the blog

I’ve been hearing rounds of “drill baby drill” as the latest scandal about environmentalists erupted. “Climate-gate” has the Right positively giddy over the thought that someone, somewhere, wasn’t telling the truth. Now that anthropogenic climate change has been debunked (in their minds) they are ready to go back to their Hummers and forget all about energy conservation. Let’s drill here so we don’t have to buy our oil overseas. (We actually buy the largest percentage of foreign oil from Canada, but nevermind).

But there are other reasons to be an environmentalist, and though they are supported by science, they are not scientific reasons. It is simply the right thing to do. If you are Christian, you might say it’s the good Christian thing to do. I’m not a Christian, so I’ll say it is the good human thing to do. Not because of urgency, (any good business person will tell you that change during crisis is not the best strategy for success) but because we know, we see, that what we do is harmful to living things. It is not morally acceptable to consider ourselves so privileged we don’t need to concern ourselves with the messes we make. To do so is to behave as a spoiled child. The rest of the world is not here for our amusement and our use and abuse. We co-exist with the world, and we forget that. Even if you claim we are superior to other animals (which I don’t), our role as ‘superior’ beings should be one of stewardship, not exploitation.

We shouldn’t shit where we eat. My dogs know this, my puppy learned it over the course of a few smelly, stinky months. Don’t shit where you eat, don’t destroy your own home. Even if climate change is not anthropogenic (evidence says it is) and even if it isn’t going to cause major changes in the climate, drilling for oil is dirty, it kills things. Things we eat. The toxins spilling from factories are gross. They kill things and cause mutations. Coal is polluting and unhealthy. It kills the men who mine for it. You need only to actually live in a polluted city to know that you can feel and taste the pollution, and it is depressing no matter your politics.

I don’t believe for a second these people actually believe we will be better off if we just screw the polar bears and get to drilling, no matter how many dozens of years of oil it provides. The defiant attitude that “I can break it if I want ‘cuz you can’t stop me” is childish, irresponsible, and, in a group of adults who want to be taken seriously as leaders, it is simply laughable.

We recently got rejected by the NIH twice. We submitted two large-scale proposals for research in informal science education. A pre-tenure professor was the PI on one of them, and buried in the very useful feedback we got from our reviewers, we found the following comment:

One cannot but wonder if this very complex and time consuming project may have a negative impact on the PI’s career, still on the tenure-track…

While I have no doubt the reviewer had only the best interests of the professor in mind, her/his remarks were a reminder that the Sagan-like shunning of informal science education and outreach programs is not yet ancient history.

Sagan was rejected by the National Academy of Science supposedly because his academic career had suffered from all of the time and attention he paid to his popularization and outreach efforts.

The “Sagan Effect” is often trumped up against scientists who take a broader view of what it means to advance their field. The argument is that if a scientist spends too much time in the public eye, they are not spending enough time in the lab/field/etc. In fact, at the time of Sagan’s death, he published an average of one peer reviewed journal article per month (Shermer, 2002).

So the answer to this reviewers concern is that it would take a narrow-minded institution to presume a major outreach program would hurt an scientist. Cornell is no such institution. When Sagan was denied tenure at Harvard, he came to Cornell, and happily spent the rest of his career there, finding a balance between his outreach efforts and his research.

It has been said many times that the only way to change the popular view of outreach as a frivolous pursuit is to build it into the tenure requirements. That will be a long time coming. In the mean time, I think change is possible only if people like this reviewer decide to support such endeavors. By deciding to warn of potential damage to the career of a young scientist who wants to consider the broader impacts of their work, she/he should be applauding the professor’s interest in reaching a wide audience.

Finally, this was an $800,000 grant. I’m not saying we deserved it (I don’t think we did this time around), but if we had gotten it, I doubt it would do as much damage as the reviewer thinks.

On March 17, the United Nations held a discussion with the cast and creators of Battlestar Galactica that dealt with, among other things, human rights, race, and the reconciliation of people of different religions.

Of course, this a very high honor for the series, and for sci-fi nerds everywhere (myself included). But it is more than that.

This event was part of the UN Department of Public Information’s new Creative Community Outreach Initiative (CCOI). The CCOI has also granted access for Law and Order: Special Victims Unit to film at UN Headquarters in New York (this has never happened before, apparently). From the press release

As one of the launch projects of the Creative Community Outreach Initiative, this event will show how skilful storytelling can elevate the profile of critical humanitarian issues,” said Kiyo Akasaka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. “Not only does it present an opportunity for creative discussion, but, more importantly, it offers a chance to deliver a message about the many harsh realities that still exist worldwide.

While it may be that the CCOI is little more than a glorified PR campaign, I think there’s some potential for a real exchange of information. The fact that their first two events were so different is a good sign.

The opening of their doors for the creative community, they’ll allow programs and other works of art that seek the knowledge or history of the UN to understand the UN in new way. Their invitation to the creators and stars of Battlestar Gallactica was a humble admission that they do not have the answers, and that the people who use the arts two wrestle with difficult issues have knowledge from which they might benefit.

Yes, this two way street is very promising. But what is not so promising is the dirth of information about this initiative. The pdf I linked to above is really all I was able to find, aside from mentions of the program here and there in press releases about the Battlestar Galactica event.

There are a few video clips from the BSG event, and I’ve heard rumors that the whole event will be available at some point. In the mean time, here’s what the UN released from the event:

What do you think?

I am not sure how I feel about this. I love Guernica, and this summer when I went to Spin, I spent about half an hour just staring at the painting. I then spent more time examining all of his preliminary sketches and plans for the painting.

I never would have imagined that he did so much preparation, and it gave me some comfort to know that even this genius needed some practice with his craft before he created this masterpiece.

I have never felt such hope for my country. I am near tears and likely will be all day, even though I’ll be in class throughout the Inauguration. Today may well be the last day I feel this kind of hope, since this man has a steaming pile of shit to remove before he can really do anything at all.

The fact that Obama was elected gives me great hope. I loved this election, and was so happy for so many reasons. I am proud, for the first time in my life, of this country. When I go abroad, I usually say I’m from New York, because I don’t want to associate myself with this country that has behaved so shamefully. Now, I think I will say that I am from the US. The country that just elected the first black President. The country that embraced and intelligent, non-partisan, idealistic message. The country that found hope in a time of deep despair.

But also, I have to say that I am so filled with something more than relief that the Bush administration is leaving. I can’t describe the hate, the fear, and the pain I think this administration as wrought on this country and the rest of the world.

I don’t want to dwell on this, because I want to be open to the hope that is radiating throughout the country today. I won’t dwell, but I will acknowledge and respect the guilty joy I feel in watching the worst President in the history of the Unites States go back to Texas. I will acknowledge it by saying

Bush, Cheney, et al: Don’t let the door… so on and so forth…

Okay, so Christmas isn’t really Christ’s birthday, it is a pagan solstice festival that was co-opted by Christians so no one would think their religion was lame. The festival was a way for people to make it through the winter when food was scarce and it was freezing.

Then, that makes the true meaning of Christmas, “Let’s stay as warm as we can by drinking and partying. It will cheer us up because it is freaking cold, and its dark for about 16 hours a day. So, in the true spirit of Christmas I give you this Christmas blessing:

MERRY CHRISTMAS
DON’T FREEZE YOUR ASS OFF!

This pup has been our groupie since we got Rock band.

We’ve been trying to rent this thing for a few months now, and every month we find someone (or a few someones) who want it. In some cases, they are very gung-ho, and we think, hey, we’re getting it rented. But they always back out at the last minute.

If I lived in the city, I would take this place in a heartbeat. It is close to the A, has a brand new kitchen, 3 bedrooms, and an almost new bathroom. The woodwork is gorgeous. It’s in a prewar building with a great super.

But, we can’t get it rented out. Why? I have no idea. The price is so good: $2000/ month. Did I mention it is 3 bedrooms? How about the Starbuck’s around the corner… If you are in to that kind of thing. We like the coffee at the Dominican bakery across the street better.

So. This is a plea: somebody rent my apartment! email max.evjen at gmail.com. He’s my husband. He’ll be really, really nice to you, and help you get through the application.

Here’s a link to some more photos.

The lights on our Christmas tree way out of focus.

Today change.gov launched a new feature that allows you to ask the administration questions. The idea is that the people have a direct line to the new administration with out having to go through the press.

I saw this, and, of course, several questions came to mind. How will they sort through the thousands upon thousands of questions they get and decide which ones to answer? How will they answer them? on the site? in a press conference?

You can vote on the importance of others questions, which may be one factor in how they will decide what to answer, and you can do the same in their comments as well as their ‘seat at the table’ feature. But I have the same questions about all of these features. Is this just a gimmick, or are our voices being taken seriously. I believe that Obama et al. want to take us seriously, but I want to know how they are going to accomplish taking us seriously.

At any rate, I went back to see if people thought this was an important question. Well, I was told that 54 like this question and 34 don’t. I was impressed that that many people had read my question, so great. Until I noticed something underneath my ratings. Take a look:

Did you see it? My ‘submission was removed because people believe it is inappropriate.’
Un-f&cking-real. My question is inappropriate? I don’t even have words for how pissed I am. Unpopular, fine, but inappropriate makes it sound like the question was full of expletives or laced with racial epitaphs or something awful like that.

So now, I want to know just who these people are and why my question is so f&cking inappropriate.

And all I can think to say is that the trouble with participatory democracy is that anyone can participate.