running to get rid of you."

The Mantis, now dry from the wind from the Tiger's great run, bowed deeply once again, spread his wings, and prepared to fly away. "My Lord Tiger, I am a Mantis, with arms that catch the fastest fly and climb the highest trees with no fear. You cannot run away from me any more than you can run away from any problem in life."

And with this, the Mantis flew off into the morning light of dappled shadows in the forest canopy. The Tiger remained in the grass... meditating on what truth the Mantis had just revealed to him.

Been a while...

As any reader of my blog knows, I only blog when the time seems to be right...Now is just such a time. I finished my 23rd year of teaching and promoted another class to the high school... but somehow this one seemed different.

Maybe it was the smallness of this class. Maybe it was the length of time I've been teaching. Maybe it was the fact that 15 fellow educators retired this year. This was mostly due to the financial crisis in the nation and California in particular. It was a good time to retire I think... and I will miss a large number of those people ( despite the way some of them would drive me nuts).

You need to understand that with these retirements I know become one of these senior staff members at my school. I'm only in my forties and I'm just not quite ready to be a "senior" member of the staff. I feel two conflicting and opposite feelings... Young and old at the same time. Consider that as I write this blog I am doing it on an iPad in a coffee shop called The Naked Lounge... like I wrote before, young but old. Funny what the passage of time can do to our perspective.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPad]

Who will speak for Phoebe?

I don’t write in my blog as a daily practice. I write when the issue or related topic moves me to write. This time I feel compelled to write. I have no other real weapon to use for the sake of Justice. And so, I write.

On January 14 of this year, a young irish girl who had just moved to this country ended seeming months of torment, harassment, and seemingly endless physical and psychological abuse from a self-appointed nobility of students at her school by hanging herself in her closet. She was 15. Her lifeless body was discovered by her 12 year old sister. But finally, very finally, the abuse and the anguish and the mental and physical torment had stopped. Was it a permanent solution to a temporary problem? Have you ever been bullied? Until you have, don’t judge. I know... I was Phoebe once. How long can you handle the abuse and torment from people who seem to be immune to consequences? How often have you told the adults around you only for the abuse to get worse? Who will stand up for you? Who will speak for Phoebe?

In his Boston Globe article on the death of Phoebe Nora Mary Prince, writer Kevin Cullen writes of the abuse the young lady took at the hands of self-appointed “In” crowd girls who partied like it was 1999 2 days after Phoebe’s death, continued to bad-mouth her, intimidate other students with impunity when they were interviewed about it, and act with complete remorselessness and callousness that they had nothing to do with her death . How long could you handle the abuse? We train our soldiers to resist torture to the best of their ability but we always think of physical torment not just the mental aspects of abuse. How much abuse could you take before you had to make it stop? Stop it any way you thought possible... event if it was permanent... too permanent. Have you experienced such torment and abuse? No? Go ahead... try it sometime then tell me with a straight face that “those things happen when you’re in school and you just have to learn to live with them.” Go ahead and suffer through drinks “spilled” on you every day and your head and body slammed into lockers each day. Go ahead and feel that you have to walk the other way and avoid being around certain “It” crowds of students because to go past them invites more abuse, ridicule, and physical and psychological torment. Go ahead and live in an almost constant state of fear and self-loathing that seems to never have an end to it. Go ahead and tell the adults and watch nothing change but in fact get worse for being a ’snitch.’ I hate that word... snitch... it’s a cowardly word. The reality is that there’s no such thing as a snitch but only people who are too cowardly to do the right thing and use the force of authority to make the situation better and stop the abuse. Cowards... the adults are cowards. And as much as the students responsible for the abuse should be held responsible, the adults are just as culpable. Perhaps even more so. Phoebe did nothing wrong from all accounts except cross the often invisible line of clicks, the hidden lines of the cast system of high school to date a senior... and then the Mean Girls,who are at every school, decided to make her pay for her insolence. They say they did nothing wrong. They say they aren’t responsible. I’m sure they have parents and lawyers even on their side to be their advocates and speak for them. Who speaks for the abused students they treat like serfs who live to serve them at their beck and call? Who will stop the abuse? Who will stop the bullying? Who will speak for Phoebe?

I teach. I teach in Middle School. I have for 23 years. I can’t count the number of times I have heard people exclaim,“Oh! You teach 8th grade? That was such a hard time for me. I don’t know how I survived it.” Yes, it’s true that it is a hard time... the awkwardness of growth, hormones, trying to fit in, wanting people to like you, trying to be special... but not too special. It’s like the Japanese saying, “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” was meant for Middle and High School. And so putting up with mean kids is just a right of passage in school; we all have to put up with it. Really? You try it sometime and then come back and tell me how you feel and how well you sleep and how every step in the crowded halls of the school fills you with dread. Every step leads you through another level of your own purgatory... or perhaps levels of hell. Ask Phoebe Prince how she felt... oh, that’s right, you can’t. She is dead.

What do we do? How can we change this virus of ill behavior and tacitly accepted abuse? We take advice from Confucius. We have two ways to proceed: We can sit students down and attempt to educate them of the consequences of their actions and hope the lessons take hold. Or, we can punish the perpetrators and the adults whose non-fessence allowed this malignancy to destroy the body of education over and over and over.... Until the abuse stops or they perpetrators leave and their parents have to pay for private education as the penalty for not teaching your children well. That’s how we handle the perpetrators. Then the adults must be dealt with. Hold the administrators, counselors, and teachers responsible for not reporting and then dealing with this. “But the state’s laws don’t give us the power to act on this,” the administrators will say. That’s a vapid and hollow response.... I might say even cowardly. It’s amazing the power a principle has to deal with abusive students. Its time they grew a pair and started dealing with it when students, teachers, and counselors bring it to their attention. Your job as an administrator is not as valuable as the life of a young person. Any other response is cowardly. Finally we need to have district attorneys willing to prosecute abusers and those who help facilitate their behavior: students and their parents. Use the statutes, show a spine, make examples of them in public whether you can win the case outright or not and make it financially and socially costly for such behavior to occur without consequences. Then make the district attorney act as the law allows regardless of the politics or let them suffer the consequences as well and vote them out of office. It may not stop all the abuse but will hopefully bring a modicum of justice to the abused. Thats right. Not a right of passage but abuse. And we in this society must stand up and say, “No more,” to all those involved. Make them pay the price of their actions. In the end, this Mean Girl crew will have plenty of defenders to fend off their attackers... but who will speak for Phoebe?

Follow-up March 31:

It turns out that the outrage over Phoebe's treatment has made some progress. 9 students have been charged with crimes as a result of their behavior in the Phoebe Prince abuse case. Please read the following article from the New York Times.

Trying to be impressed...

Part 1 - I tend to be a teacher who tries to give my students the benefit of not comparing them to other classes of students. I mean, hey, come on! Every group and the dynamics of each group are different. But being the first Honors Science teacher here, I can’t help but keep all the classes that have come before going through my mind as the year goes on. I remember my first class especially... which to most is probably not a surprise (and if you’re reading this Rachel that was YOUR class.... Make me proud with your life choices!).

And so I am in a bit of a bind. I don’t want to compare my students this year with other years (or even class periods to each other) but it inevitably happens... And I am not impressed with the bunch this year. That DOESN’T mean that I don’t like the kids that make up this year’s class; they are a pretty nice bunch. But as for mental acumen and desire combined with curiosity... I’m trying to be impressed. Now remember, there will always be students who as individuals will impress me... But I’m waiting for the group to live up to the title of Honors Students.

Part 2 - I am a technophile. I freely admit loving machines and technology... But sometimes it can drive me nuts. I’ve come to the conclusion that you have to treat the computer(s) you have like the car(s) you own. First incident today was not being able to get my iSight camera which watches the backyard to work. I unplugged and replugged the camera into the computer, restarted the application, restarted the computer.... Nothing. I finally gave up and hope to handle the problem later. Before that I had taken my older PowerBook G4 into the Apple Store and the Mac Geniuses to check the hardware. They tested it and it passed. Why do that? Because the sound had stopped working. So I do the typical trouble-shooting and get it working again... But only temporarily before it does it again. As the Genius said at Apple, “Time to Archive and Reinstall the OS to fix the software issue.” I love technology... But SOMETIMES.........

New Ideas in the Year of Light

One of the great joys and burdens I have in being a technophile is that I’m always in a learning mode. I discover new applications and new technologies to make my abilities expand, my job better, and give me greater creativity and enjoyment... but the time requirements are tremendous. Luckily I have a few tricks up my sleeve such as Twitter, Facebook, Mac New Network, and other various video and text blogs that I run past each day to help keep me abreast of happenings in the technology world. Still, every time I have a new application to use I have new abilities I have to train myself to master or at least become competent at doing. This can be such a hassle. For instance, I am typing this blog on my new MacJournal app so that I can do it when I have no internet or when getting on the internet is a hassle (such as at work - no way in hell I’m gonna use their network and be bound by their restrictions of internet usage... no way in hell). I’m doing the typical Mac user thing of just trying it out without reading about it much... I’m sure that I’ll have to find a tutorial or a user’s guide and dissect it when I get to the more powerful parts of the application but so far it seems to be a great journal... so far.

I also hope to have a personal website built in the next few months. I’m not going to go fast as I wanna make sure I do it right, plan out each page well, and take the time to learn how to use iWeb. It seems pretty straight forward (as are so many things that Apple produces). But going quickly and producing a piece of shlock is just not my style. The I have a new scanner (Neat Scanner... way cool) but I have to take the time to get all my bills together for this year, scan them, and then learn how to organize them and export them to things like my TurboTax. It’s a lot to learn.

The Morning Dazzle of Ring Around the Planet

So I'm tweeting and doing my Face Book schtick when I come across a tweet by Phil Plait the Bad Astronomer and his blog on the Discovery Magazine website. It turns out that someone has done me a great favor - a BIG favor. It never fails that when I'm teaching my astronomy unit that when we get to the planet Saturn, the following question always comes up:

"What would it look like if the Earth had a ring around it like Saturn?"

Well, thanks Phil, he and others have found the following video on YouTube that evidently went viral not too soon after it was posted. It is fantastic:

The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

So I'm listening to D.J. Grothe and the Point of Inquiry podcast (and trying to catch up on all the podcasts I've missed when school started again). Then I come across the one titled "What is the Worst That Can Happen?' and it inspires me to go to YouTube to see this guys video. You watch this video and you come to realize that practically all of the arguments that are used to deny Global Climate Change are the equivalent of whistling in the dark to keep the robbers away while walking down a street you should never have taken. Greg Craven is a high school science teacher from Oregon and an activist on Global Warming. He makes a set of arguments that just are not easy to try and shoot down. But don't take my word for it. Watch for yourself and try to shoot it down... this is in fact what Mr. Craven asks us to do... so do it:

Hypocrisy and Safety

So I'm getting ready to start my blog for the week, still in my comfey, sleeping clothes, when Steve calls and says, "Whatcha doin?" and says that he's gonna be there in 15 minutes to go to brunch with Sean and Jeanne.... crap. Sunday is for blogging, relaxing, and tweeting with anyone (bloggers, news people, scientists, porn stars, the whole lot) while trying to wrap my mind around ultimate answers to hard questions. Like "Why do people believe in such bull-shit as God created man" (and what about woman... that always bothered me even though I'm male so you'd likely think I was cool with that notion... nope). Any ways, I get my act together (barely) then it's off to Roseville.

Sean looks much better after the back surgery and Jeanne is such a trooper. After we're done, we walk out (a major accomplishment for Sean) and everyone's words seem to get lost in the rain.. the rain... it makes me contemplative. Then I realize after finishing my work at home how dark it gets so early in Winter. I come back to my sanctuary of a home and begin to realize that my friends have it better than I do in one large regard... they can profess who they are and their belief in NOT believing. I don't dare do that at my work or near my place of employment. If I did, I'd risk being terminated by a crazy, religiously fanatical parent. I use subterfuge and use my Zen Buddhist goings as my out. "Oh no, I'm not a non-believer; I'm a Zen Buddhist." The Buddhism statement is true, but the 'not a non-believer' is not.... I feel like such a hypocrite.

My friends regularly tell me that they understand my situation but it still gets to me. How can I be the co-founder of an Atheist and Non-Believer group but not come out to support it. I let certain friends know but sometimes I just want to shout to the world, "I don't believe in ANYTHING, especially your bullshit notion of God because there isn't any God!" But no, I stay in the 'closet' so-to-speak and let my friends take the brunt for being one of the last and most hated minority groups in America. Someday.... it just sticks in my throat. I hate it.

Then I come across a Science Blog which tries to say the things I want to express. Please read this Blog.

Sunday at the Naked Lounge

First Observation: I can't stop looking at women. I tell you honestly, I love the looks, the sound, the motion, the smell of women. Does that make me a womanizer? I don't think so... perhaps I just have a more acute sense for the feminine form in life and know that attraction to it can just be a manifestation of the creative impulse. That's the optimist in me looking at things. If I were a cynic I'd say that I was just trying to justify my own particular view of women and not seem so lurid. But I'm a realist... I just like women.

Second Observation: I've spent the day fairly productively and noticed a couple things: [1] I can get a lot of planning done in a fairly short time. I've completed a 3D Timeline for my computer work in Annos Luminos and it I stick to it, the office should become a hub of research and as powerful a small library as there can be. I still need to finish off the Mind-Map but it's close... a few more days and it should be done (just a little bit of research left to finish). I still need to figure out how to increase the shelf space in my office to it's full potential in order to get more books into the collection... but that will come in time. [2] People are idiots when they're shopping... plain fact that I can demonstrate at least anectdotally . I went to get some shopping done for bedroom and bath today. I arrived at the store and found an item that was close to what I wanted... just the wrong color (only white available but I wanted black... of course). I walked, and walked, and walked.... ad nausium for assistance. The place was understaffed and too many people were grabbing at the staff's attention at the checkout stand. "Fuck it!" I said in frustration, and walked out. I check out how bad the malls were for my next stop.... madness. I kept on driving to the Naked Lounge and didn't look back. I ended up ordering everything I wanted on-line... is it any wonder that the brick and mortar stores are suffering sometimes.

Third Observation: I have come to the conclusion that I am not as educated as I want to be and have started to put a plan into action to try to remedy that situation. I need to continue my education as earnestly and consistently as possible... every day I can. But here's the rub... I think that I can demonstrate that most people will consider that going through school like college and earning a degree makes them educated. Bullshit. Yup, you read it correctly. Male Bovine fecal excrement! It used to be that a person who was also educated was in the gentlemanly class. Now I know that doesn't necessarily make an individual a gentleman (not by the definition then or mine now... I agree), but the understanding was that education put a person at a level above the vulgar crowd; the mob. But as time moved on we democratized education and made it compulsory. The intent was to make the country a place where democracy would come to full fruition and that an educated populace could make better decisions....Nope. Nice try. It didn't work. Oh education made the country more productive and it has increased our wealth but at what political cost? I am not a big fan of democracy. Yup, I don't like it... but from a practical point-of-view it is the only system that really has the potential to work for the greatest number of people. The fallacy is that it assumes an educated populace. We're not. It is at this point in my ruminations that I just can't help but consider most people plebes like those of ancient Rome. Bread and Circuses! Entertainment and sex... just give the mob what it wants and you can rule the Republic (or the Empire if you like because we can be considered a de facto empire in many respects). Caveat emptor et vendi! Now, aren't I bordering on a kind of arrogance? What makes you so special? Well, I'm not sure that I am special... just questioning. Perhaps that is where the change needs to start....

Influenza - The How's and Why's

So I get home, plop down in front of the computers, check my Tweets and Facebook lists, and there is a link to the best article I have seen in weeks from a science point of view; thanks to Brenda on Facebook. So, I click the link to the NPR story and see the best video rendition of what a virus does to the body. I'm gonna use this with my students. I know it will induce a whole series of questions but it's important that they understand the workings of a virus and get out the their heads some of the mystery surrounding how disease works in the human body.

Refusing Flu Shots? Maybe You're a Denialist...

Listening to NPR as I do every day in the morning I heard a great discussion between Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon and Michael Specter a reporter for The New Yorker magazine concerning his new book just out titled Denialism. In the talk he discusses how a group of island residents have stopped vaccinating their children against childhood diseases and how 40% of the children at a school in Marina del Rey got exceptions for vaccinations. His arguments are cogent and timely and make us confront the way we see the world. I am constantly confronted in my work with the insanity that parents and media foist upon our young people (" Is the world really going to end in 2012?" or "Is it true that we came from monkeys?".... Oh come on people!). But Michael Specter's point boils down to the threat that our irrational and denialist thought has for our well being and our continued existence. But why should I try to state the points when the author can do that for himself:

All the world's a stage...

So a couple of days ago I was sitting at the Naked Lounge with my friend Steve and we were just shooting the breeze when the Muse hit me square between the eyeballs. I started listening to the Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (which also happens to be my iPhone ringtone) and images started coming into my mind. I then started searching the net like a maniac for images that had an emotional impact on me as I looked at them. I wasn't sure of any one theme but more for the feelings that it elicited in me as a means of my understanding how I see the world. Once I had started, it's as if the small project took on a life of it's own... how many images I like could I put into the span of time that the "Bitter Sweet Symphony" would play. A few hours later, I had an essentially finished project. I leave it to you, my dear readers, to be the judge of what it means to you: The World's a Stage

iPhones and Technology

Those who have read my blogs, know that I typically have a picture for each entry... Not this time ( so far) because now I have the ability to do it on my iPhone which is how this entry got done. I hope for more running commentary with the help of iBlog. Also, I hope to do additions to blogs through the day as events warrant.

On another note, kudos to the Cyan Co. For coming out with MYST for the iPhone. Myst was... Is a mystery game with clues and puzzles.... And is addictive! Now, if they can only come out with Riven as well, it would be fantastic...

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

UPDATE:

I have been a big fan of SomaFM for many years now but I get worried about it as the economy has turned into a steaming heap o' rubbish. So, I'd like to invite you to check out SomaFM and all the channels that it has to offer - it's commercial free and has the ability to stream to computer and iPhone over Wi-Fi, EDGE, and 3G. I have a link to the EDGE stream of SomaFM on my Music Apps page and it works great... check it out:

Brief Blog - "Just How Stupid Are We?"

While doing a bit of quick research on Amazon.com for a friend, I caught sight of a recommendation for a book. Amazon is famous for this... they analyze your previous purchases and make recommendations for purchases based on this data. I usually just take a quick glance at the texts, see the title or author, check to see if it's Kindle available, then move on to other things. After all, I have a wish list that is over 40 web pages long on Amazon.com alone (not to mention other places and my wish lists there) and so most of the time the recommendations don't mean much to me. 

Then a title caught my eye in a serious way: Just How Stupid Are We?  Now with a title like that, well, I decided a second look was warranted. The author is a historian, a New York - Times best selling author of Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History and a commentator for MSNBC and CNN and has produced programs on history for TLC. He even has his own blog as well. Having glanced at it and digested a few paragraphs, it seems to be aimed at the need for accuracy in the debate of the body politic and he seems to do a good job. On his blog, he states the following:

Dunce Cap Scorecard: It would be stupid to say that the American people are stupid--as stupid as saying the American people are smart. It's impossible to generalize--and silly. But our politics are often stupid. And there are times when no other word, harsh as it is, seems to capture the essence of the turn politics have taken.

But what do we mean by stupid? To help determine whether a debate is stupid or not I have devised a five-part test. Call it the Dunce Cap Scorecard.

On the blog I rank debates by how stupid they get. One or two Dunce Caps is normal for any debate. Five Dunce Caps and you know you're in a deep pile of stupid.

Now this I can appreciate. I have always looked at the topic of "stupid" in a couple of ways. One - the way I have to deal with 8th graders; keep it simple for them and stick with "The Forrest Gump Rule":  Stupid is as Stupid does ( with 'stupid' capitalized for you English snobs and minutiae creeps because I consider it a proper noun in this context). Then, two, that I don't trust democracy as practiced today in America (or for that matter anywhere else on the Earth). I explain this by realizing that the power and effectiveness of democracy lies in the education and reasonableness of the constituent population - and quite frankly I don't trust any of you with my welfare when it comes to being able to reasonably pick representatives to hold public office (the new mayor of the town I live in is a perfect example - oy vay!!).

Well, time to read the book some more and get back to you later... peace and Good Luck.

Monsters in the Stomach

I can't be sure but I think that I'll have to be more careful with the food I store in the refrigerator since I have been about a week of feeling like I have had a creature like the baby alien spawns from Aliens working its way through my gastrointestinal system on it's way to burst through my chest... AAAAAAGGGGGGGHH...... I know, I know... not exactly a pleasant thought to put forth in a blog but, hey, what the hell... it's been on my mind and my morning constitutionals for a while now.

I suppose I can chalk this up to one of those  hazards of being a bachelor and not always taking the time to be as careful about what I eat as I should. I suppose I should take a wax pencil to my Food-Saver® containers and Glad® containers as well and mark what day I put the food in there... good idea I need to follow through on. Those of you with a wife or husband or significant squeeze don't have quite the same problems to deal with with food (others to deal with granted, just not the same as mine). 

I had every intention this year of eating a bit better since I love to cook.... I'm usually missing one absolutely vital ingredient most nights however... you guessed it - Time! I even have the white board in my kitchen with the schedule of what type of food to eat for which night like a menu at a restaurant (yeah, yeah, yeah.... sick and organized; I can hear it now). But without that vital ingredient, it usually comes down to fixing what I can, with what can, when I can OR going out and spending more money that I shouldn't be spending. The results are predictable.

So about a week ago, the Wild Things decided to take up residence in my colon and stomach and have a party... yuck. I don't cherish sitting on the Lu every 20 minutes and not being able to go out on a Saturday night. All I knew that might give me some relief was Pepto-Bismol®, sleep, and a small breakfast with some fruit and cereal and a touch of yogurt to try and get my bacterial fauna back into balance. The strangest thing resulted from this gastrointestinal extremism was a bit of melancholia.... wishing that I wasn't a bachelor and that I had a significant other, girl-friend, wife, main squeeze to be with and have someone to watch over me a bit. It has me a bit down and watching too much porno than is good... so I went back to diving into the geek-factor and keeping my mind busy. So far that works... temporarily at least.

I hope E-Harmony® comes through before the summer gets too far along....

Oklahoma is DOOMED....

While going through my usual morning reads of the Tweets, Blogs, and messages from my Facebook buds, I went to the Richard Dawkins Foundation website and came across this. It has to be one of the most asinine political moves that anyone has done in that state since.... oops, my bad. I forgot... I'm writing about a midwest state like Kansas. Remember the book titled "What's the Matter with Kansas?" Read the whole article on this idiotic resolution against Dawkins speaking on evolution at U of Ok. and maybe that will jog your memory. 

Then I get a different article after reading the above one on the legislative resolution. The thought that some dim-witted politician from Oklahoma of all fucking places would decide that free speech needs to be "investigated" just about pushed me over the edge to wanting to do violence! (No, no... don't worry. I won't go there). But finally Dawkins had his say:

The First IT Pro - I work with people like this...

I know that for a certain type of person, the use of a computer is a bit intimidating especially if you never grew up using one or don't consider yourself very technically adept (which is a convenient cop-out for not being a person who wants to learn anything new - yes, there are utterly uneducable individuals in this world). But I just can't help but think that no matter what the technology, some people are just too stupid to live. Imagine the invention of the folded codex which eventually became known as a book... just go with it and watch (you'll get it and hopefully a get a good chuckle too):

Astronomy 101 - Lesson 2: The Inner Planets

OK, boys and girls, here's your next lesson in planetary astronomy. The solar system can be divided in two ways depending on location or composition of the objects in question (this is when discussing planets, the sun and moons of the solar system are a different story). The location divisions can be done as follows (from the sun outwards): Inner Planets, Asteroids and Minor planets, Outer Planets, Kuiper Belt Objects. Each one of these locations also have the majority of the objects in these areas composed of a particular material (i.e. Kuiper Belt objects are predominantly made of ices from such materials as methane, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, plus a smattering of silicate/rocky materials mixed in). So, mes etudiants, listen up:


Part 1


Part 2

Part 3


Part 4


Part 5