Marlon Brando and a Royal typewriter, plus feline friend. Image from cracktwo.com
I have no details on this photo, but I wish I did. Can you help? Is this his typewriter? A pose? When was it taken?
Typewriter of the moment: Marlon Brando’s Royal portable, and cat
January 25, 2010
2 Comments | 
photography, Technology, Typewriters | Tagged: Marlon Brando, Technology, Typewriters | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Yellowstone earthquake swarm, 2010
January 25, 2010Stop me if you’ve heard this one:
Earthquake swarm hits the area of the Yellowstone Caldera, around Yellowstone Park; wackoes start predicting the End of the World As We Know It, at least for West Yellowstone, Montana, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Unless they are Bobby Jindal, and they predict that the quakes didn’t even happen.
Oh, yeah — that was the series of earthquake swarms in late 2008 and early 2009, right?
Not exactly. It’s happened again.
YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT
Thursday, January 21, 2010 2:26 PM MST (Thursday, January 21, 2010 2126 UTC)Yellowstone Volcano
44°25’48” N 110°40’12” W, Summit Elevation 9203 ft (2805 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREENThe earthquake swarm on the northwest edge of Yellowstone Caldera that began on January 17, 2010 continues.
PRESS RELEASE FROM YVO PARTNER UNIVERSITY OF UTAH SEISMOGRAPH STATIONS
Released: January 21, 2010 2:00PM MST
This release is a continuation of information updates building upon our two previous press releases on the ongoing earthquake swarm on the west side of Yellowstone National Park. The University of Utah Seismograph Stations reports that a pair of earthquakes of magnitude 3.7 and 3.8 occurred in the evening of January 20, 2010 in Yellowstone National Park.
The first event of magnitude 3.7 occurred at 11:01 PM and was shortly followed by a magnitude 3.8 event at 11:16 PM. Both shocks were located around 9 miles to the southeast of West Yellowstone, MT and about 10 miles to the northwest of Old Faithful, WY. Both events were felt throughout the park and in surrounding communities in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.
These two earthquakes are part of an ongoing swarm in Yellowstone National Park that began January 17, 2010 (1:00 PM MST). The largest earthquake in the swarm as of 12 PM, January 21, 2010, was a magnitude 3.8. There have been 901 located earthquakes in the swarm of magnitude 0.5 to 3.8. This includes 8 events of magnitude larger than 3, with 68 events of magnitude 2 to 3, and 825 events of magnitude less than 2. There have been multiple personal reports of ground shaking from observations inside the Park and in surrounding areas for some of the larger events (for felt reports, please visit http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/dyfi/). Earthquake swarms are relatively common in Yellowstone.
The swarm earthquakes are likely the result of slip on pre-existing faults rather than underground movement of magma. Currently there is no indication of premonitory volcanic or hydrothermal activity, but ongoing observations and analyses will continue to evaluate these different sources.
Seismic information on the earthquake can be viewed at the University of Utah Seismograph Stations: http://www.seis.utah.edu/.
Seismograph recordings from stations of the Yellowstone seismograph network can be viewed online at: http://quake.utah.edu/helicorder/yell_webi.htm.
Anyone who has felt earthquakes in the swarm are encouraged to fill out a form on the USGS Community Felt reports web site: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/dyfi/.
This press release was prepared by the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory partners of the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Utah, and the National Park Service: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/
—The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) is a partnership of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone National Park, and University of Utah to strengthen the long-term monitoring of volcanic and earthquake unrest in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Peter Cervelli, Acting Scientist-in-Charge, USGSpcervelli@usgs.gov (650) 329-5188
The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) was created as a partnership among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone National Park, and University of Utah to strengthen the long-term monitoring of volcanic and earthquake unrest in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.
Here’s the map as of Sunday night, January 24, 9:10 p.m. MST (where the observatory is located); while this map may update here, you may want to click over to the observatory for more information (click on the map):
Yellowstone National Park Special Map, showing earthquakes in last week.
Eruptions has a short post on the swarm. Volcanism, which covers volcanoes better than Sherwin-Williams covers the world, has a short post, probably appropriate to the newsworthiness. Stoichiometry mentions them. Not much to say yet, right? Yellowstone Insider doesn’t seem too alarmed.
In mass media, The Billings (Montana) Gazette notes that these quakes are probably just shifting rocks, and not volcanic activity. The headline in the Bozeman (Montana) Daily Chronicle captures the news: “Earthquake Swarm Suggests Just Another Day in Yellowstone.”
Meanwhile, Scott Bowen at True/Slant sounds just a little alarmist. Ralph Maughan sets the right tone: “No, it doesn’t mean the end is near.” The tinfoil hat concessions probably won’t make nearly the money they did a year ago.
Outside of the Yellowstone and Intermountain areas, students will probably ask about 2012. Tell them the Mayans didn’t know anything about Old Faithful.
Resources:
- Greater Yellowstone Science Learning Center
- U.S. Geological Survey, “Tracking Changes in Yellowstone’s Restless Volcanic System”
- Here’s a paranoia site –– commenters wonder if the nation is planning for what to do if that corner of Wyoming heads for the Moon, as if there were anything that could be planned for
Shake a little news to the rest of the world:
4 Comments | Current History, Disasters, Geography - Physical, geology, History, History of Science, Natural history, Natural resources, Tinfoil Hats, Travel, Volcanoes, Woo, Yellowstone | Tagged: disaster, earthquakes, geography, geology, History, Science, Volcanoes, Woo, Yellowstone Caldera, Yellowstone National Park | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
The debt the U.S. owes to Haiti: The Louisiana Purchase
January 24, 2010Every Texas school kid learns that the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 created one of the great turning points in American history. Parts or all of 15 different states came out of the land acquired from Napoleon in that deal. Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery spent more than two years mapping the newly-acquired territory, and didn’t really scratch the surface of the riches to be found.
Why was Napoleon so willing to deal Louisiana, so cheaply?
What else happened in 1803? Haiti’s slaves rose up and cast off French rule. Haiti had been the jewel of France’s overseas colonies. Napoleon became convinced that holding and ruling North American territories could be more pain and trouble than it was worth
So, along came John Jay to secure navigation rights in the territory . . .
4 Comments | History, Napoleon, TEKS, Thomas Jefferson | Tagged: Haiti, John Jay, Louisiana Purchase, Napoleon, TEKS, Thomas Jefferson, Turning Points, U.S. history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
This history really cooks!
January 24, 2010Another anniversary worth noting.
On January 24, 1950, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Percy L. Stevens patent # 2,495,429, for his “Method of Treating Foodstuffs” with waves from a magnetron oscillator. Sixty years ago today Percy Stevens changed culinary life forever.
You guessed it: The microwave oven.
Patent for "Method for Treating Foodstuffs," granted January 24, 1950, to Percy L. Stevens of the Raytheon Corp. - the microwave oven. Image via FreePatentsOnline.com
On CBS “Sunday Morning” Charles Osgood said that in 1975 microwave oven sales surpassed conventional oven sales for the first time. This is more remarkable because the first commercial microwave in 1955 was too big for home kitchens, and at $1,300, too pricey. Japanese modifications of the magnetron to shrink it made microwave ovens much like those we have today ready for the market for the first time in 1967. Eight years from market entry to majority of the market.
It only makes sense: Today offices on every floor of every office building have microwave ovens in their break rooms, but almost none ever had conventional ovens. College students have microwaves in their dormitory rooms. Even gasoline stations offer foods for microwaving by customers.
Spencer’s invention makes it possible to heat foods quickly with a relatively small device, in thousands of places where no conventional oven would work well, or be welcomed.
According to legend — accurate? — Spencer got the idea after working with magnetron tubes while carrying a chocolate bar in his pocket. He noticed the chocolate bar melted. Within a short time he had demonstrated the ability to pop popcorn and burst an egg with the microwaves from the tube.
Sign of the changing times: Many children today do not know how to pop popcorn without a microwave. Legend has it that children in elementary school ask where the Massachusetts natives kept the microwaves with which they popped the corn that delighted the settlers of the Plymouth Colony.
Microwave oven inventor Percy Spencer with early microwave equipment at Raytheon - photo from Spencer family archive
More:
- Last year’s post on “Forgotten anniversaries.”
- Story on Spencer and his invention at Rhapsody in Books
- Entry in Patents: Ingenious Inventions: How they Work and How They Came to Be, by Ben Ikenson
- History of the microwave oven at IdeaFinder.com
- Invention at Play – story of the microwave from the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian
1 Comment | DBQ sources, Food history, Government, Historic documents, History, History images, Invention, Patents, Science, Technology | Tagged: Government, History, Invention, Magnetron Tubes, Microwave Oven, Patents, Percy L. Spencer, Raytheon, Science, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
DDT propaganda machine
January 23, 2010Media Check carries edited excerpts from a book by Daniel Gutstein from last year, Not A Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy (Key Porter, 2009) by Donald Gutstein, Key Porter (2009).
In the excerpted chapter Gutstein details how nefarious interest groups conspired to ruin the reputation of Rachel Carson and environmental protection activists with false claims about DDT and environmentalist aims.
The problem with the coverage of the DDT issue and with the eco-imperialism charge is that they are based on falsehoods that the media did not investigate. Former CBC-TV National News anchor Knowlton Nash once said that “…our job in the media… is to… provide a searchlight probing for truth through the confusing, complicated, cascading avalanche of fact and fiction.” In this case, the media let their audiences down; fiction prevailed over fact.
Despite what the pro-DDT organizations alleged, DDT was not banned for use in mosquito control and could continue to be used in 25 countries in malarial regions. In these countries, limited amounts of DDT can be sprayed on the inside walls of houses to combat malaria-carrying mosquitoes. “The environmental community is collaborating with the World Health Organization to ensure that the phase-out of the remaining uses of DDT does not undermine the battle against malaria and the well-being of people living in malarial zones,” the United Nations Environmental Programme reported when the treaty came into force.
Has anyone read the book? Has anyone seen it? (So what if it’s aimed at Canada?)
More thoughts: Years ago, when Jan Brunvand first achieved some fame cataloging urban myths, it occurred to me that his books should be required reading in the very first survey classes in journalism school. Maybe they should be required reading in political science, rhetoric, and philosophy, too.
Gutstein’s book would be a good reader for a class on reporting, or investigative reporting, or science reporting, or political reporting. I’m not sure where it would fit in to a science curriculum, but I wish more scientists came out of undergraduate years aware that they can get hammered by these hoax-selling, axe-grinding disinformation machines. All those reports about how Rachel Carson is the “murderer of millions?” They coarsen dialog, they misinform, disinform and malinform the public. They do great disservice to citizenship and voters, and ultimately, to our democratic institutions.
It’s not enough to have a counter, good-information plan. These people must be convinced to stop.
More:
- Review of the book at Straight.com, “Gutsteins theory pries the lid off think tanks”
- Excerpt at Rabble.ca
- Interview with author Gutstein at thecommentary
- Update 1-24-2010: Tim Lambert at Deltoid found the book and reviews about the same time I did –– he’s got more comments, though (more traffic? Or do his readers just hit “send” more often?)
4 Comments | Business, Canada, DDT, Environmental justice, Environmental protection, History, Hoaxes, Journalism, News, Political Smear, Rachel Carson, Research, Science | Tagged: Accuracy, Canada, Daniel Gustein, DDT, Environmental protection, Ethics, Hoaxes, Journalism, News, Political Smear, Rachel Carson, Spin | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
iPhone apps for a three-year-old’s education? What hath Steve Jobs wrought?
January 22, 2010You gotta admire the bravery of this guy, who came to fatherhood a little late (he claims), and struggles with the fatherliness expectations of a precocious child:
When my wife returned [from a vacation], we settled back into our routine, consisting of 1-2 days per week when we eat dinner out as a family. These events can also be challenging, as our daughter is one of those kids who just cannot sit still for anything. She seems well connected to her surroundings and engages with us and others, but she is perpetual motion personified. So imagine my surprise when the littlest tornado actually sat in her chair for an entire meal!
My wife’s new secret weapon was a series of iPhone apps created especially for toddlers that one of her California girlfriends had recommended. The most popular with our daughter is Letter Tracer, which works as the name suggests. So my daughter was occupied by learning to write her letters. The device and screen provided the engagement that pen and paper hadn’t, and she delighted at being able to successfully trace all the letters of the alphabet, smiling and exclaiming “Look Daddy, I did it!” each time she completed a new tracing. My daughter was having a blast learning how to write her letters, and her parents were enjoying not just her growth but a nice restaurant experience as well.
So, he got his daughter a de-activated iPhone. Seriously.
I’d love to see what Checker Finn would have done in that situation, or Diane Ravitch, or even dear old B. F. Skinner.
Is three too young to get your own iPhone?
Go read the piece. Patrick Hunt at The Apple Blog, “I Gave My Daughter an iPhone – Have I Created a Monster?”
The discussion is good, too. Why can’t this guy be our tech director, in a district where getting technology is like asking for a French dictionary at Republican Party HQ?
- Literacy link: “What hath God wrought?”
1 Comment | Brain development, Brain learning, Education, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: Brain development, Brain learning, Child Development, Computer Literacy, Education, iPhones, Motor Skills, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Bill of Rights Institute cosponsors prize for National History Day
January 21, 2010I get e-mail:
THE BILL OF RIGHTS INSTITUTE SPONSORS NATIONAL HISTORY DAY PRIZEStudents nationwide can compete for the Constitutional Rights in History prizeThe Bill of Rights Institute announced their collaboration with National History Day (NHD) today. The Institute is sponsoring the Constitutional Rights in History prize, awarded to an outstanding entry in any category from both the senior and junior divisions which documents and analyzes how individuals have exercised their constitutional rights throughout American history.
The 2010 theme for National History Day is “Innovation In History: Impact and Change.” Students must demonstrate through their project how their chosen individual’s actions had an impact on history.
Each year more than half a million students, encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide, participate in the NHD contest. Students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and historic sites. The Bill of Rights Institute’s prize will be awarded at the National Finals held in June 2010 in College Park, Maryland.
For more information about History Day, go to http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/.
© 2010 Bill of Rights Institute
200 North Glebe Road, Ste 200
Arlington, VA 22203
1 Comment | Education, History, National History Day, Student projects | Tagged: Bill of Rights Institute, Constitutional Rights, Education, History, National History Day, Student Competition, Student projects | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
How is Obama doing in managing the federal bureaucracy?
January 21, 2010Managing the agencies who carry out the policies requires a focus on what government is supposed to do. Democrats tend to make better managers, because they wish government to work well and efficiently. Republicans prefer government to go away, and too often since Dwight Eisenhower’s administration, Republicans have intentionally created havoc for agencies, to stymie their operation at all.
So, how has Obama done in his first year? A couple of radio hosts in Washington, D.C., asked expert opinion.
From the Federal Drive blog at Federal News Radio, which accompanies the radio program by Tom Temin and Jane Norris at 1500 AM in Washington, D.C.
By Suzanne Kubota
Senior Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio.comToday marks President Obama’s one year in office.
Federal News Radio asked Joe Ferrara, Associate Dean at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, to give the President a report card on the Chief Executive’s effect on federal employees and the operation and business of government.
Here are the Dean’s grades and a few comments:
Overall grade: B
“In terms of some of the initiatives he’s been pushing: stabilizing the economy, pushing health care.”Federal Government Management Issues
Effort: A
“They have definitely shown a lot of energy in pushing initiatives on contracting, transparency, modernizing technology, etc.”Results: C
“In part because it’s still early. Yes, he has been in office for a year, but as you well know, it takes time for changes to sort of filter through a bureaucracy as large as the federal government.”Overall Planning
“If you look at the last couple of administrations, certainly Bush and Cheney…their umbrella concept was the President’s Management Agenda. They ran it out of the White House. They ran it out of OMB. Clinton and Gore had Reinventing Government. They ran that out of the White House, not necessarily OMB, but a task force made up largely of career federal employees. But they had an over-arching concept: Reinventing Government.”
The lack of a stated overall approach is “worrisome.” “As a former federal employee, I worry about your average federal manager out there seeing the initiative of the day coming forth from OMB, coming forth from the White House, and wondering how does this all fit together.Transparency
“I know they’ve published this Open Government directive. I think that’s definitely a step in the right direction.” Data.gov and the recovery and stimulus fund websites make it “easier for Congress, your average citizen, people in industry to figure out where’s all the money going and what are agencies doing.”
One caveat: “politicians themselves, from the President on down” have to be transparent in pronouncements and the way they make decisions. “It’s not just the technology solution to transparency. That’s an important part of it, but there’s also political solution and I think ultimately you need those two to go together for citizens to really have a strong sense of trust in what the Government’s doing.”
Cybersecurity
The delay in announcing a selection for cybersecurity coordinator “more viewed as sort of the Obama-style of gathering inputs, mulling over options, getting second opinions, getting third opinions – a very extensive vetting process kind of like what we saw with the Afghanistan decision. On the one hand, there’s nothing wrong with that.” On the other hand, said Ferrara, the longer you take to make decisions the more likely it is people will think you don’t put a high priority on the subject.
Cybersecurity “is a very complex bundle of policy issues” and could explain the apparent delay.
Joe Ferrara is Associate Dean at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute.
President Obama’s self-reporting report card to Congress, the State of the Union address, is scheduled to be delivered a week from today, January 27th, at 9 pm EST.
Download an MP3 version of Ferrara’s remarks, from the Federal Radio site.
Broadcast the news:
Leave a Comment » | Barack Obama, Government, History, President Obama, Presidents | Tagged: Cybersecurity, Federal Government, Good Management, Government, History, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Where’s that global cooling the denialists promised?
January 20, 2010Forgetting that the planet has seasons, climate denialists for months have been hoo-hooing about snowfalls and cold weather. Some of the more serious propagandists among them claim that the Earth is now in a cooling cycle, and that temperatures have been falling since the record hot year of 1998.
Really?
Head on over to Open Mind, and take a look at the facts.
NASA GISS [Goddard Institute for Space Studies] has released the estimated monthly temperature for December 2009, which closes out the year 2009, which closes out the decade of the 2000s. The result: 2005 is still the hottest calendar year, 2009 is the 2nd-hottest year ever, although it’s really in a statistical tie with 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2007.
They’ve confused weather with climate. They’ve failed to keep score. Perhaps they’ve spent wasted their time hacking e-mails instead of measuring climate.
RealClimate carries the news in a post by some of NASA’s top scientists, including James Hansen:
The past year, 2009, tied as the second warmest year in the 130 years of global instrumental temperature records, in the surface temperature analysis of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). The Southern Hemisphere set a record as the warmest year for that half of the world. Global mean temperature, as shown in Figure 1a, was 0.57°C (1.0°F) warmer than climatology (the 1951-1980 base period). Southern Hemisphere mean temperature, as shown in Figure 1b, was 0.49°C (0.88°F) warmer than in the period of climatology.
How will the critics treat this news? And, what were they doing during the past decade when all those warm days rolled into weeks, rolled into months and years, and finally, to the warmest decade ever?
Caption from RealClimate: Figure 1. (a) GISS analysis of global surface temperature change. Green vertical bar is estimated 95 percent confidence range (two standard deviations) for annual temperature change. (b) Hemispheric temperature change in GISS analysis. (Base period is 1951-1980. This base period is fixed consistently in GISS temperature analysis papers. . . Base period 1961-1990 is used for comparison with published HadCRUT analyses in Figures 3 and 4.)
Heat things up a bit, and spread the alarm:
14 Comments | Climate change, climate_change, Cost of Green, denialism, Global warming, Green Politics, History, Politics, Science | Tagged: Climate change, Climatology, denialism, Environmental protection, GISS, Global warming, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, History, James Hansen, Meteorology, NASA, Politics, Science, Warmest Decade | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
7th time the charm: Exhibit on Utah’s becoming the 45th state
January 19, 2010
Interior of main floor (second floor) of Utah Capitol, looking west from the Rotunda to the House of Representatives' chamber - Wikimedia photo by BigBen
Got a couple of hours in Salt Lake City?
Utah’s copper-domed capitol building is among my favorites in the U.S. for style and grace. The high-hillside location gives one a hawk’s eye view of Salt Lake City and especially State Street (which runs, by tradition, south about 400 miles to the Utah-Nevada border). So it’s a good piece of architecture to tour.
Starting March 3, it will also have a display on Utah’s many attempts to become a state. Between 1847 and 1896 when finally admitted to the union, Utah submitted seven different constitutions trying to get approval of Congress. Utah relocated its capital to the center of the state, named the town Fillmore and the county Millard to flatter the sitting president. That didn’t work, either. Later the capital was moved back to Salt Lake City, nearer to where most of the people resided.
To assuage fears that Utah would upset the balance of power in Washington, at one point Latter-day Saint church authorities designated every-other household Democrat or Republican, giving Utah a 50/50 split electorate that survived in that fashion until the 1970s.
It’s all there at the exhibit, in the capitol building.
It took 7 Constitutions and 47 years to get Utah admitted as the Nation’s 45th state. The Utah State Capitol celebrates that effort in a free exhibit opening on March 3,2010. Open March 2010 through Jan. 2011! Free to the Public! Docent guided tours available! For more information visit www.utahstatecapitol.utah.gov Hours: Mon-Fri: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sat & Sun: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. This exhibit is a building-wide exhibit. Main displays are located on the 1st and 4th floors. Ask any Capitol Docent for additional help.
Tip of the old scrub brush to UtahPolicy.com.
Utah Capitol, photographed from the headquarters of the LDS Church - dlmark photo
2 Comments | Historic documents, History, History images, Millard Fillmore, Statehood, Utah | Tagged: History, History Exhibit, Millard Fillmore, Statehood, Utah, Utah Capitol | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Tonight in Iowa City! DDT and myth lecture
January 19, 2010A reminder that Prof. O’Shaughnessy’s lecture on DDT and myths rolls tonight in Iowa City. We hope to have a report, later.
Do we have any readers in Iowa City? Near Iowa City?
A presentation on the history of malaria and DDT, and the recent use and abuse of those stories to flog environmentalists and others on the internet, is set for the Hardin Library for Health Sciences at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, on January 19, 2010 (next Tuesday).
If you’re there, can you snap a couple of pictures to send, and get any handouts, and write up a piece about it?
Here is the press notice on-line:
Presentation on the History of Malaria and DDT
The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society invites you to hear Patrick T. O’Shaughnessy, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, speak on “Malaria and DDT: the History of a Controversial Association” on Tuesday, January 19th, 5:30 to 6:30, room 2032 Main Library. [in Iowa City, Iowa.]
Dr. O’Shaughnessy observes: ”Although it helped prevent millions of cases of malaria after its widespread use in the 1950’s, the pesticide DDT was banned from use in the United States and fell out of favor as an agent to reduce cases of malaria around the world. This history of the events associated with the effort to eradicate malaria, as well as the environmental movement that led to the ban on DDT, will center on the story of a story that incorporated both issues and grew into a modern myth still seen in books and multiple websites today.”
The session is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences stands on the campus in Iowa City.
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
600 Newton Road
Iowa City, IA 52242-1098
319-335-9871The Hardin Library for the Health Sciences is located on Newton Road, directly north of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and approximately 1/2 mile east of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Go here for directions and more information.
Maybe I’m not the only bothered by the usual abuse of history and science on the issues of DDT and malaria.
Note: Tim Lambert notes at Deltoid that O’Shaughnessy is the guy who wrote what may be the definitive work on the famous — or infamous — Borneo Cat Drop. If you live in or near Iowa City, this lecture may be a wise investment of time. High school teachers, your students could benefit, too.
Leave a Comment » | DDT, Environmental protection, Green Politics, Health care, History, History of Science, Hoaxes, Junk science, Malaria, Politics, pollution, Public health, Rachel Carson, Science | Tagged: DDT, Environmental protection, Green Politics, Iowa City, Patrick T. O'Shaughnessy, Public health, Rachel Carson, Science, University of Iowa | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Monckton’s profiteering: Climate denialists rake in the money
January 19, 2010Bizarre as it may seem, the imagined profiteering of environmentalists has becoma favorite complaint of global warming deniers. Ignoring the fact that he’s on the board of Apple Computers and a very savvy investor, and ignoring the facts of his donation of proceeds he gets from lectures, deniers claim Al Gore has gotten rich off of warning people about global warming.
They even complain when researchers get grants to study the stuff, as if the researchers were buying Maseratis and taking vacations to the Caribbean on the money.
How could they think that?
Might it be because the deniers really are pulling in high dollar, luxury fees to campaign against the science? Christopher Monckton, warming denialist extraordinaire, is touring Australia. Comes this little slip of public relations:
During this tour, Lord Monckton will be chaperoned by wealthy mining consultant and geologist Professor Ian Plimer. Lord Monckton will also be getting a fee of $20,000 and all his travel and accommodation – somewhere in the region of $100,000 – will be paid for.
Who might be paying for Monckton’s tour?* China? India? We don’t know, but following Monckton’s lead, we might hope that the western intelligence agencies are investigating Monckton to see just what he’s up to.
$120,000 to make up political smears that damage national policies and science? Mencken would be ashamed.
More:
_____________
* It’s a paraphrase of Monckton, who evilly worried about funding for climate research and ill-funded environmental groups, “Goodness knows where they get it from! Foreign governments, possibly! I don’t know! I haven’t looked. But it’s certainly an alarming question: Are the environmental movements being backed by China or India so they won’t have to compete with us for natural resources because we will have shut our industry down. It’s a question that the security services, I hope, are looking at, because it certainly worries me.”
7 Comments | Climate change, climate_change, denialism, Environmental protection, Global warming, Green Politics, History, Hoaxes, Political Smear, Politics, Science | Tagged: Australia, Climate change, Climate Denialism, Global warming, Green Politics, Hoaxes, Monckton, Politics, Profiteering | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Fly your U.S. flag today, in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18, 2010
King Center poster for MLK Day 2010
Fly your flag today.
U.S. law encourages Americans to fly the U.S. flag on holidays and a few other occasions. Congress set aside the third Monday in January as a holiday to commemorate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
To honor Dr. King, for several years civil rights leaders and others have urged us to find some way to serve our communities on this day — Americans have done it long enough to make it a tradition. Here’s the official find-a-way-to-serve page from the the federal government; look out your window, go spend a few minutes at your city hall, post office, or at the biggest church in town, or walk into any middle school in America, and opportunities to serve will caress you at every turn.
More, much more:
- Obama gives place of honor to bust of King in the Oval Office, St. Louis Post-Dispatch blog; ABC News story
- The King Center homepage
- SMU’s week in 2008 commemorating Dr. King and his visit to SMU
- Enchanted Learning’s page on King (a good resource for students’ report ideas)
- Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute (a stellar resource for teachers)
- Seattle Times special report on King
- Tribute at 56 Rebels (good videos of King speeches)
King, by photographer Ben Fernandez's portfolio of photos from one year in the life of Dr. King, "Countdown to Eternity"
- 2009 MLK Day post at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub (see resources)
- “Arc of History, Under the St. Louis Arch”
- 2008 MLK Day post here
Google's logo for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 2010 - click for more information
Share a dream:
6 Comments | Citizenship, Civil Rights, Flag etiquette, Fly your flag today, History, Holidays, Human Rights, Martin Luther King | Tagged: Citizenship, Civil Rights, Flag etiquette, Fly your flag today, History, Human Rights, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Annals of Global Warming: Bering Strait, choke point and butterfly effect
January 17, 2010From the National Science Foundation, we get more stuff that students in high school ought to learn, stuff which would give the conservatives on the Texas State Board of Education full-fledged conniptions, stuff that just doesn’t fit into Texas’s Teach-To-The-Test™ education standards.
Reading the press release brings home two points to me. First, for the sake of Texas social studies standards, this story tells the physical effects of “choke points.” The Bering Strait limited human migration to populate the America’s, meeting the definition of choke point favored by Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), and this story sheds light on that issue. But it also points out that choke points affect more than just humans. This was a key finding of the President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors that led to a recommendation that we create green corridors favorable for animal migration. In the Bering Strait, it’s migration of ice and cold and warm water that get choked off — and that, too, affects human history. Second, this may enlighten students to the butterfly effect noted in the science we call chaos, where a small physical perturbation in one area can have enormous consequences later, and far away, in the dynamic systems that keep our planet alive. (Yeah, the Bering Strait is bigger than a butterfly. I know.)
Press Release 10-003
Global Ice Age Climate Patterns Influenced by Bering Strait
Small geographic feature has large impacts on climate
Ice is shown choking the Bering Strait in recent times; the ice moves from the strait south to the Bering Sea. Credit: NASA
January 10, 2010
In a vivid example of how a small geographic feature may have far-reaching impacts on climate, new research shows that water levels in the Bering Strait helped drive global climate patterns during ice age episodes dating back more than 100,000 years.
The international study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., found that the repeated opening and closing of the narrow strait due to fluctuating sea levels affected currents that transported heat and salinity in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
As a result, summer temperatures in parts of North America and Greenland oscillated between comparatively warm and cold phases, causing ice sheets to alternate between expansion and retreat and affecting sea levels worldwide.
While the findings do not directly bear on current global warming, according to Steve Nelson, National Science Foundation (NSF) program director for NCAR, they highlight the complexity of Earth’s climate system and the fact that seemingly insignificant changes can lead to dramatic tipping points for climate patterns, especially in and around the Arctic.
“The global climate is sensitive to impacts that may seem minor,” says NCAR scientist Aixue Hu, the project’s lead scientist. “Even small processes, if they are in the right location, can amplify changes in climate around the world.”
The research results are published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Funded by NSF and the U.S. Department of Energy, the scientists used the latest generation of supercomputers to study past climate at a level of detail that would have been impossible just a few years ago.
Hu and his colleagues set out to solve a key mystery of the last glacial period: Why, starting about 116,000 years ago, did northern ice sheets repeatedly advance and retreat for about the next 70,000 years? The enormous ice sheets held so much water that sea levels rose and dropped by as much as about 100 feet (30 meters) during these intervals.
In other cases, scientists have associated such major oscillations in climate with fluctuations in Earth’s orbit around the Sun. But in the time period the research team looked at, the orbital pattern did not correspond with the geologic movement of the ice sheets and associated sea level changes.
The researchers considered an alternative possibility: that changes in the Bering Strait, the main gateway in the Northern Hemisphere between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, might have affected ocean currents across much of the globe.
Although small–the strait is currently about 50 miles (80 kilometers) wide between Russia and the westernmost islands of Alaska–it allows water to circulate from the relatively fresh north Pacific to the saltier north Atlantic via the Arctic Ocean. This flow is instrumental to regulating the strength of a current known as the meridional overturning circulation, a key driver of heat from the tropics to the poles.
Using the NCAR-based Community Climate System Model, a powerful computer tool for studying worldwide climate, the researchers compared the responses of ice age climate to conditions in the Bering Strait.
They ran the model on new supercomputers at NCAR and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, enabling them to focus on smaller-scale geographic features that, until recently, could not be captured in long-term simulations of global climate.
The simulations accounted for the changes in sea level, revealing a recurring pattern–each time playing out over several thousand years–in which the reopening and closing of the strait had a far-reaching impact on ocean currents and ice sheets.
As the climate cooled because of changes in Earth’s orbit, northern ice sheets expanded. This caused sea levels to drop worldwide, forming a land bridge from Asia to North America and nearly closing the Bering Strait.
With the flow of comparatively fresh water from the Pacific to the Atlantic choked off, the Atlantic grew more saline. The saltier and heavier water led to an intensification of the Atlantic’s meridional overturning circulation, a current of rising and sinking water that, like a conveyor belt, pumps warmer water northward from the tropics.
This circulation warmed Greenland and parts of North America by about 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius)–enough to reverse the advance of ice sheets in those regions and reduce their height by almost 400 feet (112 meters) every thousand years. Although the Pacific cooled by an equivalent amount, it did not have vast ice sheets that could be affected by the change in climate.
Over thousands of years, the Greenland and North American ice sheets melted enough to raise sea levels and reopen the Bering Strait.
The new inflow of fresher water from the Pacific weakened the meridional overturning circulation, allowing North America and Greenland to cool over time. The ice sheets resumed their advance, sea levels dropped, the Bering Strait again mostly closed, and the entire cycle was repeated.
The combination of the ocean circulation and the size of the ice sheets–which exerted a cooling effect by reflecting sunlight back into space–affected climate throughout the world.
The computer simulations showed that North America and Eurasia warmed significantly during the times when the Bering Strait was open, with the tropical and subtropical Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as Antarctica, warming slightly.
The pattern was finally broken about 34,000 years ago, the point in Earth’s 95,000-year orbital cycle at which the planet was so far from the Sun at certain times of year that the ice sheets continued to grow even when the Bering Strait closed.
When the orbital cycle brought Earth closer to the Sun in the northern winter, the ice sheets retreated sufficiently about 10,000 years ago to reopen the strait. This helped lead to a relatively stable climate, nurturing the rise of civilization.
“This kind of study is critical for teasing out the nuances of our climate system,” says NCAR scientist Gerald Meehl, a co-author of the paper. “If we can improve our understanding of the forces that affected climate in the past, we can better anticipate how our climate may change in the future.”
In addition to NCAR, the study team included researchers from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, University of Colorado in Boulder, Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Australian National University and Harvard University.
-NSF-
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image [of ice flowing through the Bering Strait, above]. (1.4 MB)The Bering Strait separates the U.S. and Russia by only 90 kilometers. Credit: NASA
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (570 KB)
Altered currents once produced ocean warming (right, dark red) that melted ice sheets. Credit: UCAR
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (680 KB)
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov
David Hosansky, NCAR/UCAR (303) 497-8611 hosansky@ucar.edu
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2009, its budget is $9.5 billion, which includes $3.0 billion provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 44,400 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News: http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media: http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/
Bookmark those sites, teachers.
More:
- Be sure to see Kris Hirst’s posts on Bering Strait and Global Warming, and the Strait as a land bridge
1 Comment | Climate change, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, geology, Glaciers, Global warming, Green Politics, History, oceans, Science, Social Studies | Tagged: Bering Strait, Climate change, geography, Global warming, human migration, Ocean Currents, Science, Social Studies | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Donate to save Haitians, VISA, MasterCard and American Express get rich?
January 16, 2010E-mail from Daniel Mintz at Move-On.org:
As the tragedy in Haiti unfolds, Americans are generously donating millions of dollars to aid organizations.
But when Americans donate to charity with their credit cards, the credit card companies get rich. In some cases they keep 3% of the donation as a “transaction fee,” even though that’s far more than it costs them to process the donation.
It’s outrageous and wrong—and it needs to stop.
Can you sign this petition to the CEOs of the major credit card companies demanding that they waive their processing fees for all charitable donations? Clicking here will add your name:
http://pol.moveon.org/nofees/o.pl?id=18607-5763840-FH68Wgx&t=3
The petition says: “Credit card companies shouldn’t be getting rich off of Americans’ generosity. They should waive all fees on charitable contributions from today on.”
The credit card companies are trying to get ahead of this story, announcing they will temporarily waive the fees they charge on some Haiti-related charitable contributions for the next 6 weeks. But that’s nowhere near enough. Many emergency donations to Haiti will still get hit with hefty bank fees. (To give a sense of how limited the exemption is, Doctors Without Borders isn’t on any of the publicly available lists of charities that won’t be charged fees.)2
All American credit card companies should announce that they will waive ALL fees on charitable contributions, starting today, and going forward for good. This isn’t about helping political organizations like MoveOn, just helping true charitable organizations.
It’s the right thing to do, and honestly, it’s the least they could do after the role they played in crashing the entire global economy last year.But they won’t do it unless they know how angry Americans are that they’re profiting off of this terrible tragedy. Click here to sign the petition, which we’ll deliver to the heads of the major credit card companies:Thanks for all you do.–Daniel, Kat, Peter, Lenore, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. “As Wallets Open For Haiti, Credit Card Companies Take A Big Cut,” The Huffington Post, January 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86028&id=18607-5763840-FH68Wgx&t=62. “Some Card Fees Waived for Haiti Aid,” The New York Times, January 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86030&id=18607-5763840-FH68Wgx&t=7Want to support our work? We’re entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee
2 Comments | Citizenship, Credit cards, Disasters, Financial literacy, Personal finance | Tagged: American Express, Bank Fees, Credit cards, Disasters, Donations, Haiti, MasterCard, Petition, VISA | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 