text:
Science and non-science
Science and nonsense
Maybe it's a good book. I don't know and I don't expect to spend time reading it. But I doubt it. The author is Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna and friend to the Discovery Institute's intelligent design advocates. Chance or Purpose? has been published by Ignatius Press, which took out a full-page ad for the book in the December 2007 issue of Inside the Vatican. (Ignatius Press is the American publisher of the books of Pope Benedict XVI and a regular advertiser in Inside the Vatican.)
Schönborn's publisher is quick to round up the usual suspects to provide laudatory blurbs for the cardinal's book. My favorite is by the unavoidable Michael Behe:
Science cannot speak of ultimate purpose, and scientists who do so are outside of their authority. In Chance or Purpose? Cardinal Schönborn shows that the data of biology, when properly examined by reason and philosophy, strongly point to a purposeful world.
—MICHAEL BEHE, Professor of Biochemistry, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania and author of Darwin's Black Box
Go ahead. Read Behe's statement again. He does not appear to be kidding. First he says that "ultimate purpose" is beyond the ambit of science. Fine. (I think it's outside the reach of the fables of religion, too, but that's a separate point.) Then Behe says that biology (I think that's a science) points toward a "purposeful world" when a religious philosopher examines the data produced by its practitioners—by scientists! I guess scientists should just do their work and wait for the priests to tell them what it means.
Have you ever seen anything sillier? (Sorry: I forgot about The Edge of Evolution.)
Yet when Behe's blurb crossed the desk of the person responsible for putting together the Ignatius Press ad, did he (or she) say, "Oh, dear. This is just arrant nonsense. We can't use this!" Apparently not. Working on ad copy for a religious publisher must train you to believe at least six impossible things before breakfast every morning, so Behe's blather was treated as golden and placed near the top of the ad for Schönborn's book.
I noticed that the cover of Chance or Purpose? juxtaposes two spiral images: the nautilus shell that is so beloved of the Discovery Institute and a spiral galaxy (the Whirlpool Galaxy, in fact). Did someone mean to imply a unity between earthly biology, as represented by the shell, and God's infinite universe, as represented by the star system? Perhaps. If strained symbolism was their purpose, perhaps someone should have noticed that the spirals are oriented in different directions. They oppose each other.
Posted by Zeno at 10:30 AM 3 comments:
Labels: Catholicism, creationism, intelligent design, religion, science
Xmas in Bizarroland
Heaping helpings
I arrived at Mom & Dad's on Christmas Eve. They were holding their customary holiday open house, a casual business involving drop-in visits by family members and friends. Some of them were delivering gifts, while others were just saying hello. I missed my cousin and his wife, who left minutes before my arrival, but I was there when Dick hobbled in.
Dick had a fancy new cane with multiple feet and was walking under his own power. As he came slowly up the sidewalk, Dad shook his head and said, "Too much booze and too many cigarettes. That'll do it to you." Dad was sympathetic about his old friend's condition, but still indulging his censorious tendencies. We had a nice visit with Dick, commiserating over his physical frailty and complimenting him on the successful physical therapy that had him back on his feet. Dick regaled us with tales of his travail and described the joys of using the new Rascal scooter that Medicare had purchased for him:
"The government paid for most of it, but I got a bill for $800. I don't think I'm going to have to pay it, though."
Dick was also getting some of his prescriptions by mail order from Canada because Medicare Part D doesn't cover everything. Mom & Dad were delighted to hear about Dick's scooter, but indignant that its cost and the costs of his prescriptions were not fully covered. Wasn't it just like the federal government to create problems like this? (I bit my tongue and stayed quiet.)
As Dick's visit ended and he hobbled back toward the door, another of my cousins arrived to deliver gifts to my parents (who are her godparents). We all segued smoothly into a discussion of her woes and complaints. She had been getting phone calls from marketing companies and political campaigns that addressed her in Spanish because of confusion over her Portuguese last name (which is identical in spelling to a common Spanish name). "This is America! Speak English! I don't talk Mexican! No one helped me learn English when I was in school. I had to learn it myself!"
My cousin had hit a subject particularly dear to Dad's heart. He had been complaining earlier in the day over his discovery that local PBS stations had added a Spanish-language channel to their digital TV broadcasts. I had restrained myself from mentioning that his late mother would have been delighted, since she never learned English and could follow Spanish dialog quite comfortably. Over the years, I have heard quite a few of my fellow Portuguese speakers complain that Spanish speakers are coddled while we Luso-Americans were ignored. Dad is especially vociferous on the topic:
"That's all crap," said Dad. "They shouldn't be spending our tax dollars on people who should be fending for themselves—like we did!"
The chair where Dick had been sitting was still warm from his visit, but Mom & Dad had done a full reverse and were now outraged about supposedly extravagant government services. Even though they had clucked their tongues and shaken their heads over Dick's dissipated ways, his use of Medicare programs was no more than his just due. My head was spinning.
Left to my own devices later in the day, I noticed a gleaming slime trail on the bookcase unit I had built in the family room back in my college years. As I suspected, it was oozing out of the latest book by Ann Coulter. My mother collects them assiduously and defiles my cabinetwork by thoughtlessly shelving them in my bookcase. She has apparently yet to notice that her copy of Godless is missing. I borrowed it several months ago because I wanted to peruse La Coulter's insane chapters on evolution without contributing a single penny to her royalty statements. Perhaps Mom does not refresh herself at the font of Ann's wisdom as often as one might expect. Does she even notice that her favorite author just rehashes the same insipid claims over and over again, pausing merely to sprinkle in a few new insults?
A new day—but not really
Christmas Day offered the distraction of about two dozen family members and guests. There was a lot of nattering about all of the twice-a-year Catholics who had shown up for the Christmas service. My family (except for me, of course) is dutiful and punctilious about their Sunday obligation—and proud of it. All those other people are bad Catholics. Heck, they're hardly Catholics at all!
One of my nieces is hugely pregnant and due to pop any day. She already has two children. Mom said, "She actually wants four." Once again I was as good a boy as I could be. I did not say, "'Wants'? What does 'wants' have to do with it? I was at the wedding. I heard the part about accepting children lovingly as God saw fit to provide them. What is a good Catholic wife doing talking about the number of children she wants? It's not her call, is it? At the rate she's going, she could crank out a dozen more before her system gives out!" Nope, I didn't say that.
The name of another of my innumerable cousins came up. He and his longtime companion have split up after a couple of decades together. My folks showed commendable hypocrisy in expressing their concern over the trouble in gay paradise. While they won't hesitate—especially not Dad—to express their disgust with those nasty gay people (and to glance nervously askance at their middle-aged bachelor son), of course none of that applies to their sweet nephew, whose situation they had long since grown accustomed to. Dad actually referred to the estranged partner: "He seemed like a nice guy."
It's all grotesquely inconsistent with everything they purport to believe, but it gives one hope that they're not completely insane.
Another of my nieces brought a new boyfriend with her, a young man brave enough to face the mob that is my family. He acquitted himself well at Christmas dinner and during the after-dinner social hour. After he left, however, Dad turned to Mom and said, "Boy, he's really not much to look at, is he?" Having been so much of a good boy for the better part of two days, I let a remark slip: "Gee, Dad, you're right. He's kind of plain. Too bad your granddaughter didn't concentrate on getting a knockout piece of eye candy. She should have given a lot more priority to looks." Mom raised her eyebrows and said nothing. Dad pretended not to hear me, so the opportunity for some wry banter slipped away.
Later we were assembled in the living room amidst a welter of gift-wrapping and discarded boxes. Some people had received DVDs as presents, which jogged Dad's memory about a promotion he had seen on the Discovery Channel for a school supplement (from the American Museum of Natural History) titled Understanding the Universe:
"I saw that and I lost my temper. What the hell do they mean, 'understanding the universe'? You can't understand the universe! Only God can do that. It would have been okay if they called it Trying to Understand the Universe. That would have been all right."
Yeah, that would be catchy. I'm sure that Trying Hopelessly to Understand the Universe Although You'll Fail Until and Unless You Die in a State of Grace and Jesus Himself Explains It to You in Heaven would be even better. (It's a wonder I didn't bite my tongue in two.) But Dad wasn't finished.
"That's the way scientists always are. They think they know everything! They say you can't get matter from nothing and then they come up with the Big Bang. What do they think that is? And they never talk about what came before the Big Bang, maybe because they're afraid if they look there they'll see God getting ready to create the universe! The scientists keep saying that there's no God when all you have to do is look around to see that there is!"
Ah, yes. Proof by credulous observation. Air-tight reasoning, that. Dad loves the word "always." He is the master of the categorical statement and prefers to deal in absolutes. He kept whining how every space mission was billed as a quest for the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything. (It's forty-two, Dad.) His cartoon image of science has its practitioners speaking a language that they never actually use: This is the answer. This is the ultimate solution. Sometimes he talks about how things have changed during his eighty years of life, but then he completely fails to recognize the progressive and incremental nature of scientific research and discovery.
It's like I've failed him in some crucial manner. He and I are so much alike in so many ways, but I absolutely cannot communicate with him about these things. Is it that I bite my tongue too much? That's actually more a symptom of exhaustion. I used to try much harder. He dismisses anything I say almost instantly. He retains none of my refutations of his faulty arguments and recycles his favorite fables word-for-word the next time he sees fit to dust them off. He doesn't rebut my arguments—he ignores them.
Christmas morning had been foggy, but it was bright and clear in the afternoon. Both of my parents were dismayed:
"That means it will be foggy in the morning," Mom said. Dad chimed in with his agreement. Bright sun in the afternoon was an infallible harbinger of morning fog. They were concerned because I would be traveling the next morning. I tried to set their minds at ease:
"But what if it's just the first clear day of a sunny streak?"
They looked at me as if I had lost my mind.
Two days at Mom & Dad's is about all I can handle without going insane. They keep the house too hot and all the windows are festooned with closed drapes. I can try to open them to get some natural light, but they're whisked shut again within seconds. (Some of the windows have both drapes and blinds, just to be doubly safe from actinic radiation. Do we spring from vampire stock?) Dad's hearing is bad (which he sometimes exploits to ignore arguments he'd rather not hear even when he was following a conversation perfectly adequately a moment before), so the television is always blaring (and always on). And the nuggets of wisdom come from an inexhaustible lode:
"Becky's going to have a girl. This man who's never wrong about these things told her."
"That's nice, Mom. He has a fifty-fifty chance of being right."
"Oh, no, he's much better than that. He's predicted sixty-one babies correctly."
"What? Out of one hundred and twenty? It's nonsense, Mom. I'm not going to swallow that kind of foolishness. You don't even know his name, do you?"
"Well, I don't, but he saw Becky and he could tell she's carrying a girl."
"From outside the mother, all babies look alike. He's got a fifty-fifty chance. If you really want to know the sex of your baby, talk to your doctor."
Mom got huffy: "Doctors don't know everything!"
"Yeah. But if they use a sonogram or amniocentesis, they can get right up there to ninety-plus accuracy."
Mom subsided at that, because she knew I was right about what doctors could do, but she was still scowling in irritation at my refusal to believe so well-attested a seer as the stranger who had spoken to her granddaughter. Exasperated, I said, "I swear, Mom, sometimes you are just like your mother."
I regretted it the moment I said it, true as it was. My late maternal grandmother was often the butt of family humor because of her total credulity, paranoia, and superstition. It was a palpable hit and my mother was wounded. I repented of my rebuke and quickly moved to more neutral territory.
Dad, fortunately, was not at a loss. He wanted to crow about the huge jump in holiday retail sales:
"The liberal media kept saying it would be a bad year because it's a bad economy. Shows you what all those so-called experts know! Holiday retail sales are up fifteen percent!"
My father does not smoke dope or use other hallucinogenic drugs (apart from listening to Rush Limbaugh too much), so I was puzzled how he had come up with a conclusion that was so clearly wrong. Even the Wall Street Journal agrees that this has not been a stellar holiday season for retailers. Sifting through the evidence turned up a clue: Internet sales are up. More people are buying more stuff on-line. Even that increase, however, was not as sharp as in past years. Dad's mental filters had successfully seized on the one sector of the retail market that showed significant gains and happily touted it as if it were representative of the whole. My father needs to get a better grip on synecdoche. (I'm still not sure where he picked up the "fifteen percent" claim.)
The tacked-on bittersweet feel-good ending
Late on Christmas night, my parents sound asleep in their room in accordance with their early-to-bed philosophy, I dug out my laptop and reached out to the world I know. I plugged it into their hinky old phone line and managed to get on-line via a dial-up connection. I've never managed to achieve 56 Kbps down on the farm. This time it was an anemic 24.6 Kbps. It didn't matter. I was back in touch again. I painfully waited for my e-mail to appear. Fortunately, I had not missed any deadlines for mail-order degrees or herbal supplements for sexual potency (nor had any of my friends written me). I even waited for the front page of Pharyngula to download, where I was treated to a message by PZ berating anyone for being on-line on Christmas (due, no doubt, to the holiness of the occasion). My thirst temporarily slaked, I logged off.
As I tiptoed through the darkened house to my bedroom, I was feeling somewhat better. Then it occurred to me how unusual everything was. How many people my age still have both parents and can visit them in the same home in which they grew up? Sure, it doesn't much feel like home to me anymore, but it surrounds me with reminders and images from my childhood. Mom & Dad are both quite healthy and still married to each other after more than fifty years. I'm going to miss it when it's gone. How much longer can it last?
I ended up making one small resolution, although I usually don't bother with such year-end nonsense. I'm going to count my blessings. And, although I often feel contempt for the views and contradictions that my parents dispense so readily, I will not feel contempt for them.
A holiday postscript
My niece Becky delivered her child after the first of the new year. It turned out to be a boy. So much for the man who is "never wrong" and his confident prediction of a girl. His failure pleases me more than it probably should.
Posted by Zeno at 10:00 PM 4 comments:
Labels: family, logic, politics, religion, spin
Tony goes to Rome
Accept no substitutes?
Look, I'm the bloody Pope!
—His Holiness John Cleese
The rumors have been around for years, so no one is expressing much surprise at the news that former British prime minister Tony Blair has been received into the Roman Catholic Church. He bided his time until he was a private citizen again, presumably because it would have been awkward to leave his nation's established church while serving as its chief executive. I presume that the transition was not particularly traumatic, especially as high-church Anglicanism is simply Catholicism Lite. As an Anglican prelate once ingratiatingly said to the host of one of those PBS travel shows, the Church of England offers the best of both worlds: an amalgam of Protestant thought and Catholic universalism. Well, maybe.
Last year I had occasion to sit through a ceremony in an Episcopal church. For those of you who don't follow such things, the Episcopal Church is the American branch of Anglicanism. Except, of course, for those Episcopal dioceses that have seceded from the Anglican communion over such hot-button issues as gay clergy and the ordination of women. Some breakaway Episcopalians have gone whole-hog into rebellion by signing up as Roman Catholics, which church adamantly refuses holy orders to women and allows gay men to become priests only if they keep silent about it (or discreetly limit their attention to altar boys). Others have been shifting their allegiance to a dissident South American bishop in lieu of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the mainstream Anglican communion.
In looking around the Episcopal church, I noticed many traditionally Catholic features, such as the Stations of the Cross displayed on the walls, the celebrant's vestments, and the raised altar. There was a large cross suspended in the front of the church, over the altar, but it was simply a cross, not a crucifix. The key distinction is the presence or absence of a Christ figure on the cross. Catholics use a crucifix as a reminder of the crucifixion and the commemoration of that sacrifice in the rituals of the mass. Protestants generally prefer that the Christ figure be absent from the cross in token of his purported resurrection. To the observant eye, there were plenty of clues that it wasn't really a Catholic church, especially since the traditional priestly vestments were being worn by a woman.
I picked up the Book of Common Prayer and paged through it. It contained a lot of special feast days, similar to what one might find in a Catholic missal. One thing, however, particularly struck me. The Episcopalian feast days celebrated the holy lives of at least three Roman Catholic popes. The book didn't call them that, of course, but there they were: Fabian (January 20), Gregory the Great (March 12), and Leo the Great (November 10). Each one is described in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer as "Bishop of Rome," which is indeed one of the most important papal titles. Nevertheless, I suspect these men would be surprised to find themselves cited in the prayer book of a church that is not in communion with the papal see in Rome. While the papal office was still evolving in Fabian's time, certainly both Leo and Gregory would have had no doubts about the matter. Both would not have hesitated to question the stinting honor accorded them in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and would have enthusiastically agreed with the words of the divine John Cleese, as he portrayed the pope in the "Penultimate Supper" skit: "Look, I'm the bloody Pope, I am!"
It must be awkward to belong to a religion whose raison d'être is the dissolution of an unhappy king's marriage. That said, no one should expect religions to be established on sensible grounds. They're systems of belief rather than systems of knowledge. Richard Feynman once recounted his experience at trying to pick holes in the religious practices of highly observant Jews of his acquaintance, only to discover that they had heard it all before and were prepared with detailed "refutations" of every objection he raised. It's notable that they did not convert him and inspire Feynman to reclaim the Jewish faith of his forefathers, for their arguments were defensive armor rather than effective recruitment tools. Feynman saw it as mind games rather than as genuine logical reasoning.
Episcopalians have long since come to terms with the exceedingly human elements in their church's origin. In making his transition to Catholicism, Tony Blair will now have one less minor embarrassment to deal with, since Catholicism can claim it has less tendency to compromise with the ways of the world. If Blair is going to bother to be a believing Christian, he may as well imbibe it neat, without any watering down. That, however, is making a virtue of unbending dogma, and too many people still think that's a good way to go. The former prime minister of Britain is now one of those people.
Posted by Zeno at 1:00 PM 3 comments:
Labels: Catholicism, politics, religion
On watching The Golden Compass
Twice so far
Although last weekend was officially dedicated to the debut of Will Smith's I Am Legend: A Zombie Christmas, I chose instead to take in a second viewing of The Golden Compass. While it's fun to poke a finger in the eye of Bill Donohue and his boycott of the movie, I had some purer motives as well. Despite a mixed bag of reviews, I found it extremely enjoyable and simply wanted to see it again.
Many of the less enthusiastic reviewers found the movie disjointed and confusing. Was it really necessary to have read Philip Pullman's book first? If so, then the movie does not stand on its own and fails as an independent cinematic experience. I had read the books of His Dark Materials and thought everything in the movie fell into place rather well. On seeing it a second time, I made a point of watching more critically, and I think I have a clue why some people find it bewildering.
Although The Golden Compass is carefully crafted to hang together, it's the kind of movie that requires us to pay a little attention. Perhaps more than people are wont to give these days. The viewers most likely to fall into confusion are those who neither read the book nor gave the movie their full attention. Things move quickly most of the time. If a movie is mostly an opportunity to munch popcorn and gossip with friends, then it helps to choose a movie whose entertainment value is spectacle driven and not plot dependent. While it has its spectacular episodes, The Golden Compass is not a popcorn-chewing movie.
The opening narration jump-starts the movie by making it clear we're on an alternate Earth where people's souls exist outside their bodies in the form of animal companions called daemons. While playing at war with her companions, Lyra scornfully cites touching another's daemon with bare hands as an uncouth violation, at which all the children recoil in horror. Soon thereafter, while rooting about in the retiring room, Pantalaimon reminds Lyra that he fears she'll be caught and smacked, in which case he'll also feel the pain. No one has any cause to be confused or surprised when Lyra passes out during the scene in Bolvanger as the Gobblers seize her daemon, or when Mrs. Coulter wrings her hand in pain in the earlier scene where Lyra slams a window down on the hand of Coulter's monkey daemon.
The major threads of Lyra's world are reinforced in unforced repetition. Other items, interesting but not key to the plot, are passed over without comment. The power supplies that drive Mrs. Coulter's dirigible and Mr. Scoresby's aerostat are rendered in effective CGI, but no one comments on them. They don't drive the narrative and no time is spent discussing them. In fact, there are relatively few lectures in The Golden Compass, despite several opportunities for characters to prate at each other for our benefit about things that all the characters already know. Even Lord Asriel's discourse on dust at Jordan College is mercifully terse, and Mrs. Coulter's explanation to Lyra of the Magisterium's function is wonderfully straightforward in its saccharine simplicity ("they tell people what to do").
Nicole Kidman is the ideal Marisa Coulter. Sleek and icy in her portrayal of Pullman's archvillainess, Kidman lets slip Coulter's thin veneer of sprightly affability whenever the target of Coulter's regard needs to see the dangerous steel that lurks just below the surface. No wonder Pullman begged her to take the role.
I've seen it said that the movie's plot is threadbare, but what is wrong with the theme of resistance against a despotic authority? This is a most timely message. In the character of Mrs. Coulter we also get to see the hypocrisy and internal inconsistency of authoritarian regimes: obedience of the rules and conformity to the standards are for others, not for those in charge. Mrs. Coulter is as impulsive and willful as she wants others not to be.
The world depicted in The Golden Compass has heft and solidity. It projects an alternate reality. Is it Pullman's reality? Many aficionados of the novels are dismayed that the cinematic incarnation of the first book has been toned down—even perhaps, bereft of its soul by a kind of literary intercision. The churchly aspects of the Magisterium are played down, making the movie less anticlerical than the books. Only one of the children victimized by the Gobblers is depicted after his intercision, and even in that case his friends and family insist they will find a way to restore him (although in the books such children pine away hopelessly and we see one die).
These things don't really matter. If Philip Pullman can endure them, so can I. The Golden Compass is a treat and worthy of one's attention, but only one's attention can make it the experience it should be.
Labels: atheism, liberty, movies
Marching with King
Eric Kleefeld at Talking Points Memo has a comment about Mitt Romney's recent kerfuffle over whether his father actually marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. At first it appeared that Mitt was just talking through his hat. Now it appears possible that his recollection was correct. Is it all settled? Not exactly. Even if it were, however, Kleefeld remains puzzled:
There's one lingering question, though: If the facts do vindicate Mitt Romney on this one—and at first glance, this looks legit—why did he handle it so awkwardly and ineptly right off the bat? Why all the parsing about what the word "saw" meant, and the business about "march with" being figurative?
Ooh! Ooh! I know the answer to this one!
Mitt Romney tried to pump up his political heritage by claiming that George Romney participated in civil rights marches with Martin Luther King, Jr. When corroborating evidence seemed thin or nonexistent, Romney believed he had misspoken. As a quintessential politician, Romney can't allow himself to say he was wrong. That would be wrong! No, he was merely using figurative speech. That's not a lie! That's not a mistake! It's just painting an image with words. See? How pretty and inspirational!
However this all thrashes out, whether George Romney really marched with King or didn't, his son stands revealed as a word-parser of the first order. (And here we thought he was just a conscienceless opportunist.) If Mitt Romney becomes the GOP nominee for president, will the Republicans have to refrain from dredging up accusations of Democratic hairsplitting in the tradition of Bill Clinton and a certain White House intern?
I'm guessing not.
Posted by Zeno at 10:30 AM No comments:
Labels: politics, spin
Why wait till it's too late?
Big surprise. The Bush version of the Environmental Protection Agency (the name being of only historical significance) has told California not to fight air pollution too diligently. The EPA is denying the state's long-stalled application for a waiver from federal automobile emissions guidelines. California and several other states wanted permission to enact more stringent standards than the timid guidelines the Bush administration is willing to support. First the Bush EPA sat on the request, shrugging its shoulders and saying it didn't have the power to regulate (or allow others to regulate) greenhouse gas emissions. Then, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled otherwise, the Bush administration simply hunkered down and refused to do it (or allow anyone else to do it).
Governor Schwarzenegger has jawboned President Bush on state pollution standards and threatened court action. Now that our brave president has terminated Arnold's petition, a lawsuit might seem the only remedy. As reported by Micheline Maynard in The New York Times,
Wednesday's E.P.A. ruling now raises the question of whether the states will sue the agency in order to force it to allow them to set emissions standards. Even if that happens, the states probably would not be able to implement the standards as soon as they had liked. Any legal action might not be settled in time for the regulations to begin taking effect in 2009, as California had hoped.
But I have a remedy.
We all know that 2009 is the magical year in which we will be rid of George Bush, although the toxic impact of his tenure will linger for decades, stinking up the pages of U.S. history. The new president who takes office on January 20, 2009, will have his (or her) work cut out for him (or her) by the mess George leaves behind. Nevertheless, I can think of a way that the proposed new emissions standards for California (and several other states) can indeed take effect in 2009, just as planned.
The abiding problem is that the federal government cannot turn on a dime. It moves ponderously even under competent leadership, let alone under the current kakistocracy. It takes months to write regulations, review them, and implement them. George Bush and his cronies are counting on that, expecting much of their wrecking crew's work to survive well into the new president's administration.
Not necessarily. There are plenty of environmentally conscious people with prior experience in all levels of government—including service in the upper reaches of the Environmental Protection Agency, back when it lived up to its name—who know exactly what needs to be done and how to do it. A presidential candidate who is serious about environmental issues could pull together a task force of such professionals and create a "shadow" EPA, working unofficially on the paperwork necessary to permit Bush's successor to make the new rules effective in the first week of the new presidential term. Just as British party leaders have the assistance of shadow ministers while out of office, serving as sources of expertise (and future cabinet ministers after a successful election campaign), a bold American presidential candidate could seize the environmental initiative from the lame-duck Bush administration by pledging quick action on air emissions standards.
I'm not talking about some discreet behind-the-scenes preparation for future presidential initiatives. I mean that Clinton, Obama, or Edwards (or all of them) should make a point of naming a shadow minister for EPA matters and assign that person the task of greasing all the skids for an immediate implementation in January 2009 of waivers for the states that wish to go beyond federal standards. In the meantime, the states lined up with California can proceed with their plans, contingent on the 2009 approval of their waivers. Everyone should proceed full speed ahead, ready to seize the opportunity the moment it is provided.
Let's prepare for instantaneous repudiation of the Bush legacy on the first day of the new president's term. We want to clear the air!
Posted by Zeno at 6:30 PM No comments:
At this RATE
High-speed creationism
The monthly newsletter of the Institute for Creation Research is always a treasure trove of human perversity. ICR is devoted to the notion that a supreme being cooked up the university in six literal days about 6,000 years ago. That's an awfully small container into which to stuff the planet's history. The December 2007 issue of Acts & Facts takes another shot at it.
Many radioisotopes have half-lives of millions or billions of years. The presence of their decay products on our planet give us the opportunity to measure how long they've been in existence. The conclusion is inescapable—the earth is billions of years old—unless, of course, the scientists are all wrong about the half-lives. Working backward from their assumption that Genesis is literally true, ICR's "creation scientists" have figured out that radioactive decay has had periods of enormous acceleration.
ICR's vehicle for "proving" the earth's youth is its RATE project (Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth). Larry Vardiman frequently writes about RATE. His article in the December 2007 Acts & Facts is titled RATE in Review: Unresolved Problems. Vardiman draws out attention to three such problems:
The RATE project found that:
A large amount of radioactive decay has occurred in earth history.
Nuclear decay processes were accelerated during episodes in earth history.
Conventional radioisotopic dates are therefore incorrect by large factors.
These findings led to the major conclusion that the earth is thousands–not billions–of years old. However, RATE left three unresolved problems concerning theology, heat, and radiation.
As explained by Vardiman, the theological problem is especially delicious:
The Theological Problem
The use of the term "accelerated decay" for nuclear processes during the Creation Week seems to create an apparent conflict for some people with the statement given by God in Genesis 1:31: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." The RATE project was able to show that accelerated decay occurred during the Genesis Flood, but this was not sufficient to explain all the observed daughter products in rocks, such as lead. The production of lead by accelerated decay during the first three days of the Creation Week could explain this, but that would introduce the concept of "decay" during this period that was stated by God to be "very good."
Dear, dear. A damned difficult problem. But the second problem is greater!
The Heat Problem
Of greater concern to both supporters and skeptics of the RATE project is the issue of how to dispose of the tremendous quantities of heat generated by accelerated decay during the Genesis Flood. The amount of heat produced by a decay rate of a million times faster than normal during the year of the Flood could potentially vaporize the earth's oceans, melt the crust, and obliterate the surface of the earth. The RATE group is confident that the accelerated decay they discovered was not only caused by God, but that the necessary removal of heat was also superintended by Him as well. Dr. Russell Humphreys, a member of the RATE group, has suggested one possible mechanism that may explain this dilemma. He has found evidence, both scientific and scriptural, that cooling of the earth by the expansion of the cosmos may have occurred simultaneously with the heat produced by accelerated decay.
Where exactly is the problem? If God is rigging the game, he can whisk the extra heat away with a snap of his fingers. Despite their faith in an omnipotent God, the ICR folks insist on trying to find science-type explanations for miracles. It's not exactly necessary, but they're desperate to appear scientific.
The third problem is the best one: How did Noah avoid radiation poisoning?
The Radiation Problem
Another consideration is how Noah and his family could have survived the massive dose of radiation unleashed during the Flood. It is likely that the humans aboard the Ark would have been protected from most of the radiation occurring on the surface of the earth by the water covering the planet. It is common knowledge that water absorbs radiation, and an average of 8,000 feet of water covering the earth would have made a very effective shield. However, some have expressed concern that a radioactive element like potassium-40 that is present in the human body may have produced radiation within Noah's body itself.
Poor old Noah, quick-cooked by the accelerated decay of the isotopes in his own body (probably exacerbated by the glowing bodies of his family members and everything else in the ark).
Never fear: The brave creation scientists of ICR are on the job. Vardiman tells us the next step: "Evidence for accelerated decay in meteorites has been identified as one of the most important research projects for the future."
"Evidence," he says. I can hardly wait.
Labels: creationism, Institute for Creation Research, science
A turn of the phrase
Issues of great pith and moment were in play. It was a meeting of the faculty senate and my colleagues were discussing the process by which hiring priorities were set by the college. Some professors were piqued that a few senators didn't bother showing up for senate meetings except when their own departments were trying to get authorization to hire new or replacement faculty. They're scarce when less glamorous issues are on the agenda and there's work to be done. One senator attempted to summarize the general sense of the assembly:
"It's a craw in our side!"
My ears pricked up and I twisted in my seat to see the speaker. Oh, good. It wasn't an English professor. But at least now I had something with which to entertain myself while my fellow educators droned on.
What had my colleague intended? I believe he had inadvertently crafted a chimerical amalgam of St. Paul's "thorn in the flesh" (so frequently rendered as a "thorn in one's side") and the phrase "sticks in one's craw." It's perfect: We don't know the nature of Paul's thorn and no one in these urbanized days knows what a craw is. The two pieces fit together by virtue of both being obscure, their fuzzy edges allowing my colleague to unconsciously merge them.
Then someone suggested we look at the by-laws to see what we could do about absentee senators and the moment was over.
Posted by Zeno at 8:00 PM 1 comment:
Labels: language
Missing the mark
"What score do I need on the final to pass the class?"
'Tis the season to wake up and realize that all is not as it should be. Students who missed the drop deadline are coming to class and anxiously asking me what they can do to salvage their grades. Since they are not amused by answers involving time machines and reconstructions of their past, I usually just give them the straight dope:
"You can pass the class if you get 124% on the final exam."
"Okay. How do I do that?"
"You can't."
"Then how do I pass the class?"
"Well, can I get some extra credit?"
It's not always so stark, though. Some of my lagging students have at least a theoretical shot at a passing grade, although it usually means getting a better score on the final exam than they have ever managed on any previous math exam. When I post the final exam target scores for the students' information, I always wonder whether that knowledge is actually useful. How does a student use the information that she needs a final exam score of 84% in order to earn a C in the class? Does she redouble her efforts, or does she get discouraged? What about the student who discovers he needs only 43% on the final exam in order to earn that C? Does he get happy—or dangerously lazy?
That last example is real. I had a student in one of my algebra classes several years ago who examined the most recently posted grade distribution and discovered he could coast to a C with a final exam score of 43%. On the day of the final, "Bob" swaggered in, set pencil to paper, and scribbled rapidly for several minutes. Having filled in solutions for the exercises in the first half of the exam, Bob strolled up to the front of the classroom, dropped it in front of me, and headed for the door. We still had over ninety minutes left in the two-hour exam period.
I followed him out the door.
"Bob, are you sure you're done?"
"Oh, yeah. I only need to do half the exam to get my C."
"No, Bob, you need to get half the final right to get your C. We still have plenty of time for you to do more."
"That's okay. I did enough."
And off he went.
You can anticipate what happened next. I graded his final exam and his score turned out to be 42%. Not the 43% minimum required for him to get C, but only 42%. No, I did not go out of my way to screw the foolish kid over. I graded his final exam in a batch with all of the others, using the same rubric uniformly for everyone.
As is my habit, I regrade the finals of all students who end up teetering on the cusp between two grades, just to double-check. Given that Bob had left half the pages blank, his final was particularly easy to regrade. If anything, I had been a bit generous. I could make a case for giving him 41% instead of 42%, but there was nothing on which to base an argument that 43% was justified (unless I gave him more partial credit on certain mistakes than I had given anyone else). There was, of course, absolutely no rethinking required regarding the blank pages.
In Bob's case, his knowledge of the magic number had prompted him to try his hand at target shooting. He needed 43%? Okay, he'd try for 50%, just to give himself a little margin. But this sort of "precision exam-taking" is more than risky business—it's damned foolishness. He would have been better off not knowing.
His phone calls started within hours of the posting of the semester grades. Please, could he just do another page of the final? Could he retake the final? Did I offer any extra credit? Would I let him take someone else's algebra final and substitute that score for the one he had earned on my exam?
No, no, no, and no.
It was not the happiest of lessons, although I hope it was learned.
Labels: learning, math, teaching, weird students
College Christians accomplish coup
Subtle as serpents
One of my former students is a full-time math professor in Sacramento. We stay in touch and I usually enjoy talking shop with him. Math teaching, however, was not the topic of our conversation the last time we got together. He handed me a copy of the latest edition of his school's newspaper (American River College's Current) and said, "Here, you take it. I don't want it." The headline emblazoned across the front page told the story: My friend's college has been taken over by a right-wing Christian coup. Well, sort of:
Christians sweep SA elections
Bloc could take 9 of 10 seats if results are ratified
By Matthew Gerring
It's not completely official yet, but early results indicate nine out of the 10 candidates elected in the recent Student Association election are members of the former Christian Civilization Club.
The near-sweep is historical in that representatives generally are elected as individuals, rather than as a bloc.
Members of the former club, known for hosting a booth in the Library Quad denouncing Islam, organized an electoral campaign promoting club members, candidates who were on the CCC mailing list, or candidates who ascribed [sic] to the principles of the Christian Civilization Club.
Some of this sounds familiar. Several college campuses, including my own, were treated in recent weeks to "Islamo-fascist Awareness Week." As noted by The Current, the Christian Civilization Club was an eager participant in the days when it was an officially recognized campus organization. Apparently the resignation of CCC's faculty advisor (and its inability to find a new sponsor) cost the organization its academic standing. Perhaps that was the impetus for the club's behind-the-scenes campaign to take over the Student Association.
The group "targeted especially Christians," according to Yuriy Popko, a member of the former club.
"We basically consider ourselves Christians, so we go to our base," said Popko.
That base includes both Christian students and ethnic communities on campus that closely identify with the Christian community, including Slavic and Romanian students. "The communities are close-knit," Popko said.
While the former club members distributed literature on campus, they also asked representatives supported by their campaign to go [to] their respective churches to campaign.
The community of Slavic Christians in the Sacramento region has drawn some attention because it contains a core of virulently anti-gay activists. One is awaiting trial related to the death of Satender Singh in a capital city park, while another reportedly fled to Russia. If the CCC went to those churches seeking support, it was appealing to groups suffused with an extremist element.
When asked about a specific agenda, Popko said, "We [the coalition put together by the CCC] haven't discussed that yet." Popko, however, did say one of his goals was to pass a bill of rights protecting students from bias on campus. He added, "on campus ... I would call it a liberal bias."
The other former member club member elected to the Student Association, Dennis Choban, listed his goals on his Student Association application form. They included "removing humanistic bias from certain courses (such as evolution science), and encouraging live discussion of nontraditional views in all classes."
Nontraditional? Actually, Choban sounds very traditional—for perhaps the 15th century.
The Current reporter, however, had a good counterpoint for Popko and Choban's vision of a non-humanistic future for their college:
This goal may not mesh with reality, however.
"Students do not have the right to determine curriculum," said Student Association President Lou Martinson. He elaborated that though representatives can propose programs and new classes, they have no binding power.
Spring semester is going to provide the CCC bloc with an unpleasant educational experience. While it may be able to use its new Student Association majority to insist that Martinson appoint people from its ranks to the student slots on college committees, a single CCC student representative on the curriculum committee is not going to be enough to write creation science into the anthropology and biology syllabi. The same will be true on any other college committee where the CCC tries to advance its theocratic mission.
Furthermore, The Current reports that the CCC bet all its chips on a special election for half-terms on the Student Association governing board. The newly elected student senators will serve for only one semester before the college student body is asked to elect new representatives. If, as seems likely, the CCC overplays its weak hand, the next SA election will not be susceptible to the stealthy come-to-Jesus campaign that swept these narrow sectarians into office. More mellow Christian groups on campus may well come to resent the CCC's insistence on its own highly particular approach to their supposedly common faith. Secular students, of course, should now be fully awake to the CCC's eagerness to stifle their voices.
I'm expecting regular reports from the front as the battle rages during the 2008 spring semester. I just hope that my friend doesn't do anything to get himself listed on the Report Your Liberal Professor page of the Christian Civilization Club's unhinged website. You might want to check it out yourself, and don't miss the videos of the club's disruptive campus activities—of which I am sure they are very proud.
Coming soon to a campus near you? God forbid!
Posted by Zeno at 10:00 PM 10 comments:
Labels: creationism, education, extremism, religion, spin
The God one-two punch
Blessings from down low
Today was a special day. A blessed day. The first item was a Christmas card from my brother's family. I see my sister-in-law's hand in the selection of this year's missive:
Our Faith in God
and the love we share
with one another—
these are the things
that mean the most.
May Christmas
remind you
of all the things
that really
The card was also inscribed with a Bible verse: "The LORD bless you and keep you..." (Numbers 6:24). An explanatory note says the quote is taken from the New International Version. The NIV? What is my Catholic sister-in-law doing with Protestant greeting cards? I am shocked.
I'm also just a bit amused that she thinks it's a good card to share with an unchurched family member.
The second item appeared in my e-mail. This was a holiday greeting from a cousin. She jammed my in-box with a huge message consisting of fifteen pictures of Jesus Christ (all of them kitschy, like the one below) and a "test," which I promptly flunked:
I scored 100. I'm not ashamed
He is the only one that can save this country and they want him removed from the government. Our great nation will not stand if we delete HIM from all aspects of our government as the atheists want.
Jesus Test
This is an easy test, you score 100 or zero. It's your choice. If you aren't ashamed to do this, please follow the directions.
Jesus said, "if you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father."
Not ashamed Pass this on . . . only if you mean it.
Yes, I do Love God.
He is my source of existence and Savior.
He keeps me functioning each and everyday.
Without Him, I will be nothing.
Without Him, I am nothing but with Him I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Phil 4:13
This is the simplest test . . . If you Love God, and are not ashamed of all the marvelous things he has done for you. Send this to ten people.
Yes, it's Jesus junk mail. Spam ten people you know with a chain letter for the greater glory of God. What greater love is there than the stuffing of one's mail box?
Perhaps I should go shopping for some nice holiday greetings cards that feature atheism as a theme. Cheery unbelief to you, too!
Labels: family, religion
God screws up again
My personal miracle misfires
I was scanning the AM radio dial while driving into town. The local Catholic radio station popped up and I discovered it was broadcasting the audio of The Journey Home, a television program devoted to the stories of converts to Catholicism. Sometimes boring, sometimes fascinating, host Marcus Grodi was entertaining listeners with tales recounted by former atheists who were now Roman Catholics. One of the former atheists was now a priest. Quite a switch! One even used to be a homosexual (or so he says). That's also quite a switch.
Father Jay Scott Newman had a nice story about two boys who were childhood friends who drifted apart as they grew up, one eventually rising to the position of archbishop while the other descended into drug addiction and despair. Newman described the depths of the addict's hopelessness, until he had an epiphany on the verge of committing suicide with a deliberate overdose. The despairing man suddenly cried out:
"God made me to love him and serve him in this life and to be happy with him in the next!"
"That was the last thing he had to cling to," said Father Newman, "and it saved his life."
In his hour of need, the junkie had dragged an old Baltimore catechism response from the depths of his childhood memories.
"And it was enough," gushed Grodi. "Praise God for catechism!"
A nice story. Possibly even true. I have no special reason to doubt it. Just as some people find meaning and significance in Scientology, astrology, or fad diets, the protagonist in this morality tale found his anchor in rote-memorized responses from the religious training (or programming) of his youth. It could work.
I was not especially impressed. I knew Father Newman would not be sharing the story if the addict had gotten a grip on himself by shouting, "I am a rational man and I will behave rationally!" In brief, the message of The Journey Home was being lost on me.
Then, however, Marcus Grodi seemed to sense that I was listening. Perhaps he got a word of knowledge from God himself. However it happened, Grodi asked the priest to speak to me:
"Father, I'd like to ask you to first of all end with a prayer and a blessing, and particularly we're thinking of any who might be watching who might be an atheist, who maybe was brought up in the faith and happens to be watching."
Damn! I was an atheist. I was brought up in Catholicism. I was listening. Damn! Of course, I'm not sure about the canonical validity of a blessing delivered via a taped broadcast—but they were clearly on to me! Father Newman was about to zap me with a special blessing. But Grodi suddenly intervened. Turning to his other guests, he said,
"Before you do that, any quick final words from either of the two of you with a word of encouragement for one of those folks who might be watching?"
As the other guests begin to babble some closing remarks, I arrived at my destination and pulled into a parking structure. The radio transmission cut off as I passed inside. No blessing. No divine intervention.
Stupid God.
Labels: atheism, Catholicism, religion


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Super Recaps: Lovecraft Country – Episode 10 (Full Circle) FINALE
Lovecraft Country is owned by HBO
Directed by Nelson McCormick
It's been quiet the wild ride, but it's time for us to say goodbye to this smartly written, wackily executed, and strangely put together show. The final episode is upon us and with so much at stake for our heroes, will they manage to survive whatever challenge they face, or will this tangled web of ideas and plot threads fail to come together in a satisfying way? There's only one way to find out, so let's get started!!
With this being the final episode (no word yet on if this well get a second season), there's not as much to build up and discuss as there are things to pay off and bring to a conclusion, so for this I'm going to change up the style a bit and tell you right now what I think. I'm… conflicted. Bold statement, I know, but as much as I've struggled to get on the same wavelength of this show in some of the previous episodes, I just feel like I'm too far out of the loop for it to work for me. How much of it is my whiteness and privilege butting up against a series primarily created and aimed at a different audience with its own perspective? How much of it is the show's already troubled pacing and narrative coming to a head as it tries to tie everything up? Is it just a disappointing ending or one that's SUPPOSED to leave me feeling empty and tired? I'm not sure the answer to any of those questions, but the bottom line is that from my point of view the show doesn't end on a bang but on a squib as things definitely DO happen that wrap up the story but none of it feels particularly cathartic and it's all muddled with the show still trying to explain itself up until the last minute. I'd be hard pressed to say if I'd be any more confused watching this episode if I HADN'T closely watched the previous ones leading up to this point because it's lore has been a tangled mess from the beginning with the whole Sons of Adam thing being its biggest bugbear, and there's nothing else the show has left to do but try and wrangle all of that into something watchable. Giving it as much benefit of the doubt as I can, I understand the EMOTIONAL beats of the episode, the importance of a lot of its decisions, and how it could definitely work for someone else, but for me I found the mechanics of it all poorly explained, the lessons to be somewhat suspect, and the ending particularly dour in a way that the rest of the show really hasn't been even at its. It's not the note that I personally would have wanted it to go out on, but perhaps what I would have wanted would have missed the point entirely.
So let's get into it. First and foremost, they manage to cure Diana (Jada Harris) using the Book of Names, but her arm is permanently damaged from the curse. Considering that her prognosis was death before now I'd definitely call it a win, but Diana feels less so and is particularly upset with her mother Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis) for leaving her the way that she did. It's unclear exactly how much time passed between her stepping into the time portal in Episode 7 and coming back in Episode 9 (nor is it explained why she couldn't come back to our dimension mere moments after she left since we're dealing with TIME TRAVEL), but this is example of the execution not quite living up to the themes. There's a genuinely good idea here about the conflict between self-fulfillment and sacrificing yourself for your family. Hippolyta, at least for a little while, chose to work on herself and become a stronger person and in doing so Diana ended up paying the price. You can't exactly BLAME Hippolyta for it, but the cops wouldn't have put the curse on Diana if it wasn't for Hippolyta's actions at the observatory and now she has to find a way to make it up to her. The problem is in HOW she makes it up to her, but we're going to put a pin in that one because that's tied into the end, so hold onto that!
The other thing that happens with the Book of Names is that both Atticus and Leti (Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett) fall into some sort of coma as soon as the book opens, and they find themselves… somewhere. The mechanics are very vague, but the point is not as Atticus sees Hannah (his ancestor who stole the book in the first place) and Leti sees Granny from the last episode. It's an ABSURDLY long exposition dump and it just feels like they ran out of time to tell this story so they had the show stop, put a few characters in the Phantom Zone, and just talked until we were all caught up to speed. To try and break it down, Hannah created a spell that could "fix" everything and "save" everybody. Atticus is then sent to meet his mother where he worries about having to die (supposedly Christina will kill him in Ardham on the night of the Autumnal Equinox) to as the book predicted, and while I don't agree with the discussion here, it's where I start to wonder if I'm just not the kind of person meant to understand it. It's heartbreaking to see Atticus scared about dying, but his mother telling him that it's worth dying if it means sacrificing yourself for something important. I can understand the sentiment and there is no shortage of characters I DO like who make that kind of hard decision… but I guess the difference is that a character is being TALKED INTO IT rather than making that decision on his own. His mother says that if we're not willing to die for a great purpose than what IS our purpose, and I'm just thinking… isn't living enough of a purpose on its own? Isn't being there to raise your son and love your significant other a good enough life? It especially doesn't help that we STILL do not have a clear idea of what Christina (Abbey Lee) hopes to gain from this and if it will mean the destruction of the world or the death of anyone he cares about. If he and his family were to run away and hide, Christina couldn't complete her immortality spell which is almost as good as outright STOPPING her, and it means that Atticus gets to live! Where I feel like perhaps I don't get it because of who I am and my privilege it's when his mother says that life has taught her how we believe we have a choice when we really don't, and I guess that would definitely be true for all minorities in this country. I am at the principle of privilege because I am a white man, and I don't have to deal with avenues being closed off, roads being inaccessible, and choices being impossible in any significant way, so perhaps this show embracing that to serve a great purpose which is what Atticus will supposedly do if he casts this spell that will "fix" everything is an empowering message for people who aren't me, but I'm just kind of grasping at straws here to try and understand what's going on and what the show is trying to say.
Leti and Atticus eventually learn how to cast the spell from within The Phantom Zone and when they wake up they know what they have to do which I will try to explain here. Basically, for reasons that are self-evident, the spell requires a piece of Atticus, Christina, and Titus Braithwhite; the father of Hannah's child and man who has most assuredly been dead for over a hundred years. Atticus and Leti go back to that underground cave from the treasure hunt episode, and they summon Titus's ghost to steal a piece of his flesh. Simple enough I suppose, but the whole scene involves lots of chanting, more than one ghost as Atticus's mom, Hannah, and Granny appear to chant, and Atticus taking a knife to the flesh of this corporeal ghost to take a piece. Honestly considering the way this thing ends it's not too hard to comprehend, but again the show hasn't done a great job of explaining how its lore works and so I have no idea what the chanting is supposed to do, why they needed extra ghost help, and why Atticus being able to tear the flesh off of a ghost means he has the man's living DNA to cast the spell. Perhaps the least of the show's problems, but it makes it hard for me to get into the DRAMA of the scene when I don't know the stakes, challenges, or even relative strength of those involved.
Again, this show is not without its merits but perhaps what I ended up enjoying about this show most is also what continues to prove that I'm just not the right kind of person to be commenting on it. Christina gets wind of them having the Book of Names, so she drops by to offer a deal. Give her the Book of Names, and she will go along her merry way without ever bothering them again. After all, she won't need Atticus's blood if she has the book, right? Well of course Christina's offer cannot be trusted which Atticus susses out immediately, and despite getting a very clear out for himself, he tells her no, and like any white lady who doesn't get exactly what she wants she lashes out; in this case by taking away the invulnerability spell she put on Leti. It's a great scene that gives us a clear indication that despite whatever charms she may have or however much "above it all" she claims to be, she's powerful, she's dangerous, and most of all she's selfish which feels a bit necessary to REALLY hammer home considering where this is all headed. I'm still not sure what the heck the point was for her to put herself thru Emmett Till's death back in Episode 8, but for the most part she's been one of the more consistently interesting characters on the show for me; due in no small part to her relationship to Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku) which is ALSO really interesting in this episode. Essentially, things are coming to a head and Leti makes it clear to Ruby that she can't sit on the fence any longer; that she's either with her family or with Christina. Ruby, having this power that has been denied to her for so long and to be able to freely live her life the way she wants to, is far from happy about this ultimatum, and it's especially bitter because once again Leti is coming to her asking for help; to do something FOR Leti because that's always been the case. So what is it that Leti wants her to do? She wants Ruby to get some of Christina's DNA; some blood, some hair, something they can use to complete the spell now that they have Titus's flesh. The scene of Ruby back at her and Christina's place is fantastic drama as you don't know where things are headed or what Ruby is thinking. On the one hand, she wants what she wants and Christina has been nothing but a source of power and hope for Ruby as well as a loving companion. On the other hand, she's greedy, ambitious, and plans on killing Atticus if not more people unless Ruby can stop her. Does she want to lean into her own selfishness, or once again choose the selfless route when her sister asks her to?
Well before we answer that question, Atticus needs to make amends with the people in his life considering its his last chance to do so, and so we get a scene between him and Ji-Ah (Jamie Chung) which… I don't know, it feels a bit too easy I guess? I remember the way he treated her back in episode 8, and him coming back to apologize now feels a bit corny and unearned. Speaking of unearned, we learn that Ji-Ah's mother died off screen so that's another woman of color who gets the short end of the stick here, though I guess the fact that we're trying to wrap everything up is more to blame than anything else. I liked her character too, but I guess we just have to barrel on through to the end, and it's not like Ji-Ah has been in the show all that much since she had her episode so I guess we should be thankful we get at least THIS much with her. Unlike the scenes with Ruby and Christina or even Ruby and her sister, a lot of the character interactions feel really utilitarian and without much going on beneath the most basic level which is especially true with Ji-Ah who's only known characteristics are her affection for Atticus and her half-monster status.
Still, things do pick up for a bit in what is intentionally the last bright spot in the show before things go… well where they end up going. Atticus and Leti get Baptized which I guess they are doing in lieu of a wedding to cement their bond in the eyes of God, and everyone jumps in the car to head to Ardham; including Ruby who somehow got the DNA and has chosen her sister over Christina. With all of them packed in George and Hippolyta's car, they start singing songs with even grumpy ol' Montrose (Michael K Williams) joining in on the cheery atmosphere. It's a glimpse into the life that they COULD end up living if everything goes well in Ardham with family that's not together out of blood but by choosing one another and nothing to worry about but their own happiness, and sure Ji-Ah sticks out like a sore thumb as I'm pretty sure she's never even MET anyone in this car outside of Leti and Atticus (another reason she really shouldn't have been sidelined so much after her one episode), but the point still comes across and is honestly where I would have liked to end the show. Just leave us there and let us all dream about how well everything turned out!!
Well that's not the case. They eventually make it to Ardham and Atticus eats the flesh of Titus as well as the sample obtained from Christina in preparation of the spell. Atticus goes alone into the town square where a bunch of white people are waiting for him and beckon him into contraption, Leti and Ruby go to that tower thing from all the way back in Episode 2 to do… something, and everyone else just has a fight scene with a bunch more white people on the bridge and are captured pretty quickly. If that wasn't ominous enough of a start, things start to get weird in the tower and Leti soon realizes that Ruby… is not actually Ruby; it's Christina. Now fair enough, it's a decent twist that I didn't see coming which makes some amount of sense given their relationship and on top of that it creates a fair bit of jeopardy as Christina essentially short circuited the spell (the sample Atticus took wasn't from her), but it's just announced that Ruby is now dead. Easily the best character in the show with the most interesting relationship is just dead; much like Ji-Ah's mother and leaving me about as deflated as when Montrose slit a two-spirit person's throat or when Atticus shot an innocent Korean woman in the head.
It's at this point that I completely lose track of what's going on and why certain things were happening. It makes a bit more sense on the second watch, but there are a lot of things that happen and the staging of certain aspects of this big finale that just didn't click for me even after trying to piece it all together. From what I can gather, I don't THINK Christina killing Ruby was part of the plan, though it's vague enough that I don't know that for sure. Christina tries to cast the spell which I THINK works, but then Leti casts Hannah's spell with the help of Ji-Ah (she uses her tails to take a bite out of Christina and feed it to Atticus) and then BOOM! Christina wakes up pinned under rocks; no longer immortal, and no longer able to use magic. The spell that Hannah created not just took away Christina's magic; it locked magic away from every white person on the planet. Within the context of this show it makes sense because to be frank whiteness and it's privileges have been nothing but sources of pain and terror this entire show; up to and including Christina who carried herself like someone above it all but ultimately wasn't afraid to toss everyone under the bus if it ended up benefiting her. The power of white supremacy in and of itself has given white people the upper hand for centuries in this country, and a slight balancing of the scales in one direction isn't a death sentence nor do I think it'll be enough to truly end it. How exactly this would end up working out within the show's universe is a complete mystery to me, but I doubt we'll be getting a second season so it's a fitting enough note to end on. Okay, well it's not EXACTLY the note we end on. Atticus did indeed die during Christina's spell, and we see his friends and family carry him out as we hear him speak the words he wrote to his father in a goodbye letter; wishing him the utmost happiness to make up for the grief he suffered, and to hope he will be a better grandfather than he was a father. Similarly this is one of those things that I don't know how it would work out if this DID get a second season (we never really got into Montrose's abusive past and I'm not entirely convinced his growth in this series is enough to truly make him a different person), but it's the end and we're here for poignancy which this episode and this moment certainly has.
But it's not the end. We get ONE last scene where Christina is still struggling under the rock and Diana comes to see her. Christina begs for help, Diana says "they still haven't learned" to herself, and then shoves off her coat to reveal… a steampunk robo-arm. She then takes said robo-arm and squeezes Christina's throat so tight that it explodes, and THAT'S the last thing we see of this show. THE END!
There's just something about this last stinger that hits me in such a wrong way. First and foremost, apparently THAT'S how the whole Diana/Hippolyta conflict was resolved; Hippolyta just fixed her… with SCIENCE! It feels rather ham fisted and too much of a hand wave brought about by how much they had to squeeze into this episode, and the visual looks rather ludicrous. Yes, even in THIS show with magic and monsters, a young girl with a hydraulic prosthetic is probably the most head scratching part, and I just feel like it's too much of a dark note to end this on. We've already lost Atticus and Ruby, but in the end the characters are holding their head up high. This act of wonton violence just feels grimy in an episode that otherwise SEEMS to have the theme of sanctification. The baptism scene, Atticus and Leti trying to make amends to people, even the ultimate sacrifice by Atticus to save the rest of the world all put forth the idea of cleaning the slate and letting the next generation move forward unburdened, but here we see the next generation burdening themselves by spilling blood; needlessly so on top of that as Christina almost certainly would have died on her own without Diana putting the squeeze on her.
And that's just ONE thing about this episode I could have very long winded dissections of, but I guess I'll do my best to summarize this episode and the show in general as they actually share quite a few of the same problems. From my admittedly flawed perspective, I feel that the show overshoots its targets with a confidence that can't help but roll my eyes at points. We could see as far back as Episode 2 that things would get overcomplicated in a way that the show either wasn't equipped to handle or were confident that they were doing a good job of explaining it, and that's why the show worked best when it was at its simplest. The individual self-contained stories that DIDN'T involve the fate of the world or overly complicated lore are what I will remember most about this series; from the haunted house in Episode 3 (definitely my favorite episode) to Ruby's transformation potion and the time warp to Tulsa. Sometimes the bigger lore stuff works as I think Christina's character does a good job of grounding the bigger picture whenever she's on screen, and some of the character stuff fell a bit flat like the very indulgent time travel story that Hippolyta went on, but there was simply a struggle between these two warring elements that never truly got resolved and came to ahead in this episode. When it all balances out, I'm leaning towards it being a good show and I think the overall picture (at least in terms of its themes) paints a compelling picture for our times, though there's no doubt that on an episode to episode and moment to moment basis, it's far too wonky to live up to its potential. Still, it's certainly appreciated that they shot for the moon even if they didn't quite get there as that ambition is why the good aspects of this episode shine as brightly as they do.
Episode Rating
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There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist must be spontaneous called Shodo or Shoji, which translates as "Direct Deed". The artist paints on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush using only black water paint, in such a way that any unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break the parchment. No modification, rethinking or changes are to be made.
These artists practice a discipline of allowing the inspiration to express itself in direct communication with the hand in such a way that deliberation or consideration does not interfere. The resulting pictures may lack complex composition and textures of considered painting, but for those who can see, they will find something very special captured which defies explanation.
This music is also created from this perspective. Reach a place of silence that can be almost deafening and let go. Be completely still and empty, so empty that the music enters your being like water being poured into a cup. The music that flows from this space is organised and profound, without the mind interfering, however, it requires much preparation and should not be hurried.
To listen to you is always a journey for me and a transcendent one at that" Marc Arnold PhD.


A Kenya classic safari touring Masai Mara , Lakes Nakuru / Naivasha , Amboseli , Tsavo West & Tsavo East national parks.
Tour departs Nairobi and visits exciting class A category Kenya national parks and game reserves.
On the tour you shall visit the tree studded plains of the great Masai Mara game reserve, Lake Nakuru national park with its famous flamingoes & Rhino sanctuary, Amboseli at the shadows of Mount Kilimanjaro and the scenic hills and valleys of the Tsavo west. The 9 days safari is a diverse representation of entire Kenya.
Tour is offered with a selection of economy, standard or luxury safari lodges or tented camps accommodation depending on your budget / style.
Transport is either in an open top safari tour minivan or 4 x 4 Land cruiser jeep.
Proceed to the Masai Mara game reserve. The drive to the Mara is via Kenya urban and rural settings that contrast dramatically as you progress towards the Great Rift Valley escarpment. Most of the drive to Masai Mara Game reserve shall be at the floors of the great rift valley and through Masai country.
Later depart the for the lake Nakuru national park. On the route to Lake Nakuru National Park there shall be stops on scenic points . Afternoon bird and game viewing drives around the Lake Nakuru. An opportunity to visit the rhino sanctuary. Overnight at your lake Nakuru safari lodge / tented camp.
What you may see at Lake Nakuru national park ……. Flamingo ( Greater and Lesser ), White Rhino, Black Rhino, Waterbucks, unique vegetation about 550 species waterfalls: Makalia.
Day 4: Lake Nakuru National Park – Lake Naivasha .
Early afternoon shall be spent enjoying a boat ride where we spot small game in idyllic settings. Optional visit to Hells gate national park where you ride and trek as you watch small game.
Overnight at a Lake Naivasha resort.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch , Dinner.
A long and easy drive to the Amboseli awaits you today. There shall be stops to view the great rift valley along the Naivasha – Nairobi highway.
Day 6: Amboseli National Park.
Early pre-breakfast game viewing drive at the Amboseli national park. Weather permitting the clouds will shear off, leaving you mesmerized by the majesty of the Kilimanjaro and its gleaming snow capped peaks. Today shall be spent exploring the Amboseli National park on unlimited game viewing drives. Overnight shall be at your safari lodge/ tented camp.
Short morning game viewing drive is scheduled at the Amboseli this morning. The park is open and relatively small.
Game viewing drives are concentrated and wildlife easy to spot. Mount Kilimanjaro mass provides wonderful back ground for photographic moments. Later the safari tour proceeds to Tsavo West National Park.
Tsavo West is hilly and scraggy with scenic terrain and wonderful game viewing back grounds. Overnight shall be at your Tsavo west safari lodge or tented camp.
Game viewing drives at the Tsavo West with a stop at the Mzima springs . Later proceed to Tsavo east national park with game spotting and scenery viewing en – route. Game viewing drives at the open savanna plains of the Tsavo. Overnight shall be at your Tsavo east safari lodge or tented camp.
What you may see at Tsavo East national park ……… Vast herds of dust-red elephant, Black Rhino, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, pods of hippo, Waterbucks, Lesser kudu, Gerenuk and Hirola.
Early morning game viewing drives at the Tsavo East national park. Later return to Nairobi . Drop off at Nairobi airport or Nairobi hotel. You can also proceed to the Kenya coast beach resorts of Mombasa,Watamu,Diani,Bamburi etc.


Central Florida residents, listen up! While the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is definitely a must-see, the upcoming Orlando Food & Wine Fest at Lake Eola is a more affordable venture. And you can bet I'll be there….sampling a taste of Orlando's area restaurants.
When: Saturday, November 14 : 12 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Sunday, November 15 : 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Price:* $15 at the gate (one-day ticket), free ages 12 and younger; Advance tickets $15 weekend pass, $10 Sat., $10 Sun.
* Please note the fee for food and wine samples is separate from admission price.
Let us hear about your experience if you decide to attend the Orlando Food & Wine Fest. We'll be sure to post pictures after the event for those who don't make it.
Previous Have Fun While Excercising!
I just bought my weekend pass, looking forward to eating and drinking with the Orlando Twitter set!
@MLDina Nice! I'm looking forward to taking lots of photos to share with our readers.
Wow, sounds great. Thanks for the information. I will be there.
@Debt Help Florida I've never been to this particular event so I'm hoping it's well-worth it! Should be fun….


Final studies and evaluation of long-term cultivation system trials in conventional organic and biodynamic agriculture with a focus on the quality of soil, food and climate impacts located in Central Sweden and Scania south of Sweden. Projektansvarig Artur Granstedt. Finansiär Softwarestiftung.


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This 150-Day Dry Aged Beef Burger Shows How the Luxury Hamburger Has Simplified
Robb Report March 23, 2019
How do you like your burger? The answer used to be as simple as "rare, medium-rare, or medium?" (there are no other answers). Cheese or no cheese. Choose your vegetables and condiments. But now you also get to see its birth certificate.
The dry-aged burger has been around as long as there's been dry-aged steak, from the legendary lunch-only option at Peter Luger to Minetta Tavern's infamous "Black Label" burger. But just how aged (and dry) can one man's burger be? If that man is zenmaster of meat Adam Perry Lang, the answer is 150 days. Plus.
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Just added to the dinner menu as a nightly limited edition at Lang's Hollywood steakhouse-and-then-some APL, it's called, simply, The Burger, with "150+ day Dry Aged Beef," American cheese, white onion, pickles, and mustard aioli on a potato bun.
At $18, it's a bargain item, especially compared to APL's $50 Serious Barbecue Steak Sandwich (that's found at the restaurant's Hole in the Wall takeout window, as is a dry-aged beef chili dog). The 150+ day beef is also available at APL in the form of a bone-in-NY Strip or Tomahawk. Or you can have a mere youngster of a dry-aged ribeye: "<100 Days Aged."
What stands out about APL's The Burger is its simplicity. We're a long way from the heyday of Daniel Boulud's short rib and foie gras-stuffed burger at DB Bistro Moderne, as Taste's Rebecca Flint Marx explored in an essay earlier this year. In the new burger arms race, everybody's got a custom blend, and more places than not are just as happy with American cheese as cheddar or blue.
But for the presence of aioli, Lang's burger is pretty close to the platonic, stripped-down ideal of the late food writer Josh Ozersky, with whom Lang cooked. (Another friend of Ozersky's, Dallas chef John Tesar, serves a burger named for him at Knife in Dallas, which is also just beef, cheese, onion and pickles.). Minetta's Black Label is also uncomplicated, eschewing even cheese (and no topping other than caramelized onions) in order to showcase the meat.
APL's burger comes on the heels of a 100-day dry-aged burger at butcher shop and restaurant Belcampo (which just opened its first NY location in Hudson Yards). Before that, the now-closed Culver City location of New York's The Cannibal put up a 60-day dry-aged burger at a 2017 Los Angeles magazine event. That topped the one from Santa Monica's BOA steakhouse by 20 days. Peter Luger and Minetta Tavern meanwhile, don't reveal their aging number.
These burgers all taste good, which is all that really matters. But at some point, it's also the ground beef equivalent of Nigel Tufnel's amp in This Is Spinal Tap. "Oh, you've got a 100-day dry-aged burger? Our goes to 150. Plus."
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McDonald's Is Testing Blueberry McGriddles Breakfast Sandwiches And They're The Perfect Combo Of Sweet And Savory
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As Beyond Meat soars, Conagra sees $30 billion opportunity in Gardein plant-based meat alternatives
T-Mobile hopes to reel you in with free Taco Bell at its stores


People talk a lot about tanning and whether or not it is safe. There are many myths surrounding the tanning industry. Is tanning dangerous? Does it cause skin damage? How much tanning is too much? What about tanning beds, are they a safe way to get a tan? These common myths about tanning make it hard to know what is right and what is wrong. Tanning does come with risks, so it's important to get the right information. Once you filter out the hype, you can find ways to get the tan you want safely.
The word "causes" is the problem with this tanning myth. It is true that tanning is associated with skin cancer, but it is not tanning that is the problem. It is too much sun exposure when sun tanning. There are also many different factors with melanoma, the kind of skin cancer associated with tanning via sun exposure. Melanoma can run in families, for example. If no one in the family has a history of this form of cancer, the risk of getting it is lower whether or not you tan.
There is little doubt that exposure to UV radiation from indoor tanning devices, like traditional tanning beds, increases a person's risk of getting melanoma. Whether you enjoy sun tanning, tanning products, or spray tanning at your favorite tanning salons, it's important to take precautions. A safe tan comes from limited exposure and wearing sunscreen, whatever your skin type is.
This is mostly true. There is a link between exposure to various UV rays of the sun and skin cancer, but, again, there are many other factors involved. One person can spend all day outdoors and never have a problem. And, someone who spends very limited time outside can still get skin cancer. As a rule, it is best to take precautions like wearing a good sunscreen if planning a day at the beach. Sunscreen that protects against all the different types of UV rays that the sun produces is best. A wide-brimmed hat is not only fashionable. It also helps protect your face from the harsh rays of the sun.
There is nothing to support the idea that sunscreen is bad for you. There are some ingredients in sunscreen that have raised eyebrows in the past, but research showed otherwise. In fact, sunscreen helps protect your skin from sun damage.
The sun is the best source of Vitamin D. Yes, 2 to 10 minutes of sun exposure in the morning gets you the amount you need. Safe moderate tanning is, in fact, recommended for people who are vitamin D deficient and enjoy sunless tanning options, like a spray tan.
Other sources of Vitamin D include fortified food and drinks like bread and milk. Vitamin D supplements are good sources, too.
High is good but SPF 50 is enough as long as it carries the label "broad spectrum." Broad spectrum means that the sunscreen will protect against the most dangerous kinds of UV light — UVA and UVB. Sunscreen that is not broad spectrum is not safe even if it does have a high SPF rating.
Clouds do filter out some of the harmful UV rays but do not do much to block all that cause damage to the skin. Even on sunny days, you need to wear sunscreen.
Indoor tanning beds pose a risk. They produce the same UV rays as the sun. They are not any safer than beach tanning. If you use indoor tanning equipment such as a tanning bed, make sure to follow all the safety instructions. Limit the time you spend in your tanning session. Better yet, look for a self-tanning product (like tanning lotion) to get that bronzed look.
Some people believe that tanning helps people lose weight. They believe that the light rays stimulate the thyroid hormone, or that tanning helps lose water weight by sweating. This is not true at all.
When you start tanning early, it increases your lifetime risk of getting skin cancer. This is because of the prolonged exposure to UV rays—be it under the sun or from tanning at salons.
A sunburn is your skin's way of saying you've been tanning too much. Sunburn is a break in the skin. Thus, it makes the skin more prone to further damage from UV rays. But even without, you can still get damage beyond your skin. A study shows that you're still at risk for melanoma even if you have no sunburn history.
There is a lot of junk science out there, so make sure you have all the facts. Learn how tanning affects your health and find a sunscreen that will protect your skin when you go outside.
Do you have other tanning myths that need to be debunked? Let us know in the comments section below.
Up Next: Tanning While Pregnant: Is It Harmful Or Safe?


The principle is simple: to give the possibility to the many young spectators of the Festival to anticipate the projection by consulting the pedagogical elements of the films on the website of the festival of the short film and after the projection of the short films in room to propose a possibility of artistic and graphic expression to the students who, from their vision of the films, will draw a poster.
La cérémonie de remise des Prix se déroulera le ….
Anatomy of the Labo is based on an original idea: to question the films of the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival's Lab competition by giving a field of expression to students and confirmed artists. Sauve qui peut le court métrage offers to watch the selected films of the Lab competition and to analyze the films with students to make a print, a trace, a symbol, a sign through a plastic work.
The screening of films of the Lab to students: before the officialization of the selection at the beginning of December, a first meeting is organized with the pupils of the establishments to watch a program of films Labo. This stage allows us to talk about non-narrative, experimental cinema, in order to put them in condition for the screening of the films that will be selected and will then constitute their body of work.
A time of film analysis with the students: as soon as the Lab selection is made official, several screenings of the selected films are organized so that the students can choose the film on which they will work. This time allows to exchange Lab movies to get used to the language of the image, more specifically in the non-narrative vein of the Lab.
The work of reflection and creation around a work: the teachers of the establishments as well as an artist sponsored by Sauve qui peut le court métrage helps the students with the creative work , to whom it is asked to make a sketch of their idea to from the film they have chosen, then rework and modify their work before it can be validated in its final form.
The graphic production work: this creative work is the occasion of a week-long workshop in the institutions, during which the students concretize their idea with the help of the teachers and the artist sponsored by Sauve qui peut le court métrage footage and perform the printing of screen printing.
Supporting students in the organization and implementation of exhibitions: once screen printing is done, students must organize the exhibition. They are then confronted with the practical issues of an exhibition, in collaboration with professional artists: the logistical organization, the general coherence, the selection and the presentation of the works that will be exhibited.
The artistic aspect is most evident in this project, since the exhibition enhances the creative work of students. But this project is also working on the development of other skills for them. From the point of view of image education first, students are confronted with a new form of image, the format of the short film, resulting moreover from the Labo selection. The question of the transition from one medium to another then makes it possible to deepen the reflection around the design of the graphic work. Finally, by presenting the students with all the problems related to the realization of the exhibition, they discover the stakes of the development of the works, while calling on a certain number of skills of logistics and group work which is required.
During the first sessions, students will be brought to use the "mash-up" table, this very playful device that will allow them to understand the process of editing a film by changing for example the chronology of the scenes of a short film.
We will also spend a few hours playing a few video games while trying to understand how they are "made" and what they borrow from movies and comics.
Participants in Anatomy of Images will continue to collaborate with the students of DMA animation Cournon to develop the trailer and the poster of this event.
Participants will always be asked to select short films to schedule a screening. They will have to follow an editorial line or determine a theme that they will have to defend in public during a projection.
Some comics will be available on the mezzanine table during each screening.
Students will finally be asked to interview directors or people working in the cinema (journalists or breeders) on the relationship between them and the images. These interviews will be screened during the public session.
The main qualities sought by young students wishing to participate in this new workshop are curiosity, the desire to share knowledge, ideas and finally: a certain inclination to the world of art. There is no question of specialists, nevertheless if one or two participants are video game aficionados, they will be welcome to explain the why of their addiction to the consoles.
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10. 1.5 tsp leelu marchoo/green serano or thai chili paste (depending on if you like it spicy, if you like mild then go with 1tsp serano chopped finely.
12. Steamer or a large pot with a small plate or daatharo to hold the plate on top to steam with.
13.Medium size stainless steel plate or Kathrot.
1. If you don't have a steamer, use a medium to large around 12 oz. pot add enough water to cover bottom 1 inch and put a small plate face down on the bottom of the pot or use a Datharo.
2. Heat 1 bowl of water in a small pot with ajmo, Jeeru, salt and baking soda.
5. Blend well then add this mixture to the medium to large stainless steel plate or kathrot with a tbsp of oil on the bottom.
6. Put this plate in the large pot to steam on top of the small plate facing down. Make sure the water level is low and does not touch the top plate.
7. Cover the large pot with the lead and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat.
8. Turn the stove off and take the plate out.
9. Let it cool for 2-5 minutes and cut out small pieces like Dhokla or Khaman.
10. Use a spatula to lift this up and garnish with cilantro and Sesame seeds.


The rate of change of the number of constant of proportionality calculus problems is proportional to the population. The population increased from 15 to 6750 between September and October. What is the constant of proportionality in months-1?
What is the constant of proportionality of between and ?
of force is required to stretch a spring . What is the constant of proportionality of the spring?
where is force, is the spring constant, or proportionality of the spring, and is how far the spring is strectched.
What is the constant of proportionality of a circle with a diameter of and a circumference of ?
where is the circumference of a circle and is the diameter of the circle.
The constant of proportionality is for all circles.
The population of a town grows exponentially from to in . What is the population growth constant?
where is the final amount, is the inital amount, is the growth constant and is time.
Cobalt-60 has a half-life of . What is the decay constant of Cobalt-60?
The half-life of an isotope is the time it takes for half the isotope to disappear. Isotopes decay exponentially.
Since half the isotope has disappeared, the final amount is half the inital amount , or .
The number of cats double every . How many cats will there be after if there are cats initially?
After , the number of cats has doubled, or the final amount is double the inital amount , or .
The number of students enrolled in college has increased by every year since . If students enrolled in , how many student enrolled in ?
where is the final amount, is the inital amount, is the growth rate and is time.
The number of CD players owned has decreased by annually since . If people owned CD players in , how many people owned CD players in ?
You deposit into your savings account. After , your account has in it. What is the interest rate of this account if the account was untouched during the ?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Science, Computer Science.


We are dedicated to help the consumer who has no relief from the ever increasing prices of pharmaceutical drugs and at the same time afraid of serious side effects. The behavior of the pharmaceutical industry in this country has become intolerable. On the one hand they are making unprecedented profits on the other they have consistently failed to uphold the principal of first do no harm. The number of ineffective or dangerous drugs continues to increase.
Patients report increasing incidents of adverse effects from pharmaceutical drugs. According to published research the average drug insert lists 70 possible side effects, some drugs list hundreds of side effects. Millions of patients taking cholesterol drugs (statins) are experiencing side effects, some very serious like Type 2 Diabetes, mental confusion, muscle weakness and sometimes muscle damage causing kidney failure.
The founder of Real Natural Remedies, M. Hafeez Chaudhry, M.D., F.A.C.P. has practiced cardiovascular medicine for 36 years. He consults with his colleagues and scientific literature during formulation of each product. These products are based on science, supported by research and manufactured in the USA.


text:
MSF Urges Respect for Safety of Civilians Caught in Sri Lanka Fighting
Colombo/ New York, May 16, 2000 — The emergency medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) today expressed grave concern for the safety and medical care of the ...
News : May 15, 2000
MSF Statement on New UNAIDS Proposal and Clinton's Executive Order on Access to HIV/AIDS Medicines
New York/Geneva, May 11, 2000 — The international medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) greets with skepticism today's announcement by UNAIDS of a "New Public ...
New Agreement on Patents for Medicines in Francophone Africa Threatens Health of Populations
MSF Calls Upon the Francophone Countries of Africa Not to Sign the New Patent Agreements (Bangui 99)Abidjan/New York, May 11, 2000 — In a press conference today in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the ...
Civilians Caught in Crossfire in Sierra Leone
MSF Treating Wounded in Freetown HospitalNew York/Freetown, May 10, 2000 — A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surgical team working in Connaught Hospital in Freetown, Sierra ...
News : May 9, 2000
Civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo Under Fire
Fighting Claims More Lives than Previously ReportedKisangani/New York, May 8, 2000 — Heavy shelling between Rwandan and Ugandan troops in and around the eastern city of Kisangani in the Democratic ...