The "C" Word - that's chemistry of course

Science education sucks

2011-05-19T12:26:00.007-05:00

I don't entirely understand quite why, but I find the commercials featuring vacuum cleaner pioneer and self-proclaimed genius inventor James Dyson particularly irritating. Is it the plummy, unctuous tone of smug, self-satisfaction? Or is it that he is now one of England's richest people by virtue of having made a vacuum cleaner, albeit a fancy techy one. I try to reassure myself that, if I was that well-endowed in the genius department, I would want to leave my mark on something more substantial than a few carpets: a cure for cancer, a solution to the energy crisis, or a new superfood perhaps. I have never driven a Dyson; and I have never been so dissatisfied with the pre-Dysonian era of vacuuming technology to have been motivated to make the major investment in the magic ball; can cleaning carpets really be worth $500? Never has one of Dyson's famous balls graced my shag, and nor will it ever likely do so. Skeptics might be wondering at this stage if this is all a moot point since I never do any vacuuming, but I can assure those doubters that I have wrestled with the process on countless occasions in an ongoing campaign to prove I am more than just a befuddled college professor. My least favourite aspects are the cleaning of the filter (shades of Lady Macbeth - I never knew the old thing had so much dust in it), and the moving of furniture. Evidently I must be in a minority in the Dyson-hating business, since he is awash in loot and, like other genius inventors before him, is now apparently on a mission to save science education.

It has been amply documented that science education in America supposedly sorely lags behind much of the rest of the world. The data show that, although children enter the middle school era in America at least as adept as their foreign competition, by the time they graduate high school they have lagged far behind other countries (and not even advanced ones necessarily) in the key STEM disciplines. It is a source of concern to many in the sciences that the once (and arguably still) technological leader of the world is flunking in the training of its future scientists. Since the future prosperity of the nation depends on invention and technological development, so the story goes, we must do a better job of developing scientists. Although this seems like a no-brainer, as an aside, it is notable the lack of appreciation for and understanding of science prevalent among the nation's political leaders, particularly on the GOP side. Another aside: it has not escaped my observation that many in the science business who trumpet concerns about education stand to profit mightily from the situation.

I have learned that Mr. Dyson wants to change all that, not with laptops or iPods, as others before him have proposed, but with vacuum cleaner parts. Evidently students will be provided with a Dyson kit that they can disassemble and then rebuild into robots and other high-tech gismos. I am reminded of my visit to Tommy Bartlett's Robot World, a can't-miss emporium of technological wizardry, where to my untrained eye it appeared as though the exhibits were all constructed from late 1970's Hoovers. The hypothesis is, I gather, that tinkering with a few Dyson balls will inspire bright young minds to pursue a technical education, thereby saving America from ultimate slavery to the Chinese. Forgive me for being a little skeptical.

Many a tax-payer dollar has been spent in the attempt to improve science education. Most of these efforts, many supported by institutions like the National Science Foundation, have focused on throwing technology at the problem. To date it appears that no significant gains have been made for all the chest thumpings, grandiose schemes, clever widgets and huge expenditures. In the bad old days, our textbooks were dull-looking tomes with only a few line drawings for illustration; our blackboards were black and there was only chalk; the only high technology was a slide-rule; on the other hand our laboratory experiences were probably better since less was known about the tiresome inconvenience of chemical toxicity and proper disposal.

Every chemistry textbook these days has a preface several pages long that explains in depth all the various "pedagogical features" that are going to make students better chemists. I rarely read them. When the textbook vendors ask me what I like (or dislike) about their book compared with others, I struggle desperately to come up with some kind of cogent, objective response. I normally fail. To some degree, at least at the introductory level, paraphrasing the old commercial, chemistry is chemistry. Do we really think that some "unique problem-solving strategy" will make the slightest difference?

I wonder I might have been improved if my textbook had fancy color diagrams and photos and three-column problem-solving sections; if I had access to websites, videos, 3-d graphics, interactive games or even vacuum cleaner parts. Perhaps the problem with science education, if indeed there really is one, lies elsewhere. Maybe all these efforts have been largely in vain, although I have no fundamental objection to making the experience more entertaining, even if that entertainment really has little impact on knowledge or ability.

While the state of education in this country is bemoaned, international students flock to American universities to develop their talents. On that evidence there is little wrong with the product at the top level. Maybe we should take a more laissez-faire approach and be content with the numbers of scientists the system is currently producing, rather than thrashing away trying to craft a silk purse from a sow's ear by converting people into scientists who ultimately won't find positions in the workplace.

What lies beneath

2011-04-10T11:55:00.002-05:00

The savvy cyber professor has been inattentive to his blog of late - like the past twelve months or more - a reflection perhaps of the gradually dawning realization that he really has nothing interesting to say; but there again, nor do most others that litter the internet with their streams of poorly crafted opinions, so why should that stop me?

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I found myself in Anaheim for the March meeting of the American Chemical Society. As an aside I recall it was about four years ago that I started this little endeavour around about the time of the ACS meeting, then in Chicago, with a post about cold fusion making the news (again), which resulted in some interesting and lively comments forthcoming. This time around, cold fusion once again returned to the quiet, dusty, dark shelves of forgotten science.

Green chemistry was one of the theme's of this year's conference, and supposedly the Anaheim Convention Center stakes some claims for environmental awareness and energy efficiency, though a casual observer would be skeptical of just how green given the mountains of brochures, programs, and daily updates that were destined to be occupying a recycling bin somewhere in the vicinity. How soon the paperless conference?

I thought it my moral duty to attend at least one session so as to justify the enormous expense of the caper(thank you taxpayers for your contributions to the National Science Foundation, for without you the SSCP would be confined to the barracks of COD forever; every penny is duly appreciated), so I chose a session focusing on the business aspects, or lack thereof perhaps, in alternative energy sources. Rather depressingly, one of the speakers, who had analyzed the attractiveness of these things from the perspective of the venture capitalist, concluded that none of them was a worthwhile investment apart from smart grid technology. In other words, if you are looking to make money from investing in "green energy," forget it. I pointed out to the speaker that, if the only thing worth investing in was a method to distribute existing energy more efficiently, rather than ways of producing additional energy, then we were in trouble. On a side note, the City of Naperville has rather boldly ventured into the smart grid; a move that has met with considerable opposition from citizens who fear that it represents some kind of invasion of privacy.

This is all a bit of a labored bridge-in to the main point (there is one), and that is a talk presented by some young well-dressed (not a scientist) chap from a company called Green Fire Energy, which is a start-up whose mission is to develop large-scale geothermal energy projects based on carbon dioxide. This approach represents a massive extension of a well-established process: sucking heat out of the earth - an environmentally benigh energy source.

The field of alternative energy is really dominated by three approaches: solar, wind and biomass. The geothermal barely rates a look in; and yet, according to Green Fire, within the bowels of the earth, some 3 - 10 kilometers beneath the surface, just two percent of the energy will supply twentyfive hundred times the annual energy use of America. It is just a question of extracting it. Green Fire's proposal is to use carbon dioxide as the fluid that carries the energy from deep below, through an exchanger, then sending the now-cooled carbon dioxide back down to collect more energy; basically a fridge running in reverse.

While everyone knows the earth is really hot inside, I had not appreciated previously that there are vast oceans of carbon dioxide trapped in various regions deep within the crust - domes in the trade. There is one such region near the Arizona - New Mexico border. This is where Green Fire proposes to put its idea to the test. The carbon dioxide required to transfer the energy is already captive in the ground. They still need to prove that this approach is viable; the concept is simple, but needs to be reduced to practice. This is where the financial world appears to be baulking; investors are yet to be convinced that it will work, and the cost of the proof of principle is very high. It's a bit like prospecting for oil; you drill a well and see what happens. Folks are happy with the odds in well drilling; but in this entirely new technology, while the odds may be similar, the perception is different. So far, Green Fire, despite excellent relationships with the Department of Energy and other institutions, has only raised a few million dollars, way short of what is required to get it off the ground.

The ficklness of investors is well documented. Not so long ago, money was pouring into biomass-based energy. Soon, the investors were complaining that things were not progressing quickly enough, as if commercial processes should be springing up overnight. With the current GOP-driven obsession for reduced government spending, particularly in areas like basic research, and reticence to invest from the private sector, one wonders what is the way ahead for alternative energy sources in this country. Or are we destined to let the entrenched fossil-fuel cartels denude the landscape and foul the air, all because the system is currently designed to favour them?

Beer pairings

2011-03-24T20:48:00.002-05:00

The craft beer revolution is sweeping across America as my faithful reader(s) are all too aware. Dulcie and Aylwin have been in the van of this seismic cultural shift, as evidenced by our first tentative steps at Dark Lord Day (back in those happy times when it was unnecessary to buy blackmarket tickets at Stubhub at $350 per). Indeed, we even starred as the enthusiastic but hapless nubes in a posting on Beer Advocate by some hard-core but very friendly beer geek. A couple of years on the first of our Big Beer Adventures was undertaken to Beervana (aka Portland). Now we are central figures in the Chicago beer scene - in our own minds of course.

Not to be left behind, it seems that Jewel-Osco wants to cash in on the burgeoning beer scene judging by some beer pairing notes posted in the paper that Dulcie brought to my attention. So, for my foodie followers try and determine what beer is being described in each pairing (answers at bottom).

"With its perfect balance of hops and malt, along with a crisp, dry finish, nothing beats a ____________ teamed with cheddar cheese."

"An ice cold ____________ with full hoppy flavors stands up well with a spicy pepper jack cheese."

"______________ sweet caramel notes, citrus aromas and smooth finish pair perfectly with a slice of smoked gouda."

"Pronounced hops and bitterness, along with a refreshing finish, contrast well with peppered goat cheese on a baguette."

With that sort of hyperbole one would be thinking Dreadnaught, Pliny the Elder, The Abyss, Dark Lord, Surly Furious to name a few. Would that Jewel would be offering such jewels; but alack that will only happen in another life (though I note that Tesco offers a very persuasive Imperial IPA brewed by Brew Dog in Scotland - enlightened indeed).

No, alas, these poetic excesses instead are assigned to the following (in order);
Budweiser (hops?), Rolling Rock (hoppy?), Michelob Ultra Amber (no comment) and Stella Artois (hops?). We can take hope here in that the beer revolution has led the Jewel PR folks to discover the word "hops." Progress is indeed being made.

Deja vu all over again - borrowing a phrase

2011-01-25T21:12:00.002-06:00

Chicago is not the only place where candidate shenanigans are happening. April 2011 sees the latest election for the College of DuPage Board of Trustees, which means for the second time in recent years, candidates’ petitions were subject to challenges from their opponents. Last Wednesday, retired professor Gino Impellizzeri, whose name originally occupied the favorable top billing on the ballot, was toppled for the apparent want of a paper clip. Objecting attorney Kory Atkinson, himself a former trustee and familiar to many from the 2009 election’s numerous contentious challenges, successfully argued to the Board Election Committee that Impellizzeri’s packet did not conform to election law because it was not “bound” upon delivery.

Whatever the precise legal meaning of bound, and one notes that the instructions to candidates do not actually give directions as to the manner of the binding, this case gives one to question the point of having laws in the first place. It would be nice to think that they existed to establish a safe, just and orderly functioning of society. However, when it is seen, instead, that laws can be manipulated to ensnare and entrap, and in so doing divert the just operation of society, then it may reasonably be said that the law is an ass.

It would have been nice to think that a majority of the trustees comprising the Board Election Committee could have seen beyond the legalistic gamesmanship at work here, and taken a bold stand for reason and common sense, and, by so doing, would ensure that honest citizens were not deprived from offering their services and residents of District 502 were not denied a reasonable choice of candidates. Regrettably, much like the rich young ruler in Matthew’s parable, they turned away sad.

Hand of God II

2009-11-23T20:43:00.002-06:00

While most of America spent last week worrying about trivia like health care reform and the stuttering economy, Europe was embroiled in a furore over a football match; France had pushed Ireland out of the World Cup by virtue of a goal resulting from a clear handball by Thierry Henri, aging French legend formerly of Arsenal fame. Not for the first time in recent memory had a French star tainted his legacy on the big stage - Zidane's nutting of the Italian at a crucial moment in the last final for supposedly insulting his mother being a more significant moment.

For us English of course any mention of "Hand of God" instantly summons up memories of Azteca stadium 1986 where England succumbed to bitter rival Argentina (remember the Falklands) at the hand, literally, of Diego Maradona in the quarter finals of the World Cup. In that match the first of two goals by Maradona went in off his hand, quite obvious in replays, but apparently obvious to the ref who allowed it. Maradona dissembled afterwards about the goal being assisted by the hand of God. The racist tendencies of the average Caucasian to view Latin footballers as villains and cheats, with one or two exceptions like Pele, were only reinforced by that moment.

There are some in the old country who cannot forgive Maradona for that sleight of hand and believe his legacy is ruined as a result. I do not hold with that view; in fact I bear no grudge against Maradona despite it costing England their opportunity of winning the World Cup once more; we still have to live on the memories of 1966, and frankly that is getting rather old. The critics want to wail cheat, cheat, cheat. Yet they are silent on the dozens of fouls that defenders meted out to skillful players like Maradona to neutralize them. The rules protecting players are much better today, though far from perfect, and the overall skill level is far higher than back then, when thuggery tended to rule the day. In 1966 the naive Brazilians came to England thinking that footballing skill was all that was required. They were kicked out of the cup in part by the Portuguese, who themselves had a sublime player in Eusebio.

So why begrudge Maradona his one little opportune moment to take revenge against the dozens of fouls that went quietly unnoticed. In any event, a few short minutes after the intervention of the "Hand of God." Maradona more than compensated with the finest individual goal I've ever seen (later rated as the FIFA Goal of the Century). Picking the ball up inside his own half he danced through the English defence (for such a talent he was a remarkably one-footed player) before sliding the ball behind Shilton at an improbably delicate angle.

Let's hope that England, having once again secured their date with destiny next summer, will not have to overcome the Almighty again; the likes of Germany, Brazil, and maybe even Argentina present enough challenges.

High priests of denial

2009-11-17T18:09:00.004-06:00

I was taking one the Fit in for its occasional service (I would like to say periodic but that would be an exaggeration; and maybe I could justify the long gaps between oil changes as doing our part to reduce consumption of precious fossil fuels) and had just turned on Moody Bible Radio (WMBI) only to hear the words "Lord Monckton." I almost parted with whatever remained of my Go Lean (but not lightly) breakfast, for I knew that could only mean trouble.

The timing was notable because just the other day I had been listening to a discussion about "Faith and the Environment" from one of my favourite programs, courtesy of BBC Radio Wales and iTunes, "All Things Considered" (not to be confused with the NPR program of that name). The program involved individuals from four faith groups discussing with our mellifluous host Roy Jenkins (who can heal all wounds with a single soft utterance) the importance of climate change on the eve of the big global meeting in Copenhagen. Roy asked each in turn where global warming registered for them on a scale of 1 - 10. While their faiths maybe diverse and perhaps irreconcilably different, their responses were remarkably unified in placing it around 10 or higher. There ensued a thoughtful, intelligent and informed discussion of the future and how people of faith should respond to it. It was particularly encouraging to hear that people primarily motivated by spiritual matters could recognize the importance of dealing with issues of such earthly consequence. I was left with the thought that two things in this show would be unlikely to be heard on a mainstream Christian radio station in America. One was actually having four different faith groups around the table in the first place; you might imagine having a Jew, the ancient connections after all, but Islam no way. Second, the mainstream Christian organizations in this country seem, for reasons yet to be fully understood, to be overwhelmingly aligned with the climate change skeptics, and so hearing church leaders in this country discussing the importance of dealing with global warming in passionate terms would be unlikely, even less likely than the Second Coming unfortunately.

And so this morning on WMBI it was QED; the discourse could not have been more diametrically opposed to All Things Considered. The utterer of the terrifying words "Lord Monckton" was one Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, National Spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance, an organization that describes itself as being "for the Stewardship of Creation." The rest of the spiel followed a depressingly predictable pattern, and the WMBI host was lapping it up like a thirsty hound. In short, according to Cornwall, The IPCC and its scientists are at best incompetent and at worst dishonest (more or less). The "true scientists," the thousands upon thousands we are told that know the real truth that this global warming business is all wrong, are denied a voice at conferences and meetings by the politically motivated IPCC and its cronies. Thus the truth is being suppressed. More than once "Lord" Monckton was referred to in almost messianic terms as being the voice of reason - the voice in the wilderness (but I think that is John the Baptist rather than the Messiah).

In discussing it with Dulcie (also an avid listener to WMBI) we were unable to explain the apparent coalescence of conservative Christianity and climate change denial. What is the motivation here? Can it be an extension of the anti-scientific attitude towards biologists and evolution? Are all mainstream scientists regarded as atheists, tools of Satan, and thus to be distrusted regardless of the issue? Whatever the cause, I find it dishonest that an influential radiostation like WMBI should be passing off propaganda in the guise of reasoned argument.

Americans seem to be particularly susceptible to the dubious charms of fake English gentry (I should know better than most), and the odious Monckton recently made an appearance at the "Free Market Alliance" in Minnesota. I imagine that Garrison Keillor would be having nightmares if he knew how many of his people were lining up to soak up the nutty Viscount's message. The performance is available on YouTube, and he comes across as a more intelligent latter-day Bertie Wooster. Yet, beneath the unctuous, dapper breeding, there is a venom, a nastiness, not to mention fraudulence and fakery. Regarding the banning of DDT, Monckton proclaims, "The left, the environmental left, the intolerant, communistic narrow minded faction that does not care how many children it kills it is campaigning once again for DDT to be banned. Because they do not want children to be born in the Third World. They want as much of humanity as possible, it sometimes seems to me, to be wiped off the face of the planet." Irony indeed that this self-proclaimed champion of the poor is campaigning against policies to limit global warming at a time when the first generation of climate change refugees in Africa are facing an uncertain future as their livelihoods have been wiped out by the very thing that Monckton and his ilk deny. Not exactly sure what Jesus would say about that.

Beware the anti-climate change alarmists

2009-11-11T16:17:00.004-06:00

After sitting through a thoughtful, considered, authoritative exposition of the challenges involving energy facing society in the next few decades given by one of the directors at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Sunday night (the price one has to pay for an expenses-paid trip to SERCh), it was more than doubly depressing to open the Tribune Tuesday morning still bleary from the exertions of the weekend. Dennis Byrne is urging us to beware the climate change "alarmists." Already one knows from the emotive language where this is going.

The director at Oak Ridge described energy as the "defining issue" of our time. It is not difficult to sustain the argument: demand is growing and supplies of the fossil-derived variety are peaking and at some time in the not-too-distant future will decline. That equation represents a terrifying prospect. Adding into the mix the consequences of increasing fossil fuel consumption on climate change presents an even greater need to take action. So why is there such entrenched opposition to the idea of change, particularly among those on the right, even to the point of adopting almost untenable positions in denying the reality of climate change? It boggles the mind, and drives one mad.

As a skeptic about most things myself I can rationalize why we should take action even without necessarily believing the worst prognostications. Ironically, Christian conservatives, many of whom are among the more ardent climate change deniers, might be familiar with the argument. I can apply Pascal's wager equally well to climate change as to faith. If I bet on it being right, but am eventually proved wrong, what have I lost? Nothing. By taking aggressive action to develop "green" sustainable alternative energy sources, the nation will be well-placed to profit when the fossil varieties run scarce. Why would we wish to be beholden, as we are now to largely disreputable oil-rich nations, to other countries for energy because we haven't bothered to invest in their development? On the other hand, as Pascal argued when considering the existence of God, if I bet on it being wrong, but was eventually proved wrong, then I have lost everything. The likes of Mr, Byrne and the rest of them seem satisfied, nay even proud, of taking that wager.

Further reading of Mr. Byrne's column turned up some familiar chestnuts. Firstly there is the sneering demeaning language, characterizing the thousands of hours of work by professional scientists as 'alleged "scientific" evidence...incomplete at best and...manipulated for political reasons'. Rarely, if ever, is scientific work complete as each discovery tends to bring forth new questions. Not even something as successful, long-standing and rock solid as the quantum theory is by any means complete or certain. So, are we to bide our time until "completeness" can be obtained? Of course not. While there are many uncertainties pertaining to the time scale and magnitude of the outcomes, I am satisfied that the consensus of there being a ninety percent probability of the connection between greenhouse gases and global warming being correct is sufficient to merit doing something.

I am further puzzled as to why the likes of Mr. Byrne and others are so convinced that evil politicians are gladly manipulating data for political reasons. Surely it is politically expedient to deny climate change and avoid taking action. Why would governments wish to take the politically unpopular but necessary steps of making changes that will have costs to their constituents?

I note that Al Gore is mentioned, implying that all scientists that are concerned about climate change are Al's disciples. This is just not so. Mr. Gore may have served some value in heightening awareness, but it does not mean that the real science is defective because his film was flawed. Don't tar everything with one brush.

Why was I not surprised to see the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change rear its ugly head in this article. I wouldn't be surprised if it had sent Mr. Byrne the script. In that author's eyes, the NIPCC contains the true scientists and all the rest are clueless nitwits. Mr. Byrne refers in adoring tones to the "two-inch thick volume" called "Climate Change Reconsidered."

The NIPCC is the faux authority ghosted by the Heartland Institute, regrettably based in Chicago that I have chronicled in these pages previously. Interestingly, while Mr. Byrne pours scorn on all the climate change alarmists (all scientists who have concern about the state of the climate), he pours lavish praise in equal measure on the NIPCC folks. He laments that people will not bother to obtain a copy to educate themselves. Really, why would one bother? There is real science and there is fake science. To admit the NIPCC into the same arena would be equivalent to admitting scientific creationists into a discussion about the origins of life; there is no point to it. You can dress nonsense up with fancy graphs and persuasive jargon but it is still nonsense. Who was it who said something about lipstick on a pig?

The tag line in Mr. Byrne's article warns us to beware of any science that claims to fully describe (hate the split infinitive) in single theory any phenomenon as complex as global climate change. Is this being done by the thousands of scientists working on this issue? I think not. Lots of models and lots of arguments are going on. There may be consensus on the overall picture, but I believe that there is very healthy debate about the details. It is the simple-minded that are prone to be conned by the mischievous members of the fake NIPCC.

Food for thought

2009-11-08T20:59:00.002-06:00

After enduring a number of lengthy and largely unproductive sessions sitting on hot, stationery, idling buses waiting for something to happen, the participants in the Second Annual SERCh competition arrived at Oak Ridge National Labs for the evening festivities. Posters were carefully pinned up and the competition furtively scanned. The next agenda item was a tour of one's choice and, having seen the neutron spallation source (spectacular) last year, and having seen a lot of nanoscience stuff (it's really not that special looking), I chose a presentation on super-hydrophobicity. That means stuff that hates water in the worst possible way. Turns out that most materials are relatively hydrophilic - likes water to some degree - so hydrophobic is comparatively rare. Grease is the material we all confront daily in doing the washing up. A super-hydrophobic material is one that makes water bead up into an almost perfect sphere. Our host showed some interesting examples of materials that ranged from the highly engineered to naturally occurring diatomaceous earth. Some amusing little demos were very convincing as to the efficacy of these materials. Trousers made from this kind of stuff would eliminate the need for umbrellas. The group has also been working on transparent coatings; imagine driving in a rainstorm without need for wipers.

After dinner, we were serenaded by a presentation from Jim Roberto of Oak Ridge on energy challenges for the 21st century. The thesis of the talk was that energy is the number one defining issue facing society today. No argument here. He presented matter-of-factly the kinds of data that intelligent, thoughtful people will tend to accept without argument: fossil fuels are not increasing; climate change is a reality. I wanted to stop him and ask why it is that so many wish to be in denial on this. He then laid out the avenues being followed at Oak Ridge and its partners. Solar, cellulosic ethanol, batteries and nuclear (fission and fusion) featured prominently. Notably fuel cells and hydrogen did not. I asked him about this. The response revealed something of the bias that inevitably accompanies these discussions of energy solutions. Quite correctly he pointed out that hydrogen is not a power source but needs to be created; and if there are decent batteries then the need for hydrogen and fuel cells is obviated. Clearly his belief is that "decent" batteries will be made. "Decent" means about an order of magnitude or more improvement over today's batteries. Given the rate of progress over the past thirty years one wonders about the reality of this. A "perfect" battery would perform like a gas tank in terms of weight and time of recharge. Given that the prototype Tesla's battery pack weighs 400 kilos compared with a gas tank's 50 kilos, this seems like an impossible dream.

The pros and cons of all the non-fossil-fuel sources can be debated endlessly. What is not arguable is that the magnitude of the challenge is mammoth. Mr. Roberto's concluding words were sobering. Incremental improvements will not suffice he said, meaning that major breakthroughs are required. The trouble is that science advances mostly on incremental breakthroughs, with only occasional and unpredictable giant leaps intervening. Even when they occur, high-temperature superconductivity being a dramatic example, benefits to society do not necessarily follow. After the giddy talk of levitated railways and endless repetition of the fact that liquid nitrogen was cheaper than milk in the early days of the high-temperature superconductor discovery, decades have now passed and little is to show for all the wonderful science.

This administration has allocated a lot of money to new energy sources. Unfortunately it is impossible to legislate breakthroughs.

SSCP in Oak Ridge II

2009-11-08T08:05:00.000-06:00

Last year my readers will recollect I spent a gruelling tax-payer-funded weekend courtesy of the Dept. Of Energy at the first annual Science and Engineering Research Challenge. Fortunately for me, another student that did an internship at Argonne this past summer had her work accepted for the second annual edition; so off to Oak Ridge I am again. Fortunately flight is at a much more civilized hour and is also direct. I have at this moment navigated TSA without incident, even using a feature of my Crackberry that allows it to be used as a boarding pass; no more battling with recalcitrant machines to try and print one. Espied an interesting sign advertizing "Family Companion Restroom Facility". I'm wondering if this a take on Britain's "Save water shower with a friend" campaign in the great drought of '76.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Fifty thousand satisfied customers

2009-11-05T11:18:00.002-06:00

A small, barely detectable moment in the history of the internet occurred some time in the early hours of the night when visitor number 50,000 to my website was recorded. With my nifty StatCounter I can spy upon the visitors, tracking their locations and what they are visiting for. Recent visitors hail from as far flung places as Perth, Western Australia and Manila, not to mention the U.K. I hope their visits have not been in vain. Now if only the students would visit...

Is that nanotechnology in your trousers?

2009-11-03T19:11:00.002-06:00

I have been tempted to open my lecture on nanotechnology with the subject line above, adapted reverently from the legendary non-quote of Mae West, as a way to grab the audience's attention, but I have lacked the testicular virility, to borrow from that legendary Shakespearean, the Thane of Ravenswood, known to most as disgraced and indicted former governor of Illinois, to complete the line. But I do raise the topic of trousers by way of showing that something as esoteric-sounding as nanotechnology has impacts at the mundane level - if you consider trousers mundane.

The reputation of the Super Savvy Cyber Professor has apparently spread as far and as wide as Del Webb's Sun City, located in far-flung (it's a stretch to call it picturesque) Huntley on Route 47. For I was invited recently to give a talk on the very subject of nanotechnology as part of their monthly series. While I might not exactly be following in Chad Mirkin's mighty footsteps on the lecture circuit, this talk did number my third on this subject, the other audiences being a group of fifth graders and the octogenarian garden club in Wheaton some months past.

Sun City turned out to be a little piece of Florida in Illinois, acres of little white villas set amongst rolling fairways. A sign at the entrance warns of motorized golf carts. I learned that Sun City is home to over nine thousand mature residents. All that appears to be locally available is a solitary Jewel across from the entrance. The clubhouse, wherein I was to present, was, on the other hand, lavish beyond expectation. The audience proved to be attentive and not short on penetrating and probing questions. Would that the youth were so intentional about being informed.

While the current market place for "nanotechnology" is largely low-tech, featuring stain-proofing fabrics (hence the trouser reference), tennis rackets, car waxes and numerous other products that have largely been long in existence and only recently renamed to embrace the nano boom, the real future, I suppose, is hoped to be in much more exotic and useful applications such as healthcare. I imagined that the more senior segments of society would be particularly interested in those. A website called Understandingnano.com lists some twelve companies developing nano products for various health-related applications. These include things like, gold nanoparticles for targeted delivery of drugs to tumors; nanoparticles that, when irradiated by X-rays, generate electrons which cause localized destruction of the tumor cells; disease identification using gold nanoparticles; nanoparticles for improving the performance of drug delivery; magnetically responsive nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery and other applications; quantum dots for medical imaging; diagnostic testing using gold nanoparticles to detect low levels of proteins indicating particular diseases. And that is just a partial list.

Nanotechnology is being hailed as opening up new possibilities for advanced identification of diseases, thus permitting earlier and presumably more successful treatment. Will these new capabilities further complicate the healthcare business? Are we not already prone to somewhat indiscriminate use of test procedures just because someone else tends to foot the bill? Medicine has long been an irresistible attraction to developers of new technology. I suppose it is the thought of huge markets, vast mark-ups and a largely captive audience that attracts them. A couple of decades ago, the laser business descended upon unsuspecting doctors offering improved (and expensive) alternatives to low-tech scalpels in any number of applications. It is probably fair to say that, overall with a few exceptions, the scalpels tended to have won out. Lasers did not deliver on the promises and ended up creating a population of medical practitioners rather skeptical about adopting new technology. I hope that gold nanospheres suffer a better fate. There is genuine hope because they do seem to offer unique approaches, rather than a fancier and more expensive way of making incisions.

Gas laws

2009-10-18T11:54:00.000-05:00

Since I was covering gas laws in a couple of my classes this week, the flight of the silver balloon provided an appropriate punctuation. Living my life as I do in a hermit like existence within the recycled walls of the HSC, I spent Thursday blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding across the fields of Colorado. Only when I visited the fitness center for my constitutional did I start seeing the endlessly-replayed footage of this space-shipped shaped bag hurtling across the skies. By this time the drama was over and the TV station was heavily into trying to justify the blanket coverage of what was ultimately a non-event.

The boy was not in it after all. Thank goodness, or dash it, depending on your point of view.

A bit of research and thought should have led them to draw the obvious conclusion that this was a stunt. The evidence shows this is the family of a nutcase: the father exposes the family to humiliation on wife swap; he pitches an idea for a reality show (doubtless involving him); he names his kid Falcon Heene (that's the most damning); he keeps a large balloon in the backyard. It was hard to gauge the size of the thing but it seemed to me unlikely that it could carry a human-sized cargo. Yet another example of the vast waste of resources expended on non-entities to entertain the masses. Don't suppose many watching would know what Boyle's law states.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

A few green leaves

2009-10-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

Tribune was an interesting contradiction in messages this morning as the cover page was alerting us to the health risks associated with green leafy produce (number one riskiest food according to the FDA), while the Food section extolled the virtues of green leafy vegetables.

What can a poor boy do?

Of the other items on the top ten list, I can accept the presence of oysters; every oyster is in a way a dice with death; it is the only food that I both love and yet fear. Take into account that oysters are pretty small compared with the others, then it's obvious that they are pretty dangerous. Yet there such relative innocents as potatoes and cheese.

I prefer to take the approach that all this agonizing over safety is a waste of time. If one were to follow the guidelines about dealing with fresh produce, one would be consigned to a lifetime of tasteless food: way too much washing. And what is life without a little risk?

It's been a while since I've had oysters.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

What passes for scholarship these days...

2009-10-06T12:04:00.002-05:00

I recently received in my electronic inbox an invitation to attend a scholarly seminar at our "flagship" university, the much heralded, though recently much maligned, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (I would feel better disposed towards the institution if it shortened the name. Maybe a decent football team would also help since I spent a hapless Saturday last enduring an ignominious defeat to the mighty Penn State - should have got more for the $60 per ticket). I realize now the gulf between true scholarship and what passes for it in the lowlier backwaters of the community college, because I found I needed an interpreter and several dictionaries to make any sense of it, if indeed sense was anywhere to be found. I present to you the abstract and maybe ask your assistance in its interpretation.

MAPPING MULTIDIRECTIONAL MEMORY:
THE PROBLEM OF TRANSNATIONAL JUSTICE

by
Professor Michael Rothberg
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"In his recently published book on Holocaust remembrance in the age of decolonization, Dr. Rothberg argues that public memory is structurally multidirectional—that is, always marked by intercultural borrowing, exchange, and adaptation. But such structural hybridity does not imply that the politics of memory comes with any guarantees. In order to continue the urgent task of mapping the political stakes of memory, this talk considers the deployment of the Warsaw Ghetto in struggles for decolonization past and present. Focusing especially on the role of Warsaw memory in the contemporary Israeli/Palestinian crisis, he argues that at stake in articulations of multidirectional memory are divergent conceptions of solidarity, justice, and political subjectivity. This conceptualization of relationality has important methodological implications for transnational studies."

I did not realize that "mapping of political stakes of memory" was an "urgent task." Maybe fixing health care, climate change or the economy are urgent tasks. There again, perhaps I am just not qualified to offer opinions among such luminaries. And they tell me chemistry is hard...

Lacking motivation

2009-09-27T20:47:00.003-05:00

I caught a little article in the Tribune (still clinging on to the sinking ship) about a slightly controversial payout of bonuses to executives despite the decline in revenues (or whatever it was) of about 30%. The justification, we are told, is that these executives need the bonuses as motivation to save the company in its current dire straits. The inference we draw from this is that without these lavish bonuses the executives will lack the desire to do their jobs, for which, I am perhaps naively assuming, they are already being paid a salary, likely of some appreciable magnitude.

From the rarefied air of the boardrooms hermetically sealed off from the tawdry squalor of the working classes, this bonus argument is not uncommon. Have we not heard this from Wall Street in the wake of giant bonuses being handed out to all those cuff link flicking bankers who, in their collective creative genius, had led their various firms to the financial abyss, only to be rescued by the average Joe's taxes. The financial world is evidently resistant to any kind of compensation restraint on the pretext that it would then be unable to attract the sorts of bright young things that it needs to succeed.

I might be inclined to greater sympathy for these executives and their precious bonuses if the same kind of thinking was extended to the ranks of the workers. Why am I not surprised that it does not. While these poor executives are unable to function without the bonus carrot dangling before their noses, the workers (the ones that actually do the work) are subjected to pay freezes or are simply discarded as being an unnecessary expense. The workers, it seems, should be grateful for the slightest crumb that is tossed their way. Methinks the executives could benefit from the same treatment. If they don't want to, I am totally convinced that there are plenty of others equally capable of performing the job for a normal salary.

Reviews are in

2009-09-23T18:53:00.001-05:00

The first reviews of Oppression Bitter are in and are favourable. I have been offered actual money for more. Proved acceptable to someone who doesn't normally drink beer. Not too.bitter but with interesting flavour. Can't complain about that.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Living in community

2009-09-19T08:14:00.004-05:00

You could say that the community college image took a bit of a pasting this week from the combination of a new commedy, Community, on NBC and a lengthy expose of its students struggling with remedial classes in the Tribune. Although the TV show was less about the college than its clueless, venal inhabitants, the producers would never have set the show in a "real" college, although they could find some, Chicago State comes to mind, that would easily qualify. Within the opening minute, the community college's students are identified as losers, drop-outs, divorcees and old people; the lone faculty member in the show (English as it happens) is a drunken wastrel (at least I don't keep open wine bottles on the desk), seemingly prepared to trade exam answers for a decent car - there's a thought... It was quite funny at points, though overall it appeared to have been written in a bit of a rush by teenagers.

The community college shares something in common with the Catholic church's view of the afterlife in that both have purgatory. In the latter, as I divined from reading Dante's book on the subject (Incidentally, I found the books to be increasingly less interesting as one progressed from the Inferno to Paradiso.) the soul spends an apparently unlimited amount of time having the sins purged away using methods unlikely to be found at a spa or even a rehab clinic.

The community college version of purgatory is the more earthly nightmare known as remedial math. In remedial classes, the students have their ambitions agonizingly licked away by the flames of the hot coals of the math placement test. For some, this experience may last an eternity; falling short consigns one to the dustbin of the remedial math classes that do not generate any college credit. For many, the razor blade must seem like a tempting alternative. The article in the paper showed a tearful student celebrating her passing the placement test after hiring a tutor and all-night cramming. Wait a minute: the student's name is Stacey Wolf and she was in my chemistry class in fall 2005! Four years on she was still bashing away trying to pass this math test in order to begin the nursing program. I remember Stacey. I would characterize her as a bright student, cheerful, hard-working and enthusiastic, not by any stretch of the imagination the "loser" that the image generated by struggling with math at community college engenders.

Two questions come to mind. Is the vast army of shades clanking their chains in the 156 sections (that's about 4,000 people give or take) of the various remedial math classes on offer at COD the fault of the community college? Secondly, is too much emphasis placed on the need to pass these math classes in the first place? The second may sound sacrilegious, particularly coming from a practitioner of the physical sciences.

In answer to the first, the fault, if fault it is, lies not with the college but with the high school system that sends its charges out into the college world woefully unprepared to succeed. We can say the same about the high school's preparation for any of the sciences; the standards are just not up to snuff. They say it is not the raw material; students enter the high school system with the same abilities as those from other parts of the civilized globe. They leave it trailing by some margin. What transpired (or not) during those four years to cause the deficiency? Perhaps it has something to do with the teachers? Here is rich irony: I am qualified to teach the teachers, but unqualified to teach the high-school students. In terms of technical content, a person may become a "science" teacher by taking one term of an introductory level community college chemistry class. That seems somehow amiss.

Maybe there is something wrong with the premises that everyone can succeed in math and that everyone must go to college these days. While doubtless a university degree is a good preparation for a successful career, surely it cannot be that this is the future for everyone. For many, their successful career will revolve around relatively unskilled jobs for which no university education is required. Is there not a little disingenuity in establishing unncessarily elevated qualifications for jobs these days (BS in business management to serve at McDonalds for instance)? So why encourage people who are fundamentally unsuited to the task to waste their time in the fruitless pursuit of university education? Is this not driven, at least in part, by the slightly underhand urge of institutions to boost their enrollments and grow in importance?

At least in Illinois, part of the problem is the need to pass a college-level algebra class in order to meet the general education requirements of even just an associate's degree in the arts. Is this justified? I am quite confident that millions of people are leading meaningful, successful, fulfilling careers who could not begin to solve a pair of simultaneous equations; people who would be reduced to gibbering ruins at the very mention of the dreaded letters "x" and "y." I am one of the lucky ones that delights in all manifestation of the simultaneous equation; I have never had a fear of it. I admit to falling short in appreciating fully how x's and y's spell death to many. Yet I know someone who does. Quite well in fact. In all other aspects she is intelligent and accomplished. Yet to her, the math placement test imbues greater foreboding than the prospect of childbirth; it looms as an insurmountable barrier to the completion of a degree. Even to a math lover this doesn't seem entirely right. Meanwhile the college corridors groan with the sound of remedial math students' suffering; and the bookstore shelves bend under the weight of piles of expensive math books. A tidy profit for some.

Butter to the bread

2009-09-16T18:34:00.004-05:00

Saturday was a busy day at Ragged Hand brewery, as the brewing crew, known locally as Dulcie and Aylwin, nimbly shuttled between the bottling plant and the labelling plant, dealing with their first two production batches. In truth, it must be stated that the bottling and labelling plants are about two feet apart in a small corner of the Raintree kitchen. Nonetheless they were as busy as bees in bringing forth their own nectar. The Oppression Bitter had finished its two-week carbonation stint in bottle. One was nervously cracked (there are so many things one can worry about in brewing that make it a perfect hobby for a hypochondriac) with a satisfying exhalation indicating that, indeed, carbonation had been successful. The taste was pleasingly similar to that of an English bitter and, if I had been offered the same in a boozer, I would not have been disappointed. The second batch, a weightier, hoppier double IPA style is now doing its stint in the bottle. A sneak preview from the residue in the bottling bucket was, frankly, of aphrodisiacal proportion. Maybe this brewing thing isn't that hard after all.

It is that time of year, with the sun all-too-quickly lowering in the west when it is once again to venture forth to the cinema to catch a moving picture show. We generally eschew those fancy megaplexes, where it is necessary to park about half a mile from the entrance and navigate one's way through pullulating crowds of disaffected youth, in favour of the homely, downtown familiarity of The Glen, Glen Ellyn's sole contribution to culture. It may well have the worst projection system, the creakiest seats and the stickiest floors, but it is welcoming and intimate, and one can park easily on Glen Ellyn's deserted streets, which are reminiscent of what Naperville once was before it was turned into an outdoor shopping mall. Is there some happy medium to be achieved between those extremes of commercial success and failure? What of it, The Glen lives on, and we enjoyed watching Julie and Julia there on Saturday night.

The film must rank as one of the most feel-good American films of recent vintage and beautifully void of vulgarity, special effects, loudness and all the other nastiness that commercial film makers seem to think are essential components of modern entertainment. It contains the stories set apart by decades of one iconic foodie (Julia) whose restless energy in her postwar life as the wife of a diplomat drove into cooking and a modern blogger (Julie) who is inspired by the former. Julia was driven to write a book that would teach American women how to cook French food, which was something of an unknown quantity back then. For all the abuse the English take from the Yanks regarding the quality of their cuisine, I am quite confident that American cuisine is just as bad, only in larger quantities. Tater-tot casserole anyone? Julia's part of the film maps out the legendary book's lengthy conception. Decades later, Julie takes on the challenge of repeating all the recipes in the book in 365 days and blogs about them setting up one of the many contrasts between life back then and now. As both an aspiring author and (occasional) blogger I found resonance with both characters. Although the characters are given about equal weight in the film, on an absolute scale of importance, Julia towers above Julie. Julie wonders, as I wonder, as should every blogger with any sense of self-appraisal wonder, if what she is doing really matters.

There is of course no such doubt about the importance of Julia's book. Of course, for most women today, it would do little more than feature as a piece of decoration carefully placed in the vast unused wasteland of their "gourmet" kitchen. For many, the inability to cook is worn as a badge of honour, as if the noble art is somehow beneath them, something that poor people have to do to survive. Dulcie should know form having to deal with them in the building of their nauseatingly excessive residences. Gordon Ramsay in one of the "F" word series includes the theme of getting women back in the kitchen; it received some stick for being chauvinistic. Fortunately, Dulcie knows, as Aylwin all-too-well appreciates, that a well-prepared meal ranks as the highest token of love. Pity the idiots, another Julie, that don't get it.

Latin hysteria

2009-09-11T08:05:00.000-05:00

It's F1, it's Monza, it's Fisi in a Ferrari. Dreams can still come true in motor racing. It's closing the curtain on the European season. My last Sunday breakfast with But, Vet, Alo and co. These are the things occupying the SSCP's mind of a Friday. Must not forget to go to class.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Crackberry blogger

2009-09-09T17:40:00.001-05:00

I have learned that I can compose posts using my Crackberry. If only I had something to say...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Summer break

2009-09-09T17:39:00.002-05:00

So I checked in recently to see with astonishment that no posts were forthcoming in the entire month of August. I suppose if F1 can take four weeks off during the summer then the SSCP can be so excused. It is not as if nothing was happening or no ideas were coming to mind. Far from it. But for whatever reason they never quite translated into the written word. I think I have observed previously how some are seemingly capable of daily rants on almost any topic; and in many cases one really rather wishes they weren't. Perhaps with the coming and going of Labor Day and the lengthening of the evening, my hand will turn once more to the keyboard and the entertainment of my legion followers.

This summer was quite a bit different from last in many ways. How quickly issues come and go. Casting one's mind back to Dulcie and Aylwin's Big Beer Adventure across the endless, sweeping vistas of the west, following on the heels of Lewis and Clark and learning more of their epic adventure and complex characters, the central issue was the energy "crisis." The steepling price of petrol, we were told, was a result of mushrooming demand for energy in China and other emerging economies. Cufflink-flashing investment gurus confidently predicted the price of oil would continue its skyward arc. Speculation had nothing to do with it of course. The energy crisis was closely followed by the food crisis and soon pictures of the starving populace holding empty bowls were making the front pages. All this, we were told, was due to the unreasonable demands for biofuels pushing up the prices of grain. It had nothing to do with speculation of course. Almost before I had time to design the wind turbine to mount on the Raintree roof, the crises evaporated amidst the spectacular disintegration of the financial markets - which had nothing to do with speculation of course.

Barely a squeak has been heard about energy or off-shore drilling since; the starving millions must have their food again; the $200 barrel of oil got closer to $20. On top of that, the unusually mild summer in many parts may have many wondering if this global warming thing is real after all. More on that down the road perhaps.

The issue du jour this summer has been healthcare reform. I have my opinions on that, as any Super Savvy Cyber Professor should. As I await the return of my computer from the grave, I may share them.

Going net-zero quite net outlay

2009-07-29T15:14:00.002-05:00

You can tell there is something of a lull today as I am offering up a second item in the space of less than two hours. I have been weighed down with a certain guilt that I haven't been entertaining my readers at quite the frequency with which they have become accustomed. I came across a nice little article last week in the Tribune about a "net-zero" house in Chicago. For the uninitiated, a net-zero house is one that in energy does just what it says: consumes no more energy than it produces, and may in favourable circumstances be a net producer. Cool n'est ce pas? Needless to say the house is suitably architecturally stimulating and also quite expensive - about $1.6 MM for a modest (according to the single occupier) 2,675 square feet. Compared to the vulgar monstrosities of excess that Dulcie provides for her well-mortgaged clients it is modest. I have heard couples wailing at the prospect of 5,800 square feet (8 bathrooms if you please) just not being enough these days.

The energy generating sections include solar panels (of course) and geothermal. There are green rooves (roofs in this country; I guess we could have a debate about that, Firefox none too happy with my word selection), things where stuff is growing to provide insulation and do its little bit for global warming. Inside there is energy-efficient lighting (of course), no plasma TVs, radiant flooring and air recirculation. Just for grins there is also a "gray water" system that diverts the washing machine water into the lavs.

It's all very lovely and would that I were a 44 year-old pharmacist (is that why so many students want to get into pharmacy?) able to afford its spendours. Would that we all could. The question is, is this a realistic vision for the future of housing? We are still waiting for the cost of solar to decrease relative to other energy sources. Will it ever? Would photovoltaics ever be workable in an apartment building where the surface area to volume ratio is a lot smaller? Meanwhile let our architects indulge our energy-conscious, well-heeled brethren. Far better that than the odious piles now losing their value by the million.

The lost tribologists of Argonne

2009-07-29T14:06:00.002-05:00

I received the grim news that tomorrow marks the last of our "casual Thursdays," which can only mean one thing and that is summer is coming to an end. Yet one feels that it has hardly started. I wanted to spend a bit of time visiting my student interns in their various environments; last Friday I high-tailed it down to Bloomington Normal to see the students at Illinois State; yesterday I went to visit Ellen Briggs at Argonne. A slight thrill of nostalgia as I entered once more through the visitor center, three long summers have I spent there, but not three long winters thankfully.

I discovered that Ellen was working with a group involved in developing oil additives. Her project was looking at using naturally occurring minerals as lubricants, rather than the conventional synthetics, the idea being that whatever comes from nature can return to it without harming it. One may argue the validity of that argument I suspect. In any event, she showed me round her little kingdom, wherein she makes various tribological measurements of scuffing and friction and so on. Tribology is one of those subjects (apparently unfamiliar to Firefox since it is questioning my spelling) that I have always been vaguely aware of but not known anything about. I joked to Ellen that from the sound it smacks of something anthropological. It turns out I'm not alone in that thought. Later I learned from the group leader that the DoE bureaucrats told him to find a new name in funding proposals because there were always questions about why DoE should be funding Native American research.

I noted that the stimulus has struck home at Argonne because the roads were all asunder in a massive resurfacing project, the first since about 1957 I wouldn't wonder.

My own private Ventoux

2009-07-15T12:59:00.004-05:00

One rite of summer that occupies three precious weeks in July, as Dulcie has unavoidably become nauseatingly familiar with, is the Tour de France, or more simply "Le Tour." All other televisual activities, F1 excluded, become subordinate to the daily couple of hours devoted to a stage on VS (the station formerly known as OLN). So conditioned has she become to watching Le Tour, or in her case more like enduring it, that she expresses surprise when "bicycles" (Le Tour in Dulcie-speak) are not on. "It's a rest day." I might reply patronizingly.

The odd thing about my fascination with this event is that I don't ride a bicycle; I don't even like them; I'm even slightly afraid of being on one. As a student at Oxford I was one of the few without one. A bicycle was central in a long-since-forgotten brush with the long arm of the law. Yet every summer, on that first Saturday in July, I am geared for the prologue (Stage 1). This year it started in Monaco, with the finish using the same piece of harbor front that the F1 cars pound round at nerve-tingling speed. The slightly more sedate pace of the bikers allows the viewer to observe that there actually is a swimming pool on that series of bends. Not that the bike riders are any the less brave than an F1 driver: watch these chaps descend off one of the high peaks down a series of hairpins to get a measure of their cojones on the bike.

There are two things to savor when following Le Tour. One is the complex, fascinating, convoluted, fluid strategy playing off the often opposing ambitions of individuals and the teams they ride for. In general a team has one leader to whom the other team members sacrifice their own personal goals, except on those days when opportunity might present itself. There are Tour super-objectives (winning the Maillot Jaune, the green jersey etc.); and there are daily stage objectives. Only a chosen few have any hope in the first category; but in the second one, history shows that almost anyone can have his day and define a career in the process. The second reason for watching is simply the scenery; all that hyperbole about the beauty of France is annoyingly true: ancient ruins, beautiful churches, beyond-quaint villages, vistas of yellow, jagged peaks and on and on.

So you might be thinking that I'm one of those Johnny-come-lately Lance worshipers. In truth, like John the Baptist, I came before him - not exactly making a way though. For I have been an addict since turning on to watch Indurain (then 5-time winner) crack in the mountains in 1996. A youthful Jan Ullrich finished second that year, and won it the next, the first of many it was thought. That was until a certain cancer survivor arrived on the scene in 1999, with neither fanfare nor expectation. In the prologue that year, Lance rode like a "man on a mission" as Phil Liggett described his awesome display in seizing yellow on his very first day back. Paul Sherwen later gushed "He has come from the gates of death to ride like a Trojan at the head of the Tour de France." Paul should know; he knew him back when. Much more thoroughly justified hyperbole has followed. Whatever might be said of Lance's less-than-amiable personality, his achievements stand alone in the sporting pantheon.

So as I head out for my own modest constitutionals, the images of Le Tour accompany me. The hill up to Thornhill on the west side of the Morton Arboretum (the Arb in Dulcie and Aylwin speak) becomes my own private Mont Ventoux, that terrifying moonscape peak in Provence (toujours Provence n'est ce pas?) that faces the riders on the penultimate stage this year. The Ventoux will make or break the contenders or so it is hoped: the ultimate stage on the penultimate day. Upon that stony slope decades ago Tommy Simpson collapsed and died, his alleged last words being "Get me back on the bloody bike." These chaps are driven. Sometimes too far, as Simpson was one of the early victims of performance enhancing drugs. It's not just a modern problem.

Cap and trade

2009-06-29T14:39:00.004-05:00

Some time Thursday or Friday I received an anxious e-mail from somebody at Environment Illinois urging me to call my congressman (woman in my case) to exhort them to vote for the new emissions bill. As it happens, my phone call was not needed because the The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) (aka the Waxman-Markey bill) was passed by a slender margin of 219 - 212. Onto the Senate it now trundles to what end we shall see. I doubt if my phone call would have had much impact as my congresswoman voted against it, and I doubt that my little voice would have swayed her. So, while she is all for earmarks for green fuel depots in Naperville (many thanks for that), Ms. Biggert is less persuaded by the proposed legislation for curbing carbon emissions on a national scale.

There are several questions, at least a couple being exactly what is a cap and trade system and will it have any effect? I have long been a bit mystified by the whole concept of cap and trade and how it could be preferable to a more direct approach such as simply setting limits and/or taxing emissions. As I understand it, there are annual targets of emissions established on a downward slope with the goal of achieving some ambitious reduction (17 % by 2020). Individual producers will be able to exceed the limits only by purchasing credits, which, in order for the system to function effectively, will be sold by those who have reduced their emissions below the established standards. Thus the cap and trade establishes economic incentives for industries to lower their carbon emissions. At the same time it accommodates those that can't or won't reduce their emissions, but a cost is imposed upon them.

There are already some free-market versions of the scheme floating about. For example, we have our very own Chicago Climate Exchange, which is a voluntary exchange operating a cap and trade system for greenhouse gases. According to their website, CCX emitting Members make a voluntary but legally binding commitment to meet annual GHG emission reduction targets. Those who reduce below the targets have surplus allowances to sell or bank; those who emit above the targets comply by purchasing contracts. The contracts are priced by the metric ton of CO2. The data show that the price has fluctuated wildly over the past few years (data begin in 2004) from a floor of about $1 a ton to a high of over $7 last summer. The bursting of the energy crisis bubble appears to have caused a similar deflation of the contract price. Good for polluters I guess. So why would anyone want to join an exchange like this? A review of the members reveals some interesting things. One brewery, New Belgium has signed up; beer drinking environmentalists should now flock to Fat Tire. There are just two coal mines, but quite a list of electric power producers. The longest list comprises participant members that represent "offset aggregators." They sport names like Carbon Green, LLC, Carbon Logic, LLC, Climate Bridge Ltd. and so on. I suppose these companies have all sprung up with the intent to make money on the regulation of emissions. If they invested last year at $7, then things are not looking good currently. On the free market, it is a polluter's world right now. And even then, there is no compunction to participate.

Critics have claimed that the cap and trade system will lead to an increase in energy prices. This of course is true if the sources of energy are carbon-based; and since some 80% of the current energy is carbon-based there is little likelihood of the sources changing to non-carbon sources any time soon. They say this is a bad thing for the economy and that prices will rise for consumers. Undoubtedly, yet that surely has to be the outcome if the objective of reducing emissions is to be accomplished at all. There are two alternatives: one, to replace all the carbon-based fuels by alternatives (or renewable carbon fuels); two, reduce consumption (drastically) of carbon fuels.

The critics further argue that the price increase will drive industries overseas to locations where energy is cheaper. It's a fair point, but industries have been becoming globalized for decades now for cost reasons, notably labor and materials.

The biggest question is whether or not the current legislation will be effective in reducing emissions. Many are skeptical. For one thing, the bill could not have passed without a host of compromises (the essence of politics being compromise - or quid pro quo). To that end, accommodations have been made for the coal industry. Since coal is both the most important fuel in electricity production and the most carbon-intense, there is little chance of significant progress unless there is a radical change in the coal business. While saying the right things by environmentalists, the new king of Camelot has not forgotten the lobbyists for the coal producers. Mattoon may again be the host for the once-and-Futuregen project for "clean coal." The talk is all about carbon sequestration and how it will revolutionize the coal industry, transforming it into an environmental friend. Even if it is technically successful, questions about cost and time required to implement on a national scale remain. I cannot believe it can be implemented without a massive price increase being incurred. How could it be otherwise? Oh, and wasn't there recent approval of that environmentally devastating coal mining technique that involves blowing the tops of the hills to expose the coal?

Meanwhile, I'll start hoarding CO2 credits.

Proton accelerator hits the brakes

2009-06-19T08:46:00.002-05:00

Just checked in to the blog and was shocked to find last posting was two weeks ago. What has the idle bastard been doing I hear my dwindling readers asking; after all, it is the summer and we all know that academics do nothing over the summer. At least that is the impression I get from students as they depart the spring term with the farewell, "Have a great summer!" What, like I'm going to spend it idling on a beach somewhere? Au contraire of course: your (Super) Savvy Cyber Professor has, as is ever his wont, a plate filled to overflowing with summer assignments; working at Argonne, as I have the past three summers, is not one of them unfortunately. (Of course I am writing this while watching practice for the British Grand Prix (weather appears uncharacteristically summery there), Friday morning - but that is because of the decision taken by the higher powers to close the college from Friday through Sunday. No comment.)

So much has been written in the papers and elsewhere the past few weeks that really demands a response, and I have been slightly frustrated at my lack of productivity. Around about the time I saw the article about the Green Fuels earmark, there was another one concerning Northern Illinois' beleaguered proton therapy center. It appears that the economy has impacted the funding for its construction. It was about a year ago that we were having meetings with Northern and Argonne about developing the workforce to man the accelerators that were about to sprout like mushrooms in the DuPage landscape. The cynic in me surmised that the whole exercise was motivated by Argonne's bid to land the huge Rare Isotope facility (FRIB), and that the "educational" interest was designed to flesh out their proposal. It's a familiar role for the community college professor: that of being added to other institutions' proposals to enable them to land large grants, from which a few crumbs are handed down. (What is rare about the undergraduate research NSF grant that I'm involved with is that the roles have been reversed: the primary institutions are the community colleges, while the partner 4-year institutions are subordinate.)

Not surprisingly, when the FRIB project sadly went to its (probably rightful) home at Michigan State, the dialog ceased; not a single meeting involving the parties has been held since, despite the fact that the educational needs were supposedly far exceeding those of the FRIB.

As an ironical footnote, it appears that the other proton therapy center being built by Central DuPage Hospital, close enough to the NIU version that the evanescent fields of the beams will actually overlap, may be finished first. In a rather churlish move, and one rather counter to the spirit of championing technology and boosting demand for education, NIU had lobbied aggressively against the CDH project on the grounds that a second unit in such close proximity was unnecessary.

Of green fuels and earmarks

2009-06-05T08:00:00.006-05:00

I was distracted by an article in the Tribune last week about some corruption-tinged lemon of an expensive plant in Chicagoland that was supposedly designed to convert human waste into fertilizer. Now the community that ordered it are hoping that the test runs fail so they can get out of the contract (with a former community official of course). I originally missed a much more important article about a proposed "green fuels" depot in Naperville with which the SSCP has more than a passing interest. One of my loyal readers (perhaps the only loyal reader) later alerted me to it. You can read it here if you so desire

In short, a small but energetic company in Naperville called Packer Engineering, which lies in the shadow of the (former) Amoco Research Center (where of course the SSCP once plied his trade) has developed a fledgling technology for converting yard waste (leaves, cornstalks and the like) into "syngas" - a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Instead of the old-fashioned approach of lighting a big bonfire and converting leaves into less than useful carbon dioxide (bad) and water, or finding some place to dump them all so they can quietly rot, this approach actually inputs chemical energy into the waste which can later be extracted in a number of useful ways. The products could be burnt and converted into electricity; the hydrogen could be separated and used to power fuel-cell cars; the syngas could be converted into alcohol fuels for use in conventional engines. At least one enlightened member of the Naperville City Council thinks it would be a cool thing for the city to be associated with and so the idea of a "green fuels depot" in Naperville was born. Throw Argonne National Lab and its transportation research and COD and education into the mix and that is what we have.

One slight problem remaining is actually paying for it. Despite the vast oceans of wealth (debt?) sloshing around the vulgar excesses of Naperville's bespoke subdivisions, it is unlikely that the citizens would be entirely happy about $12MM of their money being used to finance this experiment, even though it would represent a massive assuaging of their collective green guilt. And that is where the earmark comes in. Congresswoman Biggert has requested a nearly $5MM earmark to fund this project. Some months ago your loyal scribe spent a morning engaging in some low-level lobbying at her office in Willowbrook. Earmarks are those things that normally get one all riled up at the waste of public money in pet projects; bills slide through the system laden with welters of earmarks for often irrelevant special interests. So, should we be praising the congresswoman for the financial support of what is a really cool project, or getting upset at the use of public funds to do it? After all, every NSF grant is an application of taxpayers' money. Is an earmark different from writing a proposal to NSF?

University of Clout

2009-06-01T16:21:00.002-05:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks or so for the president of the flagship university of this state, B. Joseph White. First there was the business of the bonuses paid to staff who had worked on UIUC's less-than-stellar performing Global Campus, an online entity that was expected to attract thousands of eager students from all over the place. As it turns out, only a few hundred ever signed up. That is interesting in of itself, because there is a perception I think that online is the way to go to boost enrollment by reaching a wider audience at minimal cost to the institution because facilities are not required to house these additional students. At the COD, for example, there appears to be only one way forward. Online. The online course appears to be the educational analog of a community's opening a casino to raise revenues. It seems to be the first option regardless of whether or not it is the best option, or even a good option. Forget about the question of whether the quality of the educational "product" compares (presupposing that it can even be measured reliably) with the traditional delivery. The first question is whether or not students really want this approach. Aside from exceptions such as folks trudging around Afghanistan, I'm thinking that most do not.

More embarrassing for the president has been the pounding lately handed out by the Tribune in one article after another regarding special admissions deals for students with clout. With offspring currently at Illinois' jewel in the educational crown and maybe another on the way, I was more than a little interested in this story. Of course, why should we be surprised. I mentioned it to Alan and even he, a mere youth unsullied by the ravages of time, displayed alarming cynicism by responding that it probably happens everywhere. He is regrettably probably right, which of course does not make it right. Armed with mountains of documents detailing the admissions favors doled out on behalf of students with the right connections, the university could hardly deny it. However, the president made a revoltingly dissembling response to the revelations on Friday.

Dulcie observed in her usual acerbic fashion that it simply proves that the whole college experience is nothing more than joining a club so it can be added to the resume. Why would people who don't warrant it on merit, and who are unlikely to succeed academically, want to go there at all? Because the only thing that matters is that they can stamp their passport and later wave it in front of prospective employers. University should be a whole lot more than that.

Dawning of a new era

2009-05-26T13:09:00.003-05:00

Wow, it's hard to believe it's been three weeks since my last rant! Where has all the time gone? There has been a lot to talk about but regrettably little time to talk about it in, unless it has been an extreme case of lassitude on my part. Maybe.

Today is the beginning of the summer semester, and your SSCP finds himself administering chemistry laboratory experiences to a doubtless eager group of students for the next ten weeks. There is nothing particularly of interest in that intelligence except that the new semester is beginning in our brand new science building that is now open for business. I have already been acclimatizing myself to my new room (with a view) over the past week or so. Now a distant memory is the 9 x 9 cell that reverberated like a ship's engine room whenever the AC was in full flow. That was usually accompanied by an icy blast emanating from the ceiling vent that necessitated wearing warm clothing on the hottest of summer days. Now my Akea-like office affords a pleasant third-floor view of the prairie area of the campus; with a suitable set of powerful binoculars I could spend those quiet office hours bird watching.

The end of the spring term was rife with activities. I have already bored my readers with a lengthy account of the BoT changing of the guard and the antics of the black-shirted Objector and his gang (more to come on that by the way). A couple of days after that I attended the annual grants lunch event, which honors those involved with grant writing with lunch prepared by the culinary arts program. It is one of the few lunches worth attending at COD. I always feel like I'm participating in a taping of Hell's Kitchen or something, since you can see the food being prepared on any of several screens around the room. The only thing missing is a chef going totally berserk; in fact everything happens in quiet, orderly calm. The only other thing missing is a glass of wine to set off the generally excellent cuisine. This year was special because, though modesty renders me hesitant to make mention, your scribe was honored along with two other members of the sciences for work in getting NSF funding. Although it really shouldn't matter, it's encouraging to get a little recognition every now and again.

A few days later, we held our final meeting of the year for the Undergraduate Research Collaborative (funded by the NSF incidentally) where the participants presented posters of their work. Some fifty or more students from the member colleges were there, along with their faculty members. Regrettably, lunch this time consisted of something pre-packaged in a cardboard box, with an apple that appeared to be deep-frozen with the mechanical strength of a cannonball. The SSCP scored big-time by getting both the president and a board member (Sandy Kim) to put in an appearance. The NSF evaluator was suitably impressed.

Tweeting from the Board Room

2009-05-05T07:37:00.002-05:00

I thought that the COD board room would lose its allure after the April election and the vanquishing of the gang of four. How wrong was I after first the April meeting and, last night, the supposedly ceremonial transfer of power meeting. There was more drama than an episode of the Hills, which I missed in order to witness the swearing in of Sandy, Kim and Nancy. We should have expected the deposed not to exit with grace and decorum, but I think we were all surprised by the show put on by the Objector and his Roselle rent-a-crowd. At the last meeting, the shameful gang on the old BoT endured 42 minutes of non-stop carpet bombing from community members, wave upon wave of skewering comments mercilessly exposing the self-interest and contempt for shared governance. This time the friends of the Objector came armed for a fight. The result was something like being at a Cubs-Sox game or like in the Wrigley Field of old, the drunken denizens of the bleachers would yell "right field sucks!" and back and forth.

The Objector and his friends were readily identified by black teeshirts emblazoned with "Stop faculty pay to play," summoning up images of the epoch-making November board meeting when the students wore their black teeshirts in protest at the new policy designed to make the president boss of the student newspaper. Unfortunately, unlike the students, these people did not put duct tape over their mouths and stand in silent protest. Rather, they trooped up to the microphone one after another and enunciated over and over again, I.E.A. - N.E.A. Union, union, union...The vanquished LeDonne was there too, not sporting a teeshirt at least but, in the spirit of a sore loser nonetheless(how did a seemingly well-spoken, relentless campaigner like him score fewer votes than candidates who uttered not one word nor make a single appearance during the entire campaign?), posing as a representative of the "tax-payer," exhort the new board members, "bought and paid for by the faculty," to recuse themselves from any votes over faculty contracts. As Lisa Higgins quietly pointed out later, the vanquished McKinnon was supported by the IEA and no one had ever asked the same of him.

The highlight was when the Objector, newly minted as a member of the community, his turn as appointed BoT attack dog done, making his own public comment to the new board, turned it into a bit of a circus. Wearing his black teeshirt proudly, he held aloft giant fake checks that purported to show how much money "we" had spent on electing our candidates. It was like something out of a TV show. On his exit he muttered warnings about the prosecutors knocking on the door.

The excitement was not only in the public comments and the ridiculous spectacles people were prepared to make of themselves (Objector number one by a mile in that regard, although a "student" similarly clad in black rivaled him for imbecility of language - since when is being thoughtful and intellectual such a crime amongst conservatives?). The new board struck unexpectedly swiftly and moved to undo some of the havoc wrought by the vanquished by tossing out (rescinding I should say) the reviled policies bulldozed through at the previous meeting. It was a 4-3 vote (I think we may see a lot of that), holdover from the previous board Carlin warning the new members, to hoots of derision from the audience, of acting overly hastily in these matters. With such people, irony is beyond them.

The whole evening was so enthralling, I Tweeted away furiously on my new Crackberry. Later I reviewed how bad my spelling was in the subdued light; my followers must have thought I was drunk. In a way I was; such nights are rare.

Tweeting from the board room: last night for the vanquished bots.

It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't all thick as posts and boring. Stupid veiled threats

The Objector's rentacrowd keeping me from my dinner.

The Objector is the chief clown, wearing his stupid shirt and now waving giant fake checks showing how much we apparently paid the election

New BoT strikes quickly.

ABOR in the dock: maybe it's going away. Tension amounts.

New board order: four (mostly balding) angry old men slink away; four women take their places.

BoT etiquette: the Objector wearing a shirt saying "stop faculty pay to play" this is shared governance! Sore loser.

ABOR supporter confident that registration will soar as a result of COD adopting Horrorwitz. Ask students whose tuition just doubled...

I thought the election would end the fun. Far from it. Sparks flying once again. Watch the highlights on COD website.

Mr. Goodforillinois in attendance; the lone blogger is running for guvnor!!! Is this the best that the GOP can do? Yikes.

The Objector wearing an anti-faculty teeshirt. Poor loser.

What's in your water

2009-04-29T22:56:00.002-05:00

A substantial part of the time with my chemistry 1105 class is spent developing awareness of the role of chemicals and chemistry in the environment. This in some ways is an exercise in marketing, for most people chemistry has a negative connotation.

A few minutes spent in Wholefoods will explain why that is the case. The words "natural" and "organic" appear everywhere, whereas the presence of anything "chemical" is hotly denied. This is of course a nonsense as we proceed to explore. All matter is made of chemicals, and there is no shame in being addressed as a chemical. On the whole, chemicals synthesized by men have done a lot more good than harm.

Still, the papers have been replete with stories about the venality of communities and companies in their dealings with chemical waste. First there was Crestwood where, according to records obtained by the Tribune, water was distributed from a local well even after it was shown to contain unacceptable levels of chlorinated solvents. To think that the solvents I used to wash the grease off my hands when working on the car are now not tolerated at any detectable level in drinking water. I'm still waiting for the second head to appear. Although it appears that the city officials were informed by the local EPA that the water was contaminated, these guardians of public health omitted to inform the citizens. That apparently is the norm in Illinois, and entirely fitting with its wider reputation of corruption, patronage, cover-up and deceit. (As a side note, I can see why some citizens are activists for greater transparency, and one such visited himself upon the college (forthegoodofillinois) demanding greater transparency; and the good board responded by publishing all our salaries on a website that cost $20,000. I'm not convinced that it has really done much to improve government in Illinois; but if you think otherwise I'm happy to listen.) The citizenry of Downers Grove were similarly kept in the dark about the chlorinated solvents in their wells, until they were told not to use them. Amusingly, the mayor of Crestwood is trying to tell the residents that the water was tested to be safe, despite the records obtained by the Tribune to the contrary.

Yesterday there was an update about the radioactive contamination in the DuPage river in Warrenville, originating from a Kerr-McGee plant in West Chicago that closed in 1973 - this was before Silkwood, made famous by the film with Merryl Streep. I had heard about the contamination when I first moved here twenty-five years ago (don't think about it); now, it appears that the cleanup has been compromised by the bankruptcy of the firm Tronox that was responsible for the job. Just exactly how unsafe the situation is is of course difficult to judge.

In yet another environmental story, political junkie John Kass strayed from his traditional lambasting of Chicago or Illinois politicians to discuss a recent bill that sailed through the Illinois house that permitted the dumping of building waste in old quarry sites rather than landfills. Mr. Kass suggests that the bill is motivated in large part by the city of Chicago's desire to prepare for the Olympics; the debris associated with that project will be more readily be disposed of in neighboring quarries than shipped to landfills further afield. Juxtaposed with the Crestwood case about contaminated well water, the exposure to greater risk of contaminating water by dumping in quarries seems rather odd. Yet, as Mr. Kass points out, the Environmental Law and Policy Center has been oddly silent on the matter.

Shame at last

2009-04-28T23:12:00.002-05:00

Just the kind of headline you don't want to read when grappling with the morning's Go Lean (but not lightly). Fortunately the distance from breakfast table to lavatory is short. Thanks to the actions of the dead meat BoT approving the highly contentious ABOR board policies (see earlier posts for further details) the Horowitz PR machine has launched into hyper-drive. I was greeted by the headline, "Historic Victory for Academic Freedom at College of DuPage" on FrontPageMag.com.

You can, if you wish, read the whole thing; I was in two minds about providing the link; why give free publicity to this mob? The triumphant crowing is almost too much too bear: "victorious chapter...storied history of the Academic Bill of Rights." Wait, the following sentence states that the COD is the first (note again the first) campus to adopt the ABOR. Scarcely a storied history, more an exercise in futility. More fool the COD for being the first - a community college, in one of the most conservative areas of America. Reading further, " ...the DuPage Faculty Association (a unit of the National Education Association) launched a hysterical misinformation campaign in an attempt to derail the bill..." I suppose that includes my own measured thoughtful comments about the wisdom of the college inviting all the adverse publicity for really very little.

Not surprisingly, the appointed trustee who spearheaded the whole exercise in costly, divisive irrelevance made one final quote prior to riding into his Roselle sunset: “The adoption of the Academic Bill of Rights as official college policy demonstrates the commitment the College of DuPage has for the academic freedom of its students,” said DuPage Trustee Kory Atkinson. “The College exists for the betterment of its students and our students now have the explicit assurances of academic freedom that they are paying for and that they need to flourish.” This trustee had hosted the curious non-event that had been the ABOR champion's stealth visit to the COD in April.

While they may crow, it often pays to remember the old adage about he who laughs last. We await with interest to see what the new BoT (four of the six that voted for that historic moment have been vanquished) will do about it.

Green slime

2009-04-26T13:11:00.002-05:00

While washing the dishes this morning after a frenetic Bahrain Grand Prix (what possesses people to live in a giant sandpit?) I took opportunity to catch up on some podcasts from NPR's Science Friday. Despite Ira Playdough's slightly irritating voice, the program's are usually informative and interesting. This one discussed the future of algae as a source of fuel and food. Some of my own students have been attempting to grow the blighters in order to extract oil to convert into biodiesel. This has proved somewhat more challenging than originally envisaged. While the potential is there, I suspect that the quantities of algae required to replace a significant fraction of the fossil fuel consumption are mind-bogglingly enormous, which translates into the areas of water required to culture them equally daunting. Nonetheless, research into algae is proceeding at a pace as frenetic as that of Jenson Button in his (third) winning drive.

One of the guests on the show was the director/curator of perhaps the largest library of algae in the United States, which is housed at the University of Texas, Austin. I discovered this self-same institution when roaming the internet in search of a source of Chlorella for the students to culture. We have since purchased a number of different strains from UTEX, which possesses a dizzying array of these things. Like any good library, the history of each strain is painstakingly documented; some of them can be traced back decades. Papers published using the strain are faithfully noted. For the neophyte like myself, making a purchase is a bit like throwing a dice.

One of the things we have discovered with algae, and I suspect some of these companies interested in turning them into energy sources have also discovered, is that they aren't as easy to grow as you might think. After all, you find them floating in and on all kinds of unpleasant, unsanitary looking bodies of water; but in the laboratory they are a lot more finicky, or so it seems. Media have to be just so; each strain comes with a recommended medium for its growth. Sterilization is also essential - a bit like home-brewing beer (an activity that the SSCP is poised to undertake but is yet to bite the bullet - fear of failure holding him back). A lot of the time we have ended up with some exotic but thoroughly disgusting concoction of multi-colored slimes, liberally adorned with all sorts of foreign molds (moulds? I never can remember. Doubtless Dulcie will gladly point out any error.

Gardening and nanotechnology

2009-04-19T20:24:00.002-05:00

A few months ago I had entered my name into the College of DuPage "speakers bureau." I had really expected nothing to come of it but, lo, just last week I received an invitation to speak to the Home and Garden Society of Wheaton on the subject of nanotechnology. Shocked and intrigued at the notion of a garden club wanting to know about nanotechnology, I eagerly accepted. They had given me sparse notice because I received the invitation on Tuesday to give the talk on Friday. This left me little time to fashion a talk focusing on the importance of this new scientific field on gardening, so I went with the one I had used at Christmas for the local fifth grade class. This turned out to be a good move because it transpired that (to borrow the imagery from the melancholy Jacques in As You Like It) the Home and Garden Society was a group entering its second childhood.

Dulcie and I duly arrived at our hosts' house full of curiosity about this club. It quickly became apparent that the Home and Garden Society is not a club with any particular interests in either home decor or gardening, but an exclusive, by-invitation-only, social group. I felt as if I had entered a time capsule and landed on the set of an A.R. Gurney play. For starters, no one was under the age of seventy except us. Clearly, no invitations had been proffered in recent years - perhaps the last two decades. Like the Cathars centuries ago, the society is facing inevitable extinction because of its reluctance to reproduce. When that happens, a particular slice of Wheaton society will be forever extinguished. Everyone was very formally dressed, with the exception of the SSCP and his companion. This was a group from old Wheaton money, and they were understated with it. The home was comfortable but not ostentatious to any degree; not a whisper of vulgarity was evident anywhere. Contrast that with the modern fascination for excess. There were actual portraits of family members on the walls as would have been the custom generally decades ago.

We sat down at the dining table to a rather formal meal that was prepared by a hired servant. The best dinner service was placed in service. I made the appalling faux pas of grabbing a chair at the head of the table. Fortunately my blunder was excused and we were able to continue with the meal. Wine was served in perhaps (echoing Lucky Jim) the smallest wine glasses I have been seriously offered. The wine was well chosen, though frequent refills were required.

Over the course of the evening I learned that, although my Home and Garden Society hosts may be entering the evenings of their lives, they all had a keen wit and intelligence, were very well informed about issues, were to a man world travelers and were ardent patrons of the arts.

They digested while I prattled on about nanotechnology in the living room, my laptop precariously balanced on a card table. I think only one of them dozed off, which, under the circumstances, replete with wine and food was very acceptable. They seemed to enjoy it and asked some interesting questions. We enjoyed ourselves. As we left the time capsule, I wondered if I would ever enter it again.

Did not go gently

2009-04-19T20:16:00.002-05:00

I had hoped that the last post was going to be the last post about the outgoing BoT at COD. Unfortunately, the vanquished were not content to go quietly into the evenings of their trusteeisms.

Four of the six members of the College of DuPage Board of Trustees who voted on Thursday to, among other things, offer an unnecessary and unjustified contract extension to the president, bulldoze through the outstanding highly contentious board policies, and hire another landscaper even as the current landscaping that they selected is scarcely complete, will not be present when next the board meets to conduct business in May. Thus did they thumb their noses at the community that had voiced its disapproval of this board by its emphatic defeat of the two incumbents that bothered to run. Now the work of the new board will be hamstrung even before it is able to begin its work to repair the damage wreaked by the old one.

The board has tried to paint itself as operating with greater transparency and fiscal responsibility. Instead, its activities, even to the very end, have been characterized by opacity and subterfuge; while the wasteful dalliances with multiple presidents, parking lots, policy manuals and so forth, have resulted in not only reduced services but also increased costs to students.The mission of education has been diverted. Let these men be gone and not before time; but let not their acts be forgotten.

Tipping Point: Apathy to Activism

2009-04-12T14:15:00.007-05:00

A few days after the election and I'm still adjusting to the fact that there will be a new BoT in just a few days. Although it is naive to believe that the winter of COD will turn instantly into a new spring, as in Narnia when the White Queen's spell was broken, (like the Exxon Valdez, things already set in motion have their inertia), it is time to return one's full attention to the business of education. For I fear I have been away. How often in the dark, silent waking hours of early morning, where once I mused over teasing, provocative new assignments for my classes, did I instead quietly seethe over the latest machinations emerging from the board room?

I think back to the beginning of the summer term, where on the quiet of the Tuesday after Memorial Day, the president was gunned down in a style redolent of an episode from the Sopranos. Not for the last time did the perpetrators manifest their cowardly nature. At that moment, amorphous feelings of concern and misgiving crystallized to focused anger. The first letter was dispatched to the Herald.

Such bloodshed would be as nothing compared with the carnage that greeted us as summer gave way to fall. Corpses piled high in the (award-winning!) bioswales (their true function?) betrayed the clumsy reorganization summarily enacted by the interim president. A man by the name of Tom Wendorf walked in off the street and delivered a withering blast at a September board meeting. That the community was taking notice and expressing their concern so vociferously was source of both comfort and encouragement. One noticed a sea-change in the tone of the comments at the foot of Herald articles and letters. The preponderance of angry-tax-payer outrage at overpaid teachers was giving way to community concern over BoT malpractice and the future of the county's educational crown jewel. This was not just about pampered, self-indulgent faculty not getting their way, as if it ever had been.

The turning of the leaves ushered in a new outrage and raised the unrest to a new pitch. In one fell evening we witnessed the premeditated ambushing of one board member by another, shocking in its crudity, and the introduction of a completely new policy manual under the guize of "revision." I was forced to become acquainted with David Horowitz. The response to the attempted bulldozing of the manual through the board resulted in the epochal November board meeting, where students en masse, their mouths taped silent in dramatic symbolism, ringed the board room where faculty and other community members gathered. While the 300 faculty members anticipated by security did not materialize (and we may well wonder why even to this day many of them are not even registered for the discussion board), the numbers were high enough to make an impressive crowd. I forget how many spoke, but the tone was set by one Tom Tipton who, choking down his private fears, delivered a message of breathtaking boldness and clarity. I thrilled to listen. Even now I tingle at the memory. Then was I resolved that this system must not stand.

The embracing of Horowitz led to unprecendented national coverage in reputable circles like the Chronicle of Higher Education and disreputable alike. Like mushrooms in a damp pasture, the weirdo blog sites lit up with DuPage and Horowitz. Gunslot and Jingoists crowed at the comeuppance of lefty liberal faculty. We greeted the new president at his first board meeting with a powerful but thoughtful condemnation of the consequences of the board's ill-considered, wasteful and thorougly unnecessary dalliance with this controversial individual. Though he later came, the event passed without fanfare. A disappointing anti-climax to the few months of drama.

The election process began and the candidates revealed themselves, followed closely by the objections, an unprecendented number for a sleepy little community college election, all but one originating from one individual. Once again the board room was the scene, this time serving as the (kangaroo) court to hear said objections. Much has already been written about the "trials," so no need to belabour it again. If the November board meeting had set the resolve, then Sandy Kim's long afternoon's journey into night confirmed the cause to be just. Sandy, calm, dignified, resolute, old beyond her youthful years, thank goodness for the help of a good lawyer, faced the combined forces of the incumbents down. So many times we were assured that the process was "legal." One began to wonder what really is the meaning of legality; do we sometimes place the rule of law on too high a pedestal? Whatever the legality of this travesty, it was not right. Despite her ultimate triumph, there was scant cause for rejoicing. Raw emotions, usually preserved for love affairs or Formula 1 racing, welled up within; actual tears may have been shed, hatred the scale of which I had not thought possible. For Sandy and the others we must prevail. And we did. Thus were we sustained for the phone calls and the rest: walking the platform in a biting March wind, offering cards to strangers, self-conscious, fearing rejection. Most of the time it did not come. In the end the results were almost beyond one's wildest dreams. It was all worth it.

Whither the balding white males? Election review

2009-04-10T19:14:00.003-05:00

Dulcie and I returned hotfoot from across the pond (engaged in filial and other duties) just in time to catch the returns for the election in District 502. I tuned in at 98 % precincts reporting to find with unabashed joy that the good guys were triumphing in majestically shocking style - almost beyond one's wildest dreams. The full results, for those with an eye for statistics are below (Good guys in bold):

2 Year terms

Sandy Kim 39268 48.17%
Jeffrey J Handel 11427 14.02%
Mark J Nowak 30521 37.44%

6 Year terms

Allison O'Donnell 28705 12.68%
Kim Savage 38430 16.97%
Tom Wendorf 27654 12.21%
Matthew H Nelson 14570 6.43%
Ivan H Fernandez 7296 3.22%
Micheal E McKinnon 19513 8.62%
Lisa N Wehr 18192 8.03%
Sharon Giorno 12981 5.73%
Nancy Svoboda 42079 18.58%
Michael V Ledonne 16708 7.38%

Friends for Education can claim a dominant victory: the three candidates in the 6-year term garnered 47 % of the vote, while Sandy in the 2-year term obtained a clear majority with 48 %. Unfortunately a clean sweep was denied the Friends because Tom Wendorf, who made such a powerful impression at board meetings last year, fell short by about a thousand votes to the advantageously placed Alison O'Donnell. Nonetheless, I think that three out of four ain't bad.

One of the most notable changes to the BoT will be in its gender; at a stroke it will be transformed from a male bastion, with the brave Kathy Wessel carrying the lone torch for the "fairer" (I dare not say weaker in these politically correct times) sex, to a group containing five women. All the candidates elected were women. Is this the consequence of a feminine backlash against the "good ol' boy network" that the BoT had appeared to become, and the sordid maelstrom of alleged sexual harrassment, defamation suits and counter-suits that has occupied too much space in the local papers this past year?

It was somewhat surprising to see that Nancy Svoboda, alone of "our" (okay a tad too possessive perhaps) gang of four not to be endorsed by the Daily Herald, led all candidates at 18.6%. Meanwhile, Tom Wendorf, who with his business background might be thought to appeal to the broader community, trailed in at 12.2 %. Even more surprising is that Lisa Wehr, one of the ghost candidates, whosofar as can be told uttered not a single syllable the entire campaign, outgained the prominent LeDonne, friend of Taprooters and anyone else who came his way, who for his part had been quite prominent and generally well-spoken, even appearing at the candidate forum at COD. The mysterious Lisa almost out-polled the soon-to-be-ex BoT chair whose campaign can only be said to be peculiar: not good timing to have all that legal stuff in the papers the week before the big day.

The 2-year picture was a lot simpler with only three candidates. The youthful Sandy (I cannot imagine myself at that age contemplating running for a public office) easily beat the two men. Amiable (but when it comes to community colleges completely clueless - please don't talk to me of lecture halls teeming with a thousand students as a model for education - or mention parking one more time), plant-breeding dentist Dr. Handel trailed in a distant third. Thinking back to that despicable scene in the kangaroo court as Ms. Kim's candidacy was assaulted by some of the now-whithered males, the victory is the more sweet.

Mr. NOwak has been heard to mutter that this election has been motivated by the faculty being upset over their measly 2 % pay increase. I might point out that the gang of four polled a collective 145,000 votes, while there are only about 300 faculty members. His argument is a bit of a stretch to say the least; it is a hard to believe that 144,700 community members can be that concerned about the small increases of our giant salaries. Is it not perhaps the well-publicized bunglings and shenigans of the BoT, now in its death throes, that played a bigger role in the game? I cannot speak for the other 300 (gosh some kind of allusion to the Spartans?) but on my list the pay rise is at the very bottom of a very long list of reasons to replace the current gang of four by the new gang. It's going to take a little while getting used to the new dawn.

T - 7 and counting

2009-03-31T23:03:00.003-05:00

In just seven days the much anticipated election for the COD board of trustees (in most years a yawn of the century) will reach the inevitable denouement. The big question is, who will be in and who will be out? Will the forces of good prevail over those of evil? If it was one of those cookie-cutter popular movies, the answer would be clear. Unfortunately, real life is not normally so predictable.

There was a forum for the candidates at the COD today, organized by some of the groups on campus. A pretty sparse showing from the electorate, given that there are some 30,000 students in any given term, and some 2,000 employees of one form or another. 40 or so took time out of their busy days to attend. Evidently, some of the candidates were also too busy to attend, and the pattern is beginning to emerge. There are the invisible candidates who will never appear at anything, and have little more than a name on a ballot. One might even question whether they could spell the school's address or name its arts center. The two incumbents again showed their contempt for their own institution by not showing. Micheal "Mike" McKinNOn and Mark NOvak (there appears to be a glitch in my CAPS key). It's not as if the faculty (portrayed by these two as the inmates attempting to run the asylum) had organized this one.

At one point, LeDonne, firm of voice and bristling with enthusiasm, hails me from the podium as having a nanotechnology department (moment of embarrassment here) - an example of the kind of thing we should be doing - that I can agree with. This was in response to a question about his previously stated desire to get rid of "academic" courses. Things must be "relevant" to the community, he says. Fair enough I think, but why are not academic courses relevant to the community? How does one decide "relevance"? I guess the more significant question is, what exactly is meant by academic? Perhaps Mr. LeDonne's definition is different from mine. Nonetheless, I am flattered that he would think I have a nanotechnology department, and sad to face the reality of there not being one - unless you count a course on nanotechnology that has not yet actually been offered as being equivalent to a department. Maybe one day...

After the statements and the questions, I hung about for a bit and chatted and met a formidable, and somewhat terrifying, woman who identified herself as a member of Taproot. For those not in the know, Taproot is a collective of local conservatives, and I mean real conservatives - the kind that would find most moderate conservatives unacceptably liberal. So I enquired innocently, feigning ignorance, if Taproot was a group interested in growing vegetables like carrots - about the only taproot with which I am familiar. She responds with vigour, in the manner of a greying, but still energetic, drill sergeant, that Taproot gets its meaning from burrowing deep down (slightly unnerving idea), which means stability, and that's what conservatives are, like the people that founded this country (like only Taprooters are true Americans). She turns to Mr. LeDonne and asks, "Do they get it?" meaning me, implying I didn't. Well I did, only too well. Hmmm. Neither being a historian nor a student of the genesis of America, I am ill-equipped to respond to that assertion. Nonetheless, I am not entirely convinced that Jefferson would readily identify with the baying, jingoistic, shrill voice of the "true" Republican (the types that slaver over the repellent Limbaugh) that fraternizes with taproots. I gesture towards the refreshments and make my escape.

(DuPage) United we stand

2009-03-27T09:03:00.002-05:00

The organization DuPage United has been very active and vocal in the past several months at board meetings and more recently in the board of trustees election race. Candidates who shunned their forum a few days ago have tried to tar this group as a tool of the IEA. I'm not so familiar myself with DuPage United so I took a closer look. Listed below are the members as shown on their website.

Access Community Health Network
Benedictine Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Lisle
Congregation Etz Chaim, Lombard
DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church, Naperville
Faith Lutheran Church, Glen Ellyn
First Congregation United Church of Christ, Naperville
First United Methodist Church, Downers Grove
Illinois Education Assoc., Regions 32 & 50, Naperville
Islamic Center of Naperville
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
Islamic Foundation, Villa Park
Muslim Society, Inc., Glendale Heights
Northern Illinois Conference, United Methodist Church
Peoples Resource Center
Resurrection Catholic Church, Wayne
St. Joseph Catholic Church, Downers Grove
St Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church, Glen Ellyn
St. Mary’s Catholic Church, West Chicago
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wheaton
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, Naperville
Second Baptist Church, Wheaton
St. Andrew United Methodist Church, Carol Stream
Wheaton Franciscans
Wesley United Methodist Church, Naperville

At first glance it looks more like an ecumenical religious organization; but buried deep in the list one does find the root of all evil, champions of indolence, grabbers for wealth and cosy conditions, scourge of DuPage taxpayers, the Illinois Education Association.

Connected with this group, a very clear piece about the issues at COD appeared on a local blog.

Much criticism has been leveled at Friends for Education 502 for being a union-inspired group trying to elect candidates that will be friendly come contract negotiation time. While I can see how this can appear so, I profoundly believe that most of its members are motivated by less self-serving interests, and wish to return the institution to a model of shared governance, where the education of students is the primary mission. There will always be those like my friend in Roselle (I'm still trying to get over myself, but it's hard) who believe otherwise. I am encouraged by the weight of comments at the feet of Herald articles that are sympathetic to Friends. There appears to have been a mood swing over the course of the year as the institution has reeled from one public embarrassment to another; none of which, I should add, has been due to the actions of the faculty.

At least the Friends make no attempt to disguise their identity. Far murkier is the group "Citizens for COD." According to the paper, it's only donor, so far, is Crowe Horwath LLP - the college's accounting firm. No special interest there of course...Echoes of the days of Macblugo.

Thoughts on the campaign trail (not that I am exactly)

2009-03-26T17:53:00.003-05:00

The SSCP has just returned from a brief sojourn in Salt Lake City where he attended the American Chemical Society spring meeting. The drooping economy combined with the threat of conversion by the always friendly Mormon population served to render the attendance lower than is customary at these meetings, for which I was not unappreciative; shorter lines in the registration, free hors d'oeuvres (for what they were worth)and the restrooms being among the more pleasant consequences of the low turn-out. Some of my ardent readers will probably be outraged at the idea of community college professor (I bet the very word sticks in the craw) attending a conference which is the usual turf of captains of industry and faculty from real universities. "Get over yourself!" they might say. "Community colleges are the minor leagues." Smoke would likely issue from there ears to learn the tab was paid by the federal taxpayer. So thanks to all of you.

Anyway, I have rather digressed from the original intent of observing upon the happenings around the COD election. It is now less than two weeks to go. I noticed the proliferation of yard signs in some areas as I drove back from the airport. Some quite hideous large orange ones about the size of fence, rammed into the ground by pieces of scaffolding: the seamier side of campaigning. It's all about the name.

From articles in the paper and elsewhere, it appears that some candidates have been quite active, while others have been totally invisible. The four candidates endorsed by Friends for Education, Sandy Kim, Kim Savage, Tom Wendorf and Nancy Svoboda have been among the most active, accessible to media and forums in the area. Only a moment ago I was very gratified to learn that the Daily Herald has endorsed three of the four. Poor Nancy left out in the cold, but I hope she will prevail. Oddly, one of the more significant candidates, the current COD board chair has been strangely silent and has been, shall we say selective, in his choices of where to make statements. You might think it appropriate that a COD trustee, a representative of the college, should talk with the student newspaper, even if he doesn't like the people who run it. Instead the paper was disdained, dismissed as a vehicle of the faculty. It is worth pointing out that the faculty at COD comprise only about 300 people out of a far larger workforce. I think it is fair to say that the majority of that workforce are at a lower ebb in their collective morale than at any time in the college's history. DuPage United was similarly shunned - a tool of unionists supposedly. Funny, I didn't think the many churches and synagogue that comprise much of DuPage United were members of the IEA. In any event, make your case if you are worthy of it.

Other candidates have been completely invisible; I know not even their names at this point and of course would not wish to dignify them by mentioning them. If not a word is spoken by these shadows, will they still receive any votes? The answer is quite likely yes. Worse, could they be elected? Possibly. For one wonders the degree to which the electorate really educates itself about elections of this sort. History is full of examples where the recognition of a surname, even if that surname recognized actually belonged to someone else, is all the trigger a person needs to make a selection. Not a word about issues, experience, vision, plans etc. While modern republics tended to decry the existence of royal families where succession is determined by birth (the divine right of kings), in America the political landscape is littered with similar dynasties even though no divine rights are invoked. Their successors are more grimily ensured, with the great assistance of name recognition. What's worse is that these political families have real power, whereas the remaining monarchies are largely tourist attractions.

As the Naperville Sun pointed out in its column today, "The controversies swirling around the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn make this campaign more like an episode of "The Hills" than a typical ho-hum community college election." Humerous but sadly spot on. There are matters of huge import at stake here. It is greatly to be wished that the electorate educate themselves on the candidates, and that means only considering candidates who have bothered to create a manifesto. And that of course really only leaves one with four options: Sandy, Kim, Tom and Nancy.

April 7th. It's soon.

Reformed environmentalists

2009-03-22T23:19:00.004-05:00

I think I had mentioned in my Yucca (RIP) note that even former environmental activists had begun to reassess their opposition to the nuke in the light of the even more calamitous potential consequences of global warming. As if on cue, I came across a quote in New Scientist from Stephen Tindale, former director of Greenpeace UK, saying that he and other environmentalists now backed nuclear power. He is quoted as saying, "It was kind of like a religious conversion."

In the same issue was a rather frightening piece about the possible consequences of the planet rising by 4 degrees Celsius this century - a possibility some say. A map reveals the new deserts and the new fertile areas. Much of the United States and Europe (except Great Britain I was happy to note) would become deserts, not to mention South America and Africa, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and China. Canada and Siberia will become the desirable places to live, though the living conditions may not appeal to those currently enjoying the comfortable suburban lifestyle where 4,800 square feet is just not enough room. The world population could indeed move en masse and occupy Canada with room to spare, provided each individual occupied only 20 square meters - more than double what is accepted under English planning regulations apparently. Of course this would mean transforming the vast emptiness of Canada into a forest of high-rises. One suspects that the Canadian government would take quite a bit of persuading to buy into the idea. It makes the point though that any solution to global warming will naturally be a global one and that national interests and local politics will present the greatest obstacles to legitimate success.

Yucca too yucky

2009-03-16T07:31:00.004-05:00

It came as something of a surprise to learn last week that, after years of study, planning, debate, controversy and largely politically motivated opposition, the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository plan has been deep-sixed by our new messiah. Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact that the senator for Nevada is a certain Harry Reid; you know, the one who made such an ass of himself over Tombstone Burris, first defiantly saying no, then all-of-a-sudden (after getting the message from the messiah) welcoming the latter with open arms into the little club known as the Senate?

All those science books will now have to be rewritten, because the Yucca Mountain repository tends to feature as the place where all the nuclear waste was going to live happily ever after. If that would in fact be true of course we will now never know. Would the stronger-than-anticipated flow of water through the mountain really have had a significant impact on the integrity of the waste? Was that concern the reason for its abandonment? I suspect not. The new messiah says that a "better" plan is needed. Easy for him to say, though I submit that it pays little respect to all those who had worked on the Yucca one. Should I mention at this point that about $10 billion had been spent on the project to date? Is there an implication here that these people had deliberately chosen a bad plan? Would they not have had the sense to select the best available option? There is a kind of arrogance associated with that kind of sweeping decision made within moments of taking power. In a very tiny parallel example, at the COD we have learned that, after some forty years, the COD colors will no longer be the green and gold of the Green Bay Packers, but will change to some combination of green and gray. What has been good enough for the Packers is no longer up to snuff for COD, or so says one individual.

But I digress. The nuke presents a problem for those embracing alternative (to fossil fuel) energy because for so many years it has lingered, rightly or wrongly, in the environmental dog house. One big bang in Chernobyl (how many decades ago?) had a fall-out of far greater proportion than perhaps deserved. When I organized a "town hall" meeting at the COD a couple of winters ago with Environment Illinois, their representative asked me if I knew anyone at Argonne I could invite. I duly did, but when the chap discovered his pro-nuke stance he promptly uninvited him in a rather embarrassing turn. No, it all had to be about wind and solar and CFLs.

Yet, even now, the tide is changing. Those Euros, who are all-seeing and all-knowing, who have embraced the wind and built their super-insulating homes, are facing the realities of energy and letting the nuke back in. Of course in France it never went away; and one has to wonder how in France it has always gone so smoothly with never an accident or a controversy over waste disposal. The reality is that the wind is good but it is not enough by itself. Thus the Italians, who dumped all their nuclear plants post-Chernobyl, are planning new ones, as are the British and other nations.

In their haste to embrace new alternative energy sources, many people overlook the fact that all of them have their environmental costs. With the nuke, the cost is obvious: the storage of waste. With others the costs may be more subtle: wind farms will leave the country carpeted with dead bats; solar plants will produce large quantities of hazardous waste.

SSCP exposed

2009-03-15T22:08:00.002-05:00

Regrettably, the SSCP has been distracted of late and has not been able to contribute to the surfeit of opinions coursing through the veins of the world-wide web. Would that some of it was actually worth reading. Anyway, I am back and hope to keep you both informed and entertained.

A letter I had written to the Daily Herald about the sham objections to the candidacies of several candidates for the board of trustee elections in April (see earlier posts about this) finally got published this week, about two weeks after I had first submitted it. I got wind of this when I received an e-mail note from a member of the community, who seemed to take exception to the fact that I had not explicitly identified myself as a member of the faculty. If you care to read the letter, and the even more entertaining comments that it provoked, you can do so here.

Here is the note that my letter provoked. Its author wanted me to share it with my colleagues, so I guess I can share it more widely than that.

Mr. Jarman,

I would like to state that you do have a right to your opinion and did so today in the Daily Herald. What I find completely distrubing is the fact that you submitted the letter under the guise of just being an ordinary citizen of the community who didn’t like the way a protest of candidicy was handled. If you are going to have any legitimacy at all, at least have the balls to acknowledge that you TOO have a vested interest in the outcome of the election, as you and the entire faculty, hiding behind your PAC – “Friends For Education”, are trying to get a number of left-leaning liberals elected to the board so that we the taxpayers of this county can pay even more to hire a bunch of teachers who think they work for Harvard, when its just a 2-year community college! Your salary sir, (modesty has moved me to remove the figure but feel free to insert enormous number (ed)), is a disgrace to all the taxpayers of this county! There are professors at 4 year schools in this state and around the country not making that! Yet you and your comrades believe the school should hire only PhD’s to work there?! Right! As a taxpayer, I wouldn’t hire any. A 2 year school should be a training ground to move on to a four year institution. Similar to the minor and major leagues in baseball. COD is the minors and as such, minor league players make less, not more or “equal” to their major league conterparts.

You, all of your liberal fat-cat comrades, have all opened the door to further scrutiny about what is going on at COD, and for that I thank you. It is high time that the residents of this county realize what a Black-Hole that place is for money. You work at a Community College, not an Ivy League school. Get over yourself! Thank God for people like Mr. Atknison, who I know personaly, for making sure people are following the law. Trust me sir, had it been another conservative voice attempting the very same thing, I’m sure you and your comnrades would have risen up against them for the very same thing. Don’t think for one minute you can hide behind the idea that you are supporting “Democracy” when that is the very thing you are trying to squelch.

COD is going to be under a new watchful eye by concerned citizens in this county. We are going to expose any and all waste that occurs at the school. I look forward to the challenge and I plan on assisting Mr. Atkinson in the future on protecting the rights of the voice’s and the hard earned tax dollars of the citizens of this county.

You have been exposed for what and who you are, and I recommend you let all of the other teachers there know that when they come out under the appearance of the “ordinary citizen”, they will be exposed too.

Good Day sir!

My new, not-so-secret admirer, a certain Terrence Wittman turns out to be a trustee of the board of Roselle. He was a member of the rent-a-crowd that showed up at the college to protest the invitation to William Ayers (which had already been rescinded). He knows Kory Atknison personaly (sic). When the latter (I am counting the days) takes his leave of the college, he will be paling around with with Mr. Wittman on the Roselle board. I shudder for the citizens of that fair burgh.

Apart from the author's obvious shortcomings when it comes to spelling, I am offended by his pejorative remarks about the quality of a community college. Okay, Harvard we are not, though I refer to COD affectionately as the Harvard of South Glen Ellyn. Who can brook that argument? We are, it seems, the minor leagues, a training ground; as such we should not have any expectation to earn a decent living? Of course it is pointless in engaging the likes of Mr. Wittman in any kind of constructive discussion; I suspect that Mr. Wittman has low regard for intellectual pursuits of any kind. I would put it to him though, that when it comes to the teaching part of education, in which the community college faculty are more completely engaged than their glamorous counterparts at real universities who are dedicated to research for the most part, the challenges presented by under-prepared students far exceed anything that a typical university professor has to worry about. Teaching really gets pretty easy when you have the best students. Fortunately, most of my students, regardless of their preparation, have minds more susceptible to learning than morons like Mr. Wittman. Roselle's loss with the arrival of the Objector will undoubtedly be COD's gain.

Friends for Education 502

2009-02-26T22:35:00.003-06:00

Social networking, an activity that is generally anathema to me in RL, is a wonderful thing on the in'ernet. Just this morning I was checking out the new Facebook group for Friends for Education. I can feel I have a ton of friends just by joining it. One of the members of that group is Sandy Kim, one of the candidates endorsed by Friends for Education (I guess if it was the more grammatically natural Friends of Education, FOE would be rather negative), who faced down the forces of evil last week I described on a recent post. Sandy has her own group and I joined that one too. Imagine my surprise when I found a link to my blog on her Facebook page! This must be a candidate I can trust.

In all seriousness, the election looms come April 7th. The appointed Objector is slinking away, leaving a swathe of destruction in his wake. He will not be forgot, nor will he be missed. The incumbents who are running identify the correct vote by their names: McKinNOn and NOvak. Do I need to spell out the reasons why? The electoral board shenanigans rife with conflicted interests is one. The three-headed presidential monster is another. Where is the fiscal responsibility they so like to tout in that? A building program bursting the budgetary schemes is another. A complete lack of care or interest in education, students, needs of the community. Concepts of mission and vision jettisoned. COD in the news for all the wrong things. Dallying with disreputable activists (Horowitz) which results in floods of appalling publicity across weirdo websites (this is not one of those).

The ones to take their places all care about the community and the college. Sandy is one of them. Kim Savage is another. So is Tom (or is that Thomas?) Wendorf, not to forget Nancy Svoboda.

College of Dishonour

2009-02-22T11:24:00.002-06:00

As afternoon rolled into the evening, the few citizens remaining in the makeshift courthourse that normally serves as College of DuPage's boardroom were witnesses to the sordid depths people will plumb to preserve power. That justice finally prevailed that night was scant cause for rejoicing, for the scenes that unfolded over more than four hours left a vile taste. At stake was the right of Sandy Kim, a veteran and one of the most accomplished graduates in recent COD history, to take her rightful place on the ballot for the April election for the college's Board of Trustees. .

Aligned against her was a group containing several incumbent board members. You might think COD board members would be promoting her achievements and encouraging her sense of civic duty; but these men were instead trying to devour her on a baseless charge. Appointed board member Kory Atkinson had seen fit to object to her candidacy, alleging that she did not meet the residency requirement. The chairman of the electoral board convened to hear the case was Micheal McKinnon, current chairman of the board of trustees, who has business ties to the objector. Mr. McKinnon is also a candidate in the election for a 6-year term, who perhaps is not without self-interest in the outcome of the proceeding. Both men are colleagues of another incumbent Mark Novak, who will be a rival of Ms. Kim in the election for the 2-year term.

Sandy Kim made no mistakes in her application; there were no boxes left unchecked, no signatures of dubious origin, no variations in Christian name, no quibbles over numbers, the likes of which had characterized objections heard earlier in the day, mostly unsuccessful I should add. Ms. Kim's error, when it came down to it, was that she lacked affluence sufficient to establish a residence of unquestionable stability. Her intent to establish a permanent residence at her current abode, where she had signed a lease in March 2008, was called into question because of fluidity in her previous living arrangements for the two years prior while a student at COD. The fact that she shared this residence with others was used to insinuate that the current situation was unstable and apt to alter at any moment. The fact that she had mail delivered to her parents address was used to imply that she really lived there instead. The lengths taken to destroy Ms. Kim's candidacy were breathtaking. The president of Benedictine University was subpoenaed to produce all documents relevant to Ms. Kim; the objector himself drove to a post office in Bartlett to obtain an affidavit from a postal worker.

There were no facts against her, just insinuation, speculation and illusive questions of intent. Without an iota of evidence, the chairman of the electoral board still found fit to cast a vote against her. Only by a slender 2-1 majority did she prevail. As citizens, we should be grateful for the likes of Ms. Kim who have the courage and commitment to serve in unpaid positions on boards of trustees. That she was thus subjected to cruel, unfair and baseless attack by far larger and more financially advantaged forces calls us to play our parts in preserving the democratic process.

The Heart of the Matter

2009-02-16T07:38:00.005-06:00

It seems appropriate on this Valentine's weekend, or the end of the V-weekend as I write, to probe further the background of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, the organization that presented me with a lavishly produced magazine presenting their skeptical position on climate change and inviting me to attend the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change, which almost sounds like a real scientific event. The cover letter that accompanied the slickly produced publication was a lot less subtle, leaving one in no doubt as to the motives of these people. I would suggest to the author of that letter, a certain Arthur Robinson from the "Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine," located in an immensely remote village in Oregon that, if he wants to persuade people to join his cause, he should not portray himself as a deranged loony by painting the 95 % of scientists who are convinced by the evidence that global warming is real, as being nutcases or miscreants. The Heartland Institute may be better served to get more credible people to sell their position.

I had mused in my last posting on the Global Warming Teach-in as to the sources of revenue possessed by this Heartland Institute. Using a trick learned from appointee to the Board of Trustees at College of DuPage Kory Atkinson (alack he is soon to be leaving us after the April election), I did a search on Google. Before Mr. Atkinson had demonstrated this activity at a Board meeting, I had no idea such things were possible. Thanks to Google, (where would we be without you?) several relevant references to Heartland and its murky history were retrieved within seconds.

Silly, naive me for not realizing it immediately. Heartland appears to be in large part a front for large corporations interested in muddying the waters around issues that would severely compromise their business. In the nineties, a major sponsor of Heartland was Philip Morris, and Heartland campaigned to influence public opinion on the perceived dangers of second-hand smoke in order to defeat smoking restrictions in public places. As a side-bar, Dulcie and I would probably never have discovered the full brilliance of American craft beer since we could not have enjoyed places like the Map Room or Hop Leaf if they were not non-smoking. No thanks to Heartland though.

The smoking battle lost, attention has turned to global warming. Enter Exxon, supplying $115,000 in 2000, $90,000 in 2001, a mere $15,000 in 2002, $85,000 in 2003, $85,000 in 2004, $109,000 in 2005, and a whopping $230,000 in 2006. These figures are taken from Greenpeace's "ExxonSecrets" website. Heartland claims to be independent of any political party or corporation. The large contributions from companies like Exxon are not denied but stated to be never more than 5 % of its total annual revenue, which amounts to an impressive $5+ million. It also claims to "actively oppose junk science" (there's a laugh given the central position that Mr. Robinson appears to hold in Heartland's PR).

Much like the vast amounts of money that is funneled into utterly futile enterprises in "creation science" for completely erroneous ideological reasons, it seems a great pity that so many resources and so much effort is being invested in derailing the global warming train. It is a great mistake to prop up the creaking infrastructure of the old energy businesses at the cost of developing new ones. And even if the whole global warming thing is later discovered to be wrong, the changes made to our energy infrastructure motivated by a belief in it being right will not have have been in vain.

The "fact-challenged" professor

2009-02-08T11:19:00.002-06:00

The SSCP finds himself claiming his fifteen minutes of fame this week courtesy of my close personal friend David Horowitz, the self-styled, self-proclaimed champion of academic freedom. While it is all too boring and too tedious to try and explain to those not in the know, as was I until a few months ago, until (now out-going), unelected appointee to the Board of Trustees, Mr, Kory Atkinson, brought in Mr. Horowitz' Academic Bill of Rights under cover of darkness in his proposed new policy manual. Subsequently, Mr. Horowitz used this to claim a major victory in a fund-raising letter that got picked up by websites and bloggers across the nation. All of a sudden the proud name of COD was spread across websites like American Jingoist, Gunslot and others that are characterized by perversion, hatred, bigotry, ignorance and stupidity. I found it so disgusting that I could not sit silent and stated my objections to this association to the Board of Trustees on January 12th.

It seems that David Horowitz found out about it because in this Friday's Courier he wrote a letter of rebuttal, taking a certain Robert Jarman to no uncertain task in characterizing him as a fact-challenged professor. It's all very amusing. Part of Mr. Horowitz' problem is that he didn't actually listen to what I said but relied instead on a brief summary of it that appeared in the Courier. Okay, David, I know I'm sometimes fact-challenged - Dulcie would be quick to agree - but it's always a good idea to check the original sources. I know in your line of business you tend to deal in hearsay and anecdote, but in my business I like to deal with facts. Let the readers decide. Below appears a transcript of my statement to the board that night. Below that I've copied the letter by Mr. Horowitz that appeared in the Courier this Friday.

Statement to the BOT, January 12th, 2009.

My name is Richard Jarman, resident, ratepayer, occasional student, and fulltime faculty member of the NASD. What surprised me about this association between Mr. David Horowitz and the College of DuPage is the manner of its discovery: I read about it on a website called The American Jingoist, which is not, so far as I am aware, an official news arm of the college.

Surprise turned to dismay as I read further. Although the language of the ABOR seems at first glance innocuous and even commendable, speaking as it does to diversity and academic freedom; it is what lies beneath that is troubling. For I believe that the motives behind the man, the Freedom Center and all those that lend it support are actually very far removed from those that are publicly espoused.

Mr. Horowitz writes of "a major victory for conservatives, Jews, Christians, and members of the armed forces, just to name a few." While I can identify with more than one of these groups, I regard this as anything but a victory. For a start, singling out specific groups gives the lie to that diversity allegedly sought by Mr. Horowitz. Would Muslims, atheists, and pacifists also number themselves among the victors? I am doubtful.

Applying a couple of skills learned at a previous board meeting, I investigated further. I have provided a few examples of the fringe, one might even say extreme websites, that we are now linked with. The names tend to give a clue: American Jingoist, Gunslot, terrorismawareness. While allegedly promoting diversity and intellectual freedom, Mr. Horowitz seems equally dedicated to promoting "awareness" of "Islamo-Fascism." I think the image on his website says enough. I am not a Muslim, but many of my students are, and I am deeply embarrassed to see an association between this college and inflammatory images of this kind. This is reprehensible.

Worse is to be found at the innocuously named gto7.wordpress.com. Right beneath "Allah is nothing but a pagan moon-god" and "Rules for Commie Radicals," we find the name of COD. Alongside we find "Obama is a long-legged Mack Daddy." It gets worse, but I think I am making the point.

Personally I am insulted by Horowitz's insinuation that COD faculty are left-wing indoctrinating activists. As I survey my colleagues, the idea is utterly preposterous. And I must ask if the Board of Trustees really believes that this is the kind of relationship it wants to foster and this is the kind of publicity it wants to receive as a result? Rather, I would like to see more examples of the type provided by students like Nahiris Bahamon, who with her academic achievements shone a national spotlight upon our college and its enviable capabilities.

Thank you.

Letter by Mr. Horowitz taken from the Courier, February 6th, 2009.

The article by Juan Garza about reactions to my Academic Bill of Rights ("Faculty Denounce Horowitz's ABOR) reveals an appalling disregard for the facts by at least two College of DuPage professors. Professor Higgins' claim that the Academic Bill of Rights would require professors to represent all points of view is false, in addition to being patently absurd.

The ABOR requires no such thing. Asecond fact-challenged professor named Robert Jarman is then quoted, accusing me of hypocrisy in reference to an "article" I am alleged to have written for a website called "The American Jingoist."

In fact I never heard of this website before reading the Courier article, and never wrote any article for it or for another website "Gunslot" which Jarman also falsely links to me and then in classic McCarthyite fashion links to a website called "Whores and National Guard Ladies."

The article I am alleged to have written was in fact a fund-raising letter I sent out to the public, which these repugnant websites evidently picked up for reasons best known to themselves.

My alleged hypocrisy in this fund-raising letter is my claim that the prospective adoption of the Academic Bill of Rights at DuPage would be a victory for various groups "Jews, Christians and members of the armed forces just to name a few."

Jarman regards the statement as hypocritical because it doesn't explicitly include Muslims, atheists and pacifists as required by the ABOR's diversity requirement. Jarman is sure these groups would not regard the adoption of the ABOR as a victory. But all this demonstrates is Jarman's ignorance.

In the first place, as already mentioned, the ABOR does not require universal inclusion and in the second because the sentence he objects to obviously provides for the inclusion of Muslims, atheists and pacifists (this is the plain meaning of "to name a few").

Contrary to Jarman's arrogant assumption that the ABOR would not be a victory for these groups it would in fact greatly benefit Muslims, atheists and pacifists, and all students at College of Du-Page, because it would require their teachers to observe academic standards of fairness in dealing with opinions they disagree with – obviously a principle that professors Higgins and Jarman do not understand.
David Horowitz
Founder of the Academic Bill
of Rights

Don't eat that orange snow

2009-02-08T09:08:00.002-06:00

I was surprised to find an answer to an enduring mystery in the pages of the COD newspaper, The Courier. During the almost perpetual snowfall that has characterized our winter which, in the blink of an eye, disappeared with the rapidity of a morning dew this past spring-like Saturday, we had noticed our street turn a deep amber. We ascribed the color to a mysterious de-icing agent that appeared to be applied specifically to our street, but to none of the others in the neighbourhood. One left the virgin white of Raintree and entered the amber of Raintree Ct., the line of demarcation being the 4-way stop sign. This substance was quite soluble and inevitably ended up in the garage where it would lie in dark brown pools. It would give off a distinctive caramel odor, a sort of echo of distant baking; and, as the water evaporated, a carpet of fine crystallites coated the concrete. I noticed the same substance over at the college last week and this week's Courier provided an explanation as to what this mystery substance is. It is in fact, according to the paper, a brine/beet solution called Geomelt.

The paper uses the term "organic" to describe it, and later states that it is "all natural," adopting the buzzwords of the health-food aisles to promote snow melting. Exactly what distinguishes organic salt from non-organic salt is unclear. Any one of my chemistry students would be able to tell you that salt is not organic in the chemical sense, being of course the archetype of the inorganic compound. Of course the term "organic" in the supermarket has a different connotation referring to the method of husbandry: the absence of mass-produced fertilizers and insecticides and so on. It's definition is a bit murky, and war has been waged between the true organics and those fake organic interlopes who wish to exploit the term to sell non-organic produce. Exactly how the production of salt would be organic is unclear. It is either dug from the ground, scraped off a salt-flat or extracted from ocean water by evaporation.

The claim is that the Geomelt will work to much lower temperatures than regular rock salt. As my more advanced chemistry students will be able to tell you, the freezing point depression of a solution depends simply on the concentration of particles. I believe the origin of the Fahrenheit scale, so beloved of our weathermen (meteorologists not Bill Ayers) was set at the freezing point of a saturated salt solution. So the claim that Geomelt works at -25 degrees F is quite surprising. Which brings me to the question of the role of the beet juice - the second ingredient in the mystery mixture. Why beets? Presumably, the soluble components are various carbohydrates, large molecules compared to salts that aren't that effective because they do not ionize in solution.

I noticed that the COD folks had gone around spraying the sidewalks with this stuff, leaving sticky brown trails. Perhaps the role of the beet is to glue the salt to the sidewalk, not to mention the soles of one's shoes.

Dangers in the Heartland

2009-02-06T22:14:00.004-06:00

As part of a "national teach-in" on global warming, the SSCP graciously gave of his time to enlighten the students of COD on the issues facing the development of alternative energy sources. In the midst of the coldest winter in 20 years, at a time of now plummeting petrol prices, not to mention the worst recession in 60 years, give or take a decade, it is a bit of challenge to get really stoked about alternative energy. Yet there is probably no better opportunity than now, with the prospect of untold billions pouring from the Federal coffers, to get serious. Using Pascal's wager as an analog, I suggested that there is nothing to lose by betting on GW being real. If you are wrong, so what? You will have developed a new energy infrastructure that will be required by the loss of fossil fuels anyway. On the other hand, just like betting against God and being wrong, betting against anthropogenic warming and being wrong; well, you lose everything.

I was also curious to gauge the students' awareness of perceptions of global warming, so I asked how many listened to my close personal friend Rush Limbaugh. Astonishingly, none owned up. I even heard one mutter that he had no idea who he was. This is mildly encouraging, though I suspect it reflects that they generally listen to nothing. Rush, despite his $400 million contract for radio rant, should be concerned. Maybe David Horowitz is correct; we have corrupted our students with left-wing ideology. Bring on ABOR.

So, why Rush, and what is he to GW anyway? Because he symbolizes those who take a position for ideological reasons and are not swayed by either argument or facts. Our exposure to the loathsome ranter on Dulcie and Aylwin's Big Beer Adventure had taken me aback by his single-minded antipathy towards the alternative energy gang. We (I am identifying myself as one of them) are a bunch of liberal, left-wing activists engaged in some giant hoax to defraud the honest American public. These sorts of characterizations upset me. Quite what we are supposed to be trying to achieve by this I'm not sure. But truth is of little consequence to Rush. Ideas are even less important. Coherent, rational argument even less so. I had not fully appreciated the extent of the politicizing of global warming and alternative energy previously, though perhaps I should have. I was aware of the Christian Right, the James Dobsons (nice hair piece) and so on, being particularly skeptical of climate change. Fortunately, the church in general is getting to grips with the gravity of the situation quickly.

In yet another manifestation of synchronicity, when I collected my mail after the "teach-in" there in my pigeon hole was a big envelope from the Heartland Institute. In it was a thick, glossy (though not scented), very professionally produced magazine that purported to be a collection of "scientific" papers repudiating the anthropogenic warming thing. It also contained an invitation to attend the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change - or rather the absence of it. Among the actors are the usual suspects, some of whom I have exposed on these pages previously. Some geezer called Arthur Robinson who hails from Oregon and has "published" a paper in a fake medical journal. Honestly, do you think that a paper about climate change that had traction would appear in some obscure rag touted by right-wing doctors? It contains enough graphs to appear convincing to the untrained eye. Another one in the van is the wacky 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, who caused the gullible American Physical Society much embarrassment by being invited to contribute to the "debate" last year.

I was struck, not so much by the existence of these anti-global-warming zealots, but by their commitment to the cause. Who is paying Heartland all this loot to distribute these expensive magazines? Like many other institutes and think-tanks, of which this country has way too many, it's main purpose is political: anti-tax, anti-public spending and so on. On can speculate that the traditional energy companies would not be averse to a bit of covert PR to fight GW, while all the time trumpeting their virtues in becoming green, in order to combat carbon caps and other solutions to carbon emissions. It just points to the importance of staying vigilant in the fight. I am feeling quite weary from all the nutcase right-wing pressure: one day it's Horowitz, the next Heartland. I wish they would all just go away.

What must the king do now?

2009-01-30T22:10:00.002-06:00

And so Birnham Wood has quickly come to Springfield and the mighty Quinn smote off the tyrant's head. (Although in truth the Thane of Ravenswood had already fled the place so he could get one last free ride on the gubernatorial jet, or so I understand). Given the former guvnor's predilection for literature, one wonders what Shakespearean scenes he and his gang of advisors and publicists were replaying in those final hours. Richard II comes to mind. One of the less known but most poetic of Shakespeare's histories, it chronicles the deposition of the corrupt wastrel Richard II by Henry Bolingbroke, later Henry IV. Echoing Macblugo's shunning of his kingmaker Richard Mell, in the first scene, Richard II recklessly banishes Bolingbroke and in so doing alienates many nobles. Richard meanwhile conducts business with complete disregard for due process and pillages the public coffers to entertain himself and wage foolish wars in Ireland. Sound familiar? Henry returns and leads the rebellion to Flint Castle, wherein the now isolate Richard is holed up. Richard dominates the gripping deposition scene, risky stuff in those days for a play about a deposed monarch to be shown in front of a monarch, with a masterly, self-indulgent, self-pitying whine played out in gorgeous iambic pentameter.

Act IV, Scene 1:

".... I'll read enough,
When I do see the very book indeed
Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself.

Re-enter Attendant, with a glass

Give me the glass, and therein will I read.
No deeper wrinkles yet? hath sorrow struck
So many blows upon this face of mine,
And made no deeper wounds? O flattering glass,
Like to my followers in prosperity,
Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face
That every day under his household roof
Did keep ten thousand men? was this the face
That, like the sun, did make beholders wink?
Was this the face that faced so many follies,
And was at last out-faced by Bolingbroke?
A brittle glory shineth in this face:
As brittle as the glory is the face;

Dashes the glass against the ground

For there it is, crack'd in a hundred shivers.
Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport,
How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face."

For Bolingbroke substitute Fitzgerald and there you have it. The last words perhaps are directed at his successor. Later, Henry IV pays for his part in fomenting insurrection against a reigning monarch by spending his reign wracked by paranoia and suspicion: "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." (Henry IV Parts I and II).

In the end the Thane of Ravenswood lacked the fight of his bolder Shakespearean forerunners like Macbeth or Richard III, who went down fighting gamely with sword in hand. Instead he chose to play for the cameras in a simpering, self-indulgent show, played across venal, pointless shows typified by the View.

Now his name is being erased from the thin blue signs that the Illinois tax-payers had paid so richly for, part of which he had of course lined his pockets with (allegedly). How many times had I genuflected before them at the Boughton Road toll on I-355 (ironically not far from Bolingbrook). I mourn the missed opportunity of being one of the motorists able to join in the celebration of the removal of that most odious name. Better to have replaced it by his head upon a spike, but I suppose these are more civilized times.

Digestive triple threat

2009-01-27T07:57:00.008-06:00

My traditional morning repast of Go Lean (but not lightly) was almost rejected entirely before it could perform its work below when opening the Tribune yesterday morning revealed not just one but three of the most vile creatures in Illinois all together. This was of course the morning of Macblugo's nauseatingly self-serving and desperate parade before all the blabbing shows watched by people that don't have to work for a living and who care little for truth or accuracy. Apparently he made a believer out of Geraldo Rivera, which should tell you all you need to know.

It turns out that Macblugo is following the growing trend of hiring publicists rather than lawyers when caught in a pickle; the same firm that "represents" suspected murderer Peterson is now doing the same for the soon-to-be-ex guvnor. So, I have to wonder what sorts of folks can work in these sorts of firms that are able to work with these sorts of people. To borrow a phrase, they either have a lot of testicular virility, or, more likely, absolutely no conscience. No mirrors will be found in the office bathroom within which they can survey their black inner souls. Or else there is a bunch of portraits in an attic some place.

The odious Ryan who, mercifully, escaped the mercy of the soon-to-be-forgotten former President, despite the best efforts of the senior senator from Illinois, man of many faces Dick Durbin, and another vile visage from guvnors past, James Thompson, (who I once dined in the same restaurant with, the late-lamented 302 West in Geneva), was in the news as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in declaring a moratorium on executions and clearing death row. Ironically, he can probably hold Macblugo partly to blame for his failure to escape his rightful resting place with a presidential pardon. His case is being championed by a professor from the University of Illinois, Francis Boyle, who has the nerve to claim that Ryan's incarceration is an act of revenge by the pro-death penalty Justice Department. While UIUC is an excellent state university, a place at which the SSCP's progeny currently attends, it clearly does not have uniformly high standards across the board. What qualifies one to be a professor of "Human Rights" I wonder?

While I am entirely against the death penalty for any crimes (I often find it puzzling why the pro-life people are almost always ardently pro-death when it comes to adult punishments), I do not for one second that Ryan's late acts where motivated by true compassion or concern for the rights of individuals. Witness his response to the hired truck scandal that claimed the lives of six children and his annual shaking down of employees for his (cash only, small bills please) Christmas bonus. No, it was a completely cynical act designed to deflect the gaze away from the investigations that finally and properly nailed him. In any case, I think it is a bit of a stretch to parlay that act into a Nobel Peace Prize thing even if the motives were honorable. There again, one can win Nobel Peace Prizes for making inaccurate films about climate change these days.

So of the three who is the most vile? While Peterson lacks all the trappings of corruption, he is the one suspected of murder. How many are there out there who presume his complete innocence in all of this? Other wife beaters and abusers of women perhaps. It might have turned out differently if, back in the day, the verdict on the death of wife number three had been returned differently. I am no coroner, but I would have found drowning to be an unlikely cause given the victim was lying in a bone dry bath with a large gash in her head and a pool of blood in the bath. That is Will County for you. Sort of Chicago west.

Ryan has blood on his hands indirectly, the dead children innocent victims of his corrupt schemes. His response to the problem was to try and cover up the investigation. He has never been contrite, unless you believe the letter scripted by Thompson to coincide with the clemency appeal. I remain unconvinced.

Macblugo, despite the parallels of our Thane of Ravenswood with that Scottish play, has not, so far as is known, killed anyone directly or indirectly. He has made the bigger fools of us though, which in part could be said to be our fault for electing him a second time.

Cap n trade

2009-01-26T07:44:00.003-06:00

Gripped by the coldest winter in twenty years, combined with suddenly affordable, bountiful supplies of petroleum (whatever happened to the energy crisis?), all the while being mired in the worst recession in living memory, the subject of global warming has, not surprisingly, faded into the background at least for now. Being environmentally responsible is one of those things the middle classes like to do when they can afford to; it's a luxury to indulge in to partially assuage the guilt over all that conspicuous consumption. Being organic is another fun thing to do if you have the loot, otherwise Hormel canned spam is just great. So much for organic farming as the new paradigm for feeding the world.

So, it is encouraging to read that, in the new Camelot, the plans to limit carbon emissions discussed in the campaign are still going ahead. The argument, correctly, is that this will motivate a clean energy economy by encouraging investment in and development of alternative energy sources. Without financial incentives it cannot happen.

The favoured approach is the "cap and trade," as opposed to a direct carbon tax, although in effect it acts as a tax on the excessive carbon producers. The financial incentive to reduce emissions is the avoidance of having to pay to buy the permits to emit above the limit. Those that emit below the limit will be able to sell the difference. In theory I suppose it all evens out with the net result of there being lower emissions. I'm a little skeptical, but the system worked for acid rain emissions from power plants (I think), so why not here?

Opponents are concerned that the scheme will ultimately increase the price of energy and hurt economic recovery and increase costs for the people. Therein lies the rub: the clash of sustainability and economic growth. It cannot any longer be acceptable to strip mine resources irresponsibly without paying their true cost. The true cost of buying petrol must include some kind of compensation for its replacement. What we were paying back in the giddy days of summer is probably much closer to a true cost, though probably even then lower than is realistic, than what we are paying now.

The distant dream of $200 oil

2009-01-22T22:12:00.003-06:00

Dulcie likes to remind me whenever possibility arises that, as a college professor, I am blissfully insulated from the vicissitudes that afflict normal people. Thus you might think I am unaware of what goes on in the world. I like to think I am very informed, regardless of what Dulcie might think. For example, I am well aware that something happened on Tuesday. I know that because my in'nernet connection speed slowed to a trickle; but being the busy college professor I am, I was unable to leave my office to join in the global celebrations. Or, perhaps, I was just a little jaded by the incessant build-up to really get that excited.

The other day though, I was filling up the TSX and got concerned that the tank was filled by the time the dial hit $20. Even as the petrol poured across the forecourt like that scene from the Birds, the dial would not budge. What happened? Only a few weeks ago, the numbers would skip nimbly past $40 and keep going. It seems like the oil price has crashed big time. Back in the balmy days of summer, as the price soared skywards, reaching a breathless $147, those silk-suited experts working for institutions now profiting from giant bail-outs confidently predicted the price would soon reach $200, flicking their cuff links with emphasis. It was all about explosive growth in emerging markets we were told, the free market at work; all accusations of manipulation and speculation were dismissed as mean-spirited nonsense.

So what happened? Here we are, a few weeks later and the price is only one third of what it once was. It never exceeded that high water mark of $147. Does anyone have an expectation it will reach $200 any time soon? The same cuff-linked experts are now speculating as to how low it will go. Great to have a job where it never matters whether you are right or wrong. So we are to believe that the economic downturn has reduced to demand to such an extent that the price has dropped by a factor of three. People are driving less; factories are making fewer products. Can the free market really explain this? Or, as I tend to believe, was there speculation and manipulation at work in the market? The steepness of the rise, and the equal rapidity of decline seem hard to explain just in terms of fluctuations in demand.

Whatever the real reasons for the wild ride in prices are, the fact it is now so low is really disastrous for the progress of alternative energy sources which should be a priority. There are echoes of the late seventies here. The then giddy oil price had prompted all kinds of efforts in alternative energies. Exxon liked to show off a solar-powered house at the research lab I interned at. These all disappeared like the morning dew when the oil price dropped. When I returned to that Exxon lab two years on, the solar house was long gone. 25 years on it's a similar pattern although the stakes are now much higher. Back then global warming was not in the picture. Will the encouraging growth in things like wind power lose impetus in the face of this crash? Dulcie and Aylwin's Big Beer Adventure was punctuated by the sights of pieces of turbines hurtling along on improbably wide vehicles towards the western states. Across swathes of Wyoming and elsewhere the white blades were to be seen in their stately rows, only a slight blemish on the windswept wild horizon. Surely the absence of credit and the turbulence in the economy will impact investments in both the public and private sectors.

While I selfishly enjoy filling the tank for a few dollars, I would rather return to the days of summer when the oil price was making itself felt. Although I would rather that price was a true reflection of supply and demand and not a false consequence of manipulators.

Now is the winter of our discontent

2009-01-18T08:41:00.002-06:00

It seems I misjudged Macblugo after his less-than-stimulating "Is this a joke?" response when the plods knocked on his door a few weeks past. It seems that the Thane of Ravenswood, when given time to reflect and the help of a few advisors, is quite a devotee of literature, and might indeed rival the original Macbeth in his poetic response to strife. Critics will argue that his choices are all of the rather obvious high-school curriculum; even a cultural cesspit like me was familiar with some of them. Incidentally, who are all these advisors that still cling to their disgraced leader? At the end Macbeth had only the loyal, and thoroughly wicked, Seaton. Macblugo has an army of lawyers. Who pays for them I wonder?

Although the image of the overly-ambitious, grasping Patti saltily urging her husband on in the background, invites comparison with "That Scottish Play," which, incidentally, by some stroke of synchronicity, has just opened in a very contemporary, R-rated version in Chicago, I think Richard III, represents a more apt Shakespearean parallel to our venal governor. For while Macbeth did bad things, he was not fundamentally a bad or dishonest person. His fault was the possession of ambition and, once having given into its temptation, he succumbed in trying to contain the train of consequences. Half way across the river of blood... If we looked closely in the mirror, we would find a little Macbeth in all of us.

He was basically honest and decent. While he could smite foes on the battlefield with aplomb, he made a complete dog's breakfast of doing in Duncan: the whole business with the dancing dagger and the hands covered in blood. His conscience could not deal with his victims. While Macbeth could not gaze upon the ghost of Banquo, one could not imagine Blugo imploring Judy Baar-Topinka (his victim in the last election who was brought down by dirty money) not to shake her hennaed locks at him. For Blugo has no conscience. Like Richard III, he is completely comfortable in scheming, lying, seducing and gaming his way to the top. Having used someone, he has no shame in dumping them. Ask Richard Mell. In the first act, Richard III seduces the wife of the person he has just murdered. Blugo's parading various cripples at one of his poetry slams reminded me of a later scene in which Richard III appears before the public with a holy man to convince them of his virtue. R III is a far more dastardly character than Macbeth. While the former had, according to Shakespearean legend, a deformed shoulder, Blugo has the hair helmet.

In Vino Veritas

2009-01-12T20:36:00.002-06:00

On this rather uninviting Monday, with the prospect of decidedly inhospitable conditions later in the week, the SSCP returned to his labors as a member of faculty. Although term begins Wednesday in the midst of our Alberta Clipper (whatever did happen to global warming?) the first days of the week are our sort of preseason, punctuated with rather tarsome and largely unproductive meetings. Today however was one of little more significance, for it marked the arrival of our new president, hot from nearby Harper College, to rescue the listing S.S. COD from the perils of the deep. We wait with interest to see how things develop.

I had received some weeks prior an invitation to a reception, I believe the word "lavish" had been used at some point, to mark the occasion; and I replied in the affirmative without much expectation. Receptions at the college are generally marked by a culinary standard that would make a state penitentiary blush. Add to that the inevitable absence of drink and one is left with the question "Why bother?"

Some months ago I was inspired by experiences in educational circles abroad to a write a piece for our newsletter on this whole business of drink, or rather its absence, and the college. Such is my immodesty that I invite you to read it here, since I am rather proud of it. (I know that's wrong.)

Today I am required to revise my article. Dr. Breuder, for that is our new president's name, makes no secret of his love for wine, a love that I entirely resonate with, Dulcie and Aylwin's recent flight to beer notwithstanding. The reception featured wine. Shock! Horror!! In a community college!!! In the middle of the afternoon!!!! I was in slight disbelief when I was asked at the reception table if I was drinking wine and if so was that one glass or two? Well, in honor of this historic moment, two glasses was the only response. And these were not Lucky Jim glasses of improbably small dimension, but healthy pours that would not disgrace a wine bar. Thus was I fortified for the evening's board meeting where at I was due to deliver some sharply worded remarks in the general direction of the BOT, or at least one of its members. More on that later. Hic.

Slight issue with self esteem

2009-01-04T09:26:00.004-06:00

By some strange synchronicity, Dulcie and Aylwin's Big Beer Adventure from Chicago to Portland seemed to be intimately interwoven at many points along the way with the much bigger and more daring adventure of Lewis and Clark some 200 years previously. It was as if they got out at O'Hare and took the Mannheim Road, for it is that same national route 12 that plunges over the Lolo pass in Idaho all those miles west, the point at which Lewis was the coldest and wettest he had ever been. What took them about a year and a half took us 4 days. There is something to be said for modern transportation. Not having been raised in this country, I could be forgiven for knowing little about the exploits of these two chaps. I do recall seeing one of my offspring perform in a fifth-grade musical about them, though I fear it did not really get to the heart of the matter.

We were not so sodden with beer that we were completely oblivious to the historical significance of the footsteps that we followed in our fossil-fueled rage: alongside the headwaters of the Missouri, across the Lolo pass, down along the crystal rapids of the Lochsa and the Clearwater, and the lands of the Nez Perce (doubtless they reloaded with toilet paper from the giant factory in Lewiston that greets visitors with a pungent stench), beside the mighty Snake and the even more mighty Columbia (oh to have seen it then before the dams in all its salmon laden glory (the adventurers disdained the ready availability of fresh salmon, preferring to gorge themselves on dog)), through the Columbia Gorge and the dramatic shift from arid grassland to rain forest, and eventually the Pacific coast (which can now be glimpsed in scenes in Twilight).

We returned wanting to learn more of their story. So we viewed the PBS documentary called Corps of Discovery or something like. It is a superlative sumptuously filmed and exquisitely tender piece of work. Much was revealed about the men, and woman, in the extensive journals that they kept. It became obvious that Meriwether Lewis had issues with self-esteem. I'm sure that if he had attended school in the late 20th century, things would have turned out differently. No doubt building up his self-image and proper medication would have improved things. For there, in the shadow of the Bitterroot Mountains, within a few weeks of completing the most heroic and epic voyage in the entire history of America before or since (arguments about that anyone?), Lewis agonized in his journal on the occasion of his 31st birthday that he had accomplished nothing of value, that his life had been basically a waste. (Roland Burris please take note of Lewis' resolution as you chip away on your wretched folly of bloated self-aggrandizement.)

Lewis writes in his journal on August 18th 1805:
"...I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little, indeed, to further the hapiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now soarly feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended. but since they are past and cannot be recalled, I dash from me the gloomy thought, and resolved in future, to redouble my exertions..."

He writes beautifully though clearly without the aid of a spellchecker. "The many hours spent in indolence..." I can identify with sentiment.

More shocking was the finale. Lewis was not able to handle normal life subsequent to the voyage. It all ended in a lonely wayside inn in Tennessee where he topped himself in the dark of the night. He was 35. I'm not sure that part was in the fifth-grade musical. Totally stunning and shocking, the narrator on the PBS tape could not relay the words without losing composure. Humility and modesty are worthy virtues, though I fear that Lewis took them a little to excess in his fatal self-deprecation. I was reminded of Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the giants of the history of science, who basically invented the field of statistical mechanics that connected the macroscopic properties of systems to the microscopic actions of molecules. Boltzmann met his end at his own hand for much the same reasons. With these two as role models what should the rest of us do?

The thin blue sign

2009-01-04T09:03:00.002-06:00

Hurtling along I-88 the other day, weaving among potholes and navigating the serpentine arrangement of temporary lanes that are an enduring feature of this highway in construction perpetua, I genuflected once again with my transponder before the thin blue sign that celebrates Rod R. Blagojevich, patron saint of open-road tolling. Four times that day I gave thanks, not to mention 40 cents seamlessly deducted from my account, in recognition of that foresight and genius which rescued us from the tyranny of sitting for ten minutes, scrabbling for enough loose change to make the little gate rise up to allow safe passage through the toll booth. Much of that loose change would ultimately find its way into the trunk of some corrupt employee's car to be doubtless distributed later in all manner of interesting ways. In Illinois, no coin is too small to steal, particularly if you have a trunk-load of them.

The blue signs were the subject of some "controversy" a couple of years back as I recall from an article in the Tribune. The tollway authority has its own sign-making department; but these blue signs were made by another company under a rather hefty contract. With all these things one now wonders what machinations lay behind the obtaining of said contract. The Macblugo tapes suggest that $25,000 represents the basic unit of doing business on gBay. How many gBay units were those blue signs worth for the company that got the deal? What will happen once the inevitable happens sooner rather than later we hope? Will some dope spray paint out their patron's name and replace it with another? Maybe another contract will be required to create a new batch of signs to honor the next guvnor. Meanwhile, they give us pause to reflect upon the utter bankruptcy of the state's current administration.

"I am a tool..."

2009-01-01T09:45:00.002-06:00

Certainly quote of the day, arguably quote of the year, and possibly quote of the decade. Thus spake craven, dull-witted, shameless Roland Burris, Macblugo's appointee to the Illinois Senate. Thanks to the self-serving bungling of the rest of the gang of Illinois politicos; who could have acted swiftly to pre-empt an appointment, but didn't for fear of wrecking their own chances or worse actually allow for a proper election; Macblugo, at his brazen, preening best, seized his opportunity. In the aforementioned Burris, he found a more-than-willing accomplice. While any man blessed with even a morsel of conscience and half a pair of bollocks would be unable to look in the mirror and touch the outstretched hand of Macblugo with the longest barge pole available to man, Mr. Burris apparently leaped at the opportunity with open arms, ambition besting honor. There is apparently in his mausoleum, built by his own hand to commemorate his lack of achievements, space to record one more inglorious act.

With this act of folly closing the year, can we now likewise bring down the curtain on all this fanciful, self-congratulatory talk about America getting past the race issue in the election of the new black King Arthur? Though as my aging father observed from his distant vantage point across the pond, "He's not really black is he?" Out of a sense of respect for political correctness, I said nothing.

What more nauseating sight was there on election night than seeing the bloated face of Je$$e Jack$on, father of an over-reaching $on, blubbering as if on cue to the cameras in Grant Park? Unless you include self-proclaimed empress Oprah conferring the proverbial fifteen minutes on some nobody by resting her head upon his manly shoulder, also on camera. Was that not the same Je$$e who a few weeks earlier had wanted to cut nice Mr. Obama's nuts off?

There is always a tendency to get carried away on these big occasions, and lots of people have lots of things to say. Some of them, like me, only get to say talk to themselves on their little blogs, while others have to occupy oceans of time on TV and radio, or write penetrating columns for newspapers and magazines. I would like to think the right person won, the intelligent person won and forget all the rest of the ballyhoo about triumphing over race and stuff.

Elephant-shaped teapot dilemma

2008-12-23T08:39:00.002-06:00

The SL is hijacked from something I heard on the radio the other day, and it seems to fit the subject at hand. The other evening Dulcie launched into a tirade about the amount of money people spend on pointless "crap" (as she refers to it) at Christmas. "Why are they doing this?" she rails. When in these moods, Dulcie can become a terrifying figure; grown men have been known to crumple into gibbering ruins before her onslaught. Fortunately I am largely immune, partly because I am not a fully grown man.

Anyway, her tirade brought me round to something I had been thinking about regarding carbon footprints: "virtual" carbon and its significance. If the carbon footprint of America was adjusted for all the carbon that was emitted in the production of the goods purchased by Americans, then it would be colossally higher. Concomitantly, the footprint of China, adjusted for the carbon emissions involved in producing goods for export to America, would be something like 30 % lower.

So, this means that America is even badder than generally thought environmentally wise. But wait, is this really fair? I mean, the analysis suggests that somehow the poor Chinese are being exploited by the nasty Americans and being forced to manufacture all that stuff against their will. Surely they derive some benefit from all this manufacturing? Like earning tons of money and becoming a fantastically wealthy nation that has totally transformed itself from the nation of "re-educated" peasants that Maoism had created.

So, I put the point to Dulcie about what would happen if we (collectively the nation, not just us two for we buy no crap) stopped buying stuff. What would all the Chinese do then. Oh, they could just go back to doing what they used to do and be happy she returned cheerfully. I don't think so.

The radio discussion from which I stole the SL was very much along the same lines, though perhaps a little more intellectually profound than ours. The dilemma is one of personal financial responsibility versus the needs of the larger economy. In difficult times it is individually fiscally responsible to leave the elephant-shaped teapot (the crap in Dulcie's more Saxon vernacular) on the store shelf. However, if everyone did the same, the economy would (has) frozen up. In other words, we should all do our bit and buy elephant-shaped teapots by the truck-load. Even better if said teapots were fabrice en U.S.A. Fat chance there though.

In an even bigger picture, the dilemma of the SL is probing the prevailing philosophy of society depending on economic growth. Ultimately, growth and sustainability are on a collision course. To achieve the latter, at some point the former goal must be moderated. We could start by not buying the elephant-shaped teapot.

All Natural

2008-12-22T08:03:00.004-06:00

Have you, like me, wandered along the "health" isles of stores like Wholefoods and marveled at the endless rows of prodigiously expensive little bottles of vitamins, potions and supplements, proclaiming in strident tones, all natural, how a meaningful life is impossible without them? Largely overweight people are to be seen sweeping them off the shelves in droves, to be glugged down later with oceans of pomegranate juice and mountains of acai berries.

I have always held a healthy skepticism towards these products, and find them in a way to be in philosophical opposition to the whole natural/organic ethos of the Wholefoods concept. I mean, piles of little machine-produced pills are scarcely commensurate with images of lambs gamboling happily in their hillside fields, free-range poultry hailing the dawn and flapping their untethered wings, lusty cattle munching on their rich prairie grasses, or plump salmon leaping the ice-cold waters of the PNW. Yet they must be remarkably popular given their abundance.

Years ago I discovered that my financial advisor was a devout believer in the benefits to be derived from the variously colored and shaped tablets. I know this because one year, for my Christmas gift thanking me for my business, I received a year's subscription to some bogus health publication in lieu of the conventional food package of nasty, rock-hard smoked cheeses and greasy little salamis of vaguely Germanic inspiration, though one finds they invariably hail from only as far as Wisconsin. Incidentally, these days, my annual gift is a donation "in my name" to some obscure charity. What it is to be compassionate. In slight disbelief, seeing as how my millions are entrusted to his stewardship, I quizzed him on this health thing. Indeed, it transpired that each morning was celebrated with a veritable witch's brew of tablets and potions designed to promote good health and long life. Gazing upon his physique, hardly to be confused with that of Johnny Weismuller, I remained skeptical.

The latest wisdom about supplements, appearing this day in the Tribune, suggests that my skepticism is well placed. Research has shown that vitamin supplements have no important benefits. A survey involving 50,000 participants showed that vitamin C, E and selenium don't reduce the risk of prostate, colorectal, lung, bladder, or pancreatic cancer. (Mulling over that intelligence is a sure-fire way to start one's day with a squirm; even the Go Lean (but not lightly) hesitates in the craw). Other studies have shown that the tabs don't afford defence against cancers, strokes or cardiovascular disease. Indeed, some of them may have effects opposite to those intended; excessive imbibition of certain vitamins can have deleterious consequences for health. It's a bit of a surprise in a way as to why these studies yield such gloomy results. It is undoubtedly true that vitamins and minerals are essential for good health. So, it would seem to be pretty simple logic that taking proper amounts as supplements should be beneficial. Yet the research does not bear that out. The problem is thought to be that it is virtually impossible to establish a true placebo group - the control group that does not receive the supplements, but instead gets a placebo. It is impossible to eliminate intake of those vitamins or minerals under study from natural sources, and thus the impact of the supplemental substances is muddied.

For all that inconsequence, their popularity grows; the total market is about $10 billion compared with only $5 billion ten years ago. For once, I feel it pays to be a cheapskate and rely on a modest, balanced diet for one's regimen of chemicals. Just as nature intended.

RIB RIP

2008-12-20T17:21:00.002-06:00

Largely lost amongst all the hurly-burly of Blugo's sudden but all-too-welcome arrest was a short article on the decision by the Department of Energy to award the Rare Isotope Beam (RIB) project to Michigan State University, the only other competitor in the field, rather than Argonne National Laboratory. The article appeared, appropriately enough, on the obituary page just above Betty Paige's obituary (they had "those" back in the fifties?).

This is a great pity, the loss of the RIB not Betty Paige, as I think I might have discussed on these very pages my, albeit remote, involvement with the project. What with the presence of Fermi Lab and the proton therapy centers sprouting like mushrooms in DuPage county, the addition of the RIB would have truly made this area a center of accelerators. The SSCP and his colleagues would be expected to educate future operators of these various bits of high-tech machinery. COD involvement aside, the project would have brought a lot of coin ($500 million or so) to struggling Argonne.

So, some lousy state university beats out the likes of one of the great national research laboratories that had its origins in nuclear fission. How does this happen? Well, some would argue it was a logical decision based on the fact that MSU already has existing technology and expertise, while for Argonne it would really be a new thing. The pre-existing facility at MSU was probably a major factor. Another was the readiness of the university to lob in some matching funds to sweeten the deal; a move not matched by Argonne apparently.

Which kind of brings me back around to that pelt-headed, potty-mouthed lout of a (hopefully) soon-to-be-ex governor, entertaining though his taped conversations may be. What, no thought of a bob or two from the state to grease the wheels, a few mil to land maybe 500? This sort of failure is truly Blugo's legacy. One might almost be tempted to forgive the craven nature of his (alleged) fattening at the trough, if there was something to show for it. However, not only has he been corrupt, he has been completely incompetent to boot.

Earlier this year, on a visit to the wooded hills around State College, Pennsylvania for a workshop on nanotechnology education at Penn State University, I was struck by what enlightened state government could do. Students pursuing a degree in nanotechnology from about twenty different community colleges got to spend one semester at Penn State funded completely by state money, fees and board and lodging. What a brilliant concept. What a fantastic opportunity for those students. The program was the result of a collaborative effort between the colleges, the university, regional industries and the state. Can one imagine such a scenario in Illinois, blessed as we are with the most dysfunctional, inefficient and broken system of government? The thought makes me weep.

High Dunsinane Hill has come to Springfield

2008-12-12T08:05:00.004-06:00

"Where were you when Blugo was nabbed?" might not rank up with similar questions about JFK's assassination or 911, but, for corruption-weary Illinoisans, Tuesday was indeed a memorable day. I was preparing for class, last-minute deep-breathing exercises and so on, when Dulcie calls with the news. I respond appropriately enough with something along the lines of "(expletive) me."

By way of small digression, why is it that papers and news media tiptoe around the actual words with such delicacy, when it is as plain as day what was actually said? A "racial epithet," "f-bomb" and so on are the euphemisms used in polite society. What is avoided by not printing the actual letters? The far more cerebral New Yorker does not stand on such delicate ceremony; to them a fuck is a fuck, printed with an almost palpable defiance, much like David Mamet. Even a c is a c to them, but I couldn't bring myself to do that.

Joy of joys, my day was made, and I floated into the class as if on tiny clouds of air, my feet gilded with wings like an angel. The Tribune the following day made compulsive reading, with the full sordidness and vulgarity of the Thane of Ravenswood and his Lady Patty Macbeth laid bare courtesy of the wire. Far more gripping than even the best of The Sopranos could manage. The obvious comparison of Mrs Blugo to literature's most ambitious woman was made, though I fear that the formerlacks the latter's poetic power. One can scarcely picture potty-mouthed Patty galvanizing a faltering Rod with something along the lines of "Screw your courage to the sticking place and we'll not fail." "Unsex me here" perhaps. "Fuck the fuckers" more like; which I'm sure the eloquent Blugo could appreciate, speaking his language after all.

One can take the Macbeth analogy a bit further for this lovely couple, initially so brash and handsome, sweeping into the throne room on a wave of optimism, self-proclaimed reformers; then increasingly isolated as enemies mount, investigators circulate, and finally cornered in his castle, alone in a dark room in the early hours, in pyjamas. "Is this a joke?" the plaintive response. The real Macbeth showed greater courage at the finish:

"Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'"

One can picture the Mell family fingering the youthful Blugo for greatness, tossing assorted eye of newt, tail of toad, spleen of dog, or whatever, into the Allclad, predicting a bright future: Congress and Guvnor too. All hail, Blugo! hail to thee Thane of Ravenswood!" "All hail, Blugo, hail to thee, Congressman of the something district!" "All hail, Blugo, thou shalt be governor hereafter!" "Fucking golden!" was perhaps the response, but there were no wires back then to record the dialog for posterity. Is it possible that Patrick Fitzgerald is not of woman born? Is he alone capable of smiting the tyrant's head from off his shoulders?

So why is that, on that most glorious of days when corruption is met with its comeuppance, the rest of the politicians are so distraught, mumbling and dissembling about it being a sad day for Illinois, a sad day for the governor. No! No it isn't sad at all! It is a day of singular celebration. The wicked are sent scurrying for their burrows in the dark; the righteous may once again walk in the light, like the day in Narnia when the White Queen lost her power.

What makes a sad day is when the new king of Camelot, the tall, sylvan-tongued Barack who pulled the mighty sword from the stone and smote the nasty Republicans, can only muster that it would be impolitic of him to comment. He later managed a little stronger, but it was too late, too late to have said something to make us believe that there really will be Camelot in Washington. It is a sad day when that same king finds it impolitic to comment on the treachery of another, Durbin, pleading for mercy for the unrepentant, imprisoned Ryan. It is a sad day when that same king, he of transparency and change, given every opportunity to promote said change in Cook County, instead backed the infant son of the stricken Stroger, thereby ensuring for the citizens of that county many more years of the same corrupt self-interest. Of course those citizens really brought it upon themselves by voting for a corpse, but at least he could have made a symbolic gesture. I fear Camelot-come-to-Washington will be little different from Chicago City Hall. Stay those tears you romantic fools; a single person, even one of golden tongue and much intelligence, cannot overcome a system, particularly when he was the product of the system.

Setting the world on fire

2008-12-05T07:42:00.002-06:00

In an article in The New Yorker about the rise of over parenting, evidence for this trend cited growing pressure on youth to be successful in the university entrance process. Not surprisingly, applicants resort to plagiarism (the Illinois way) when preparing applications. Even Oxford and Cambridge are not immune to this; or perhaps it should be that especially Oxford and Cambridge are subject to this. The article stated that two hundred and thirty-four applicants to read chemistry at those venerable institutions cited the same example, 'burning a hole in my pyjamas at age eight,' as a formative experience. Two things are noteworthy here. One, it demonstrates an alarming bankruptcy of imagination amongst these applicants that they feel the need to search for a formative experience on the internet. Two, it is perhaps even more alarming that said applicants would think that an Oxford don would be impressed by such a puerile notion.

Times have obviously changed in the entrance process to Oxford. Although my memory is dimmed by the passage of time, I don't recall having to cite a "formative experience" in my application. I'm sure I would have been hard-pressed to come up with something suitably impressive. I was just good at it. Isn't that enough? There were the exams, late in the year; then the anxious wait for the summons to the interview. Alan Bennett's account of his interview resonates somewhat with my own experience of what was probably the most nerve-wracking moment of my young career. I had not yet tackled the driving test, for at that age had no interest or need for cars.

In the dark of a winter night I alighted from the train at Oxford station and walked the mile or so to New College clutching the map tightly so as to be able to navigate the narrow, echoing alleys that snake between the colleges. I entered the college through the narrow door within the larger gate by a porter's lodge that was dark and uninhabited. After a couple of laps of the quadrangle I singularly failed to discover any living thing. All was dark, damp and just a little bit terrifying. Eventually someone appeared, as if from nowhere, and was able to direct me to where I needed to go. There was a slit-like opening in what I later learned was the old city wall; and on the other side of that opening lay another quadrangle wherein life prospered. I was then able to locate my room and prepare for the interviews. I can't remember now if a scout summoned me from my slumbers or not; of course, in later life, the scout, a mainstay of the Oxford tradition, would become a stabilizing influence in one's college career. I'm sure they are all vanished from the scene now, doubtless replaced by eastern European immigrants and the like. The scouts of old would display a kind of parallel lineage to the students; my scout had relatives at several colleges and was clearly well bred for the job.

All meals during the interview stay were taken in college, and we candidates quickly discerned preferred colleges whereat to dine at different times of the day: breakfast at Brasenose, lunch at Wadham, dinner at John's, that kind of thing.

The interview itself was a rather quiet affair. Neither of my would-be tutors was possessed of a particularly dynamic personality. They sat back in their armchairs in a dim, musty, ever-so-slightly claustrophobic room, located somewhere up an improbably ancient creaking staircase, while I teetered on the edge of an old, large, leathery sofa (do I dare slide back in it and relax?). Not being possessed of a dynamic personality either, the interview was pretty low-key. I have no recollection of what was discussed, though I am pretty sure I was not asked about any formative experiences. What impression did I make in those few minutes? Whatever it was, it was not bad enough to undo any good work I might have done in the exams, and I was duly offered a place.

When I look back, my education seems frightfully random: the choice of high school, the selection of chemistry, the choice of college; they were mostly accidents. Did I make any real, informed, intentional decisions at any point? I think not. Much like chemistry itself: a series of random collisions.

Enemies of science

2008-11-30T12:11:00.003-06:00

I mentioned in my last post that the Discovery Institute is the public enemy number one of science education. There are, however, enemies everywhere, and many occupy influential positions in large churches near you. As I was gaily going about my business the other day, I flipped the radio to WMBI (Moody Radio), since there was nothing particularly stimulating on The Score. It's an obvious alternative I know. I tuned in just at the moment when pastor James MacDonald was reaching one of his trademark climaxes. For those not in the know, MacDonald is the CEO of one of the largest, and most successful, (if you measure success in church by attendance) suburban churches. Like other successful pastors of the new, young, attractive, media-savvy, seeker-sensitive breed, he had the good sense to locate in an affluent area. Consider Rick Warren and Bill Hybels (the latter the founder of the hyper-mega Willow Creek located in that suburban slum Barrington). I know, the rich also need converting too and, as we read in the Bible, wealth is the biggest obstacle to faith; so these people really have a tougher challenge than the folks that labor in the fields of the poor and needy - like shooting fish in a barrel there I guess. MacDonald made the news a couple of years ago by shelling out a few mill for a mansion once owned by former Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald. Also, like many modern pastors, MacDonald is in tune with the modern communications methods and has a blog. I note that he has adopted the shaved-head look - a sort of ecumenical Tom Collichio. Hmmm.

I'm just getting hopelessly sidetracked here, but I wanted to set the scene. Anyway, the moment I tune in, MacDonald is at the pinnacle of a major moment: "Evolution is the biggest lie run up Satan's flag pole." he screams. He goes on to question why this "lie" is defended. Apparently, "they," scientists I suppose, want to deny the truth of God's creation. He then proceeded to trot out some of the wonders of nature, like bugs that spit out two chemicals from opposite sides of their mouths that form an explosive mixture when combined, as proof of God's creation. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times; but the argument proves nothing. It is a false argument.

Why James, why? Why are you and so many of your ilk so committed to keeping your flocks believing in fairy tales? You say so many good things, and do many good things, but when it comes to the principles of science it all goes horribly wrong. And all for what? Is our salvation dependent upon disavowing evolution? I think not.

The evangelical anti-scientific bias was clearly manifested in Sarah Palin. If for no other reason than Sarah Palin would not be Vice President was I profoundly relieved by Obama's election. Apart from the more obvious problems like her belief in Creationism (which to her credit she did not make a big deal of), or skepticism about global warming (more worrying given her location), was her profound ignorance of the importance of basic scientific research. She mocked, for example, the funding of research on fruit flies in France, as if this was a ridiculous misuse of public funds. She was unable to connect that research with its profound economic implications for agriculture in California. Overall, I found the U.S. press to be rather soft on Palin's grotesque deficiencies and utter lack of suitability for a position of public importance. Lawrence Krauss in the New Scientist did not pull any punches in his assessment. "...she is ignorant." "She is also uninterested:..." "She is unqualified:..." "And she is so inarticulate..." All of these positions are unarguable. And yet, shockingly, she was popular. Even educated people thought she was "smart."

Warming to my task of outing champions of ignorance and anti-science, I will conclude with an observation on the most vile and loathsome creature that haunts our radio stations. I'm talking, of course, of the odious Limbaugh. On Dulcie and Aylwin's big beer adventure across the western wastes that the Giants in the Earth had settled little more than a century before, we found that the vast emptiness of the land was mirrored by a similar vacuity in the air waves. There was one constant to keep us company on those long hauls across the plains: Rush Limbaugh. With ceaseless, unflagging commitment (must be the pills I guess), he talked to us at seemingly every hour of the day. Well when I say "talk," I really mean rant. If it was not Rush, it was another of his ilk, Sean Hannity for example. It's hard to tell them apart since they all sound alike. It all sort of melded into a background drone of hyperbole and exclamation points. Eventually you go mad, buy a pick-up and hang a giant American flag out the window.

It was truly terrifying. Whereas I felt strong enough to withstand the relentless assault on reason, I'm sure the vast armies of loyal listeners had been completely and irrevocably corrupted. I was shocked, though I probably shouldn't have been, by Limbaugh's antipathy towards the alternative energy crowd. Limbaugh has a very simplistic view of life; he espouses no deep principles; he invites no discussion of ideas; ultimately he says very little in fact. His rant is one of pure destruction. So, I was a little taken aback by the vitriol spewed over any that promote the need for developing new energy sources and demand that global warming be treated seriously. All such people are liberal, left-wing idiots out to delude the American people. All. That includes me I suppose. Now I take personal offense. This was at the time of the "drill baby drill" anthem and that business about inflating one's tires. Of course they had a field day with that on shriek radio.

I want to ask Limbaugh one thing. Well, I don't really want to ask him because, in all honesty, I don't care what that idiot thinks. But, for the sake of argument, let's say I want to ask him one thing. What is deeply offensive to you, sweet charming Rush, about developing alternative energy? Simply from a business sense alone it represents the best hope for the future. The world is pregnant with opportunity in the development of a new era of energy businesses that will profit Americans rather than criminals, terrorists and despots. Whatever the future holds for climate change, the world will, sooner or later, be reliant almost entirely on other energy sources. Why not be in the forefront, rather than entrenched in bitter denial?

Boards gone wild

2008-11-30T10:55:00.002-06:00

To borrow the SL from Dean Dad's (pseudonym or real?) blog posting, which made it the third article to appear in national publications discussing the events at the last board meeting. The first posting on insidehighered.com I mentioned previously. The other appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education. And I'm not including in that tally articles in the local papers and the Tribune.

I can't imagine that the BOT anticipated this kind of publicity when it launched into this o'erly hasty and ill-conceived policy "revision." Not surprisingly, the item that got the attention of the education press was the "Academic Bill of Rights" known as ABOR. Academic freedom is a dreadfully sensitive topic to my fellow academics. They naturally bristle at the right-wing-inspired ABOR penned by leftie-turned-rightie David Horowitz. Perhaps, like reformed smokers or new convert to religion, there is nothing more dangerous than a reformed leftie. On the surface of it, there is nothing particularly offensive in its language. I was going to reproduce the eight principles (eight rather than the canonical seven?) here, but they are too long and boring. If my interested readers want to study them then I supply a link to my number one source of information, wikipedia of course.

The dangers are all in the subtext and the motivation of the people behind the promotion of ABOR. It's still unclear as to the motivation of the two BOT members responsible for its appearance in the proposed policy manual, where parts of it appear largely verbatim under "educational philosophy." Was it simply a matter of borrowing high-sounding language to avoid the labor of coming up with their own? Or are they motivated by the same zealous philosophies that drive the likes of the Discovery Institute, public enemy number one of science education? Time may tell I suppose, though the elections in April will hopefully render the question moot.

In the news

2008-11-24T07:58:00.002-06:00

Congratulations to the BoT for making the national news. An article covering the policy-making zeal of some of its members appeared in Insidehighered.com

Unlike the local papers that seemed to provide a slightly nuanced account of events, this article exposes the extreme-right motives of the architects of the new policies.

Most people, myself included, are blissfully unaware of the "Academic Bill or Rights," known as ABOR, and its architect David Horowitz. It turns out that the "Educational Philosophy" in the BoT's proposed manual is an essential lifting of the language from ABOR. At first I didn't understand why some of my more clued-in colleagues were upset. On the surface it all seems harmless enough; on the surface the language seems inoffensive and indeed entirely reasonable. Below the surface lurk the dangers; for the ABOR was devised to wrest academic institutions away from the overly left-wing faculties that supposedly controlled them. The ABOR could be used, for example, to insert Creationism (see archives for comments on that) into the teaching of biology and so on. The extremists have become very cunning at adopting language that seems unarguable as a kind of Trojan Horse to infiltrate unwary academic institutions. The Intelligent Designers did not die in Dover; they have simply morphed into other even more subtle forms.

Now here we are at our little community college, in the shallower pools and further ebbs of higher education, seemingly having to deal with this nonsense. Even more reason to be vigilant come April.

Board Games

2008-11-23T11:43:00.003-06:00

Forgive me Father for I have sinned; it has been eleven days since my last post. My loyal readers (all four of them) are doubtless yearning to be fed and I have been negligent in my duties; not because I have been short of things to say, far from it in fact, as thoughts continually bubble up within me like marsh gas in a stagnant pond, but rather short of time to put them down. Yes, even this idle, highly paid educator has been busy, though I'm sure that my close personal friend Head of the Family from the Herald discussion board wouldn't believe me.

COD made the paper three times this past Friday - even the Tribune was there - on account of the rousing Board meeting on Thursday evening. While you might think that the somewhat controversial selection of Dr. Breuder, later of Harper College, to be the next Pres would be the main topic, in fact the seemingly far duller subject of the Policy Manual was the main event.

What started out in the summer as a fairly harmless directive to review the policies transformed dramatically into a firestorm, that put all the other bad decisions into the shade, when new-boy-on-the-block, appointed (not elected) Mr. Atkinson, surprised the entire community by presenting an entirely new policy manual back in October with the recommendation that it be adopted in November. The college community was grudgingly invited to submit comments to an e-mail address. Review of the manual revealed it to be a power grab that was as massive as it was clumsy and preposterous.

Students, community members, and even the faculty were shaken from their slumbers to respond. This past Thursday, the night the policy manual was originally urged to be voted on, saw more than a hundred people attend the meeting and thirty or so speak out over a period of more than an hour. Students were upset, rightly so, because the new policy inserted the president as the boss of the newspaper. A good old-fashioned protest was staged. I'm not so sure the electrical tape and teeshirts were necessary, but I did observe many make impassioned, bold statements. Faculty are upset, rightfully so, for many reasons, most of which involve the board absconding with the curriculum and control. The board sat there in silence, absorbing one withering blast after another. The tone was set by Tom Tipton, who, with quite searing clarity, denounced the proposed revisions would represent the worst decision ever made. The session was neatly book-ended by a similarly thunderous wallop by community member Tom Wendorf.

The process has been slowed, but will it be changed. The grand architect of the scheme seems unrepentant judging by his remarks to the Naperville Sun,

'He made no apologies for what he and the rest of the board are trying to do with the policy revision.

"It would be an abdication of our responsibility as trustees to surrender our policy making to the faculty or any other constituency," he said."'

Makes for an interesting winter of discontent ahead.

There is an election in April where four members of the current board are up, including the appointed grand architect. Let the community decide what it wants in their BOT.

Daddy's gone to Knoxville

2008-11-12T07:42:00.005-06:00

As I enter the echoing halls of Chicago Orchard's terminal 2 in the monstrously early hours of a Sunday morn, for once scarcely a soul about, I'm greeted once more by the somber monotone informing that the security threat has been "elevated" to orange. There follows the various admonitions about what to do with baggage, and how much liquid one can carry on - in a zip-lock bag of course. Well of course it's orange! It always has, and always will be, for otherwise how can it be justified that we be subjugated to the absurd humiliations that constitute passing through the narrow way that is security? I must at all times be showing some "Government-issued ID," though on occasion my Oxford Bodleian Library card has sufficed, along with the boarding pass; people wearing blue latex gloves intently scan them both as if they were forgeries. And what, pray tell, is the function of the zip-lock? Is a sandwich bag without a zipper insufficient containment for my liquid? On this particular journey I felt the economic pain of heightened terrorist awareness. It is my custom when making journeys to foreign parts to carry a tincture of my pleasure to ease the boredom of the lonely hotel room in some far-flung clime devoid of the civilizing aspects of home. Said tincture, now being viewed with the deepest suspicion, must be packed in the checked luggage. Now I must be checking said luggage for a fee of $15. Total cost of my slightly sinful pleasure: $30. All because some dopes in England allegedly tried to make bombs from liquids a few years ago.

Enough of the preamble. I was being taken to Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the inaugural Science and Energy Research Challenge (SERCh) sponsored by the Department of Energy. One of my students, Amanda Manley, had entered a poster based on her work done at Argonne over the summer, and was accepted into the finals. The result: expenses-paid trips for both of us. You can read the press release here:

I had not been to this part of the world previously (I think I had been to or near Memphis previously); this part of the world being in or near the Smokey Mountains. At this time of year the scenery was mildly beautiful with the fall colors still maintaining their hold. Oak Ridge National Lab is deep within a vast tract of woodland, even more vast than Argonne. The buildings I visited all seemed brand new; what, no war-time piles and ancient lavatories - the hallmark of Argonne?

The weekend was something of a forced march, allowing little time for rest as we were shuttled on and off buses between airport, hotel and lab. Many was the person to be seen nodding off, including the SSCP, during yet another presentation. Though, to be fair, many of the presentations were excellent in both being entertaining and scientifically interesting. We were shown the sights, being treated, to some extent, like schoolchildren being wowed by the wonders of big science. We saw a room full of giant computers that are almost instantly obsolete by the time they are installed. They do amazing calculations. I was duly amazed. They also consume huge amounts of electricity and water. We saw the brand new Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) (I note my Mozilla spell-checker does not recognize "spallation"), the opening of which was largely responsible for the shuttering of the grand old IPNS at Argonne earlier this year; though the abruptness of the latter's closing on the day after Christmas or something, as noted in an earlier post on this column, was more due to cost cutting. The SNS is another super-mega instrument that consumes huge quantities of resources but provides, in the blink of an eye, structural information on complex molecules. My mind wandered back to the days of my youth when we wandered over to A.E.R.E. Harwell to do neutron diffraction using the neutrons that emerged from an ancient nuclear reactor. Even a simple structure would involve days of data collection, followed by months of refinement, and quite probably unsuccessful. We were being wooed to submit proposals to use it. Note to self: must submit proposal to SNS.

The main event was the poster session. There were five categories and prizes of real cash were awarded to three students in each, with one overall winner getting an additional $10k. Serious coin here. I know that in the evening of my late youth I can be inclined to occasional cynicism, but I have to say in all honesty I was really awed by the quality of the work, the quality of the presentations, and the quality of the students. The presentations at the end of the FaST program at Argonne can often be quite embarrassingly bad. Here I was overhearing earnest, confident discussions among students that were totally over my head; things about dark matter and weird quantum stuff; and they understood it.

One of the division winners was a lad from Naperville. For those unfamiliar with America's third best place to live (or whatever it is), there are four high schools associated with Naperville. The two downtown schools in District 203 are traditionally associated with academic excellence. Then there is the provincial District 204 with its fancy palace called Nequa (the place that Je$$e Jack$on gets all upset about), that all the nouveau riche want their children to go to (easy access to pot). The fourth school is the one no one wants to go to - too close to Aurora. Needless to say this student came from that school. A nicer and more intelligent person would be hard to find.

My goat girl did not win anything. The fact that she was there at all was pretty amazing though. Must do it again next year.

God among the gearboxes

2008-11-02T11:07:00.004-06:00

Naturally the whole country is currently tuned in to Speed Channel to watch the F-1 finale in Sao Paulo. With British darling Lewis 7 points ahead of the Brazilian Felipe, it is surely his to lose (again). Both have revealed in the course of the last few days their strong faith. In this most materialistic and glamorous of sports, any mention of God seems very out of place. Of course, the late (and definitely not immortal, despite his sublime brilliance) Ayrton Senna, the thinking man's racing driver, was also deeply spiritual. Nonetheless, the public face of F-1 is much more that of Flavio, silver-haired, aging-trendy boss of Renault, who has never met a girl he wouldn't shag. Have to note now that Lewis, a humble lad from south London, has now acquired a pop tartlet: not a Spice Girl but a Pussycat Doll? As I'm sitting here waiting for the start, God, evidently paying attention, has clearly demonstrated a sense of humour as he has sent a downpour on to the starting grid moments before the getaway. The start has been delayed 10 minutes as teams fiddle with the wets. This yet again shows why F-1 is vastly superior to vulgar NASCAR: in the event of rain, the whole show in the latter case stops and they bring out a giant vacuum cleaner and some squeegees.

Fast Forward to the finish. God again displaying a sense of humour as rain arrives in the last four laps and the drivers dive for the pits. Lewis wins, loses and wins again the title on the final two laps. Mind-blowing drama. No fake cautions required here. Does Lewis' success in the relatively exclusive backwater of F-1 foreshadow success of an ethnically similar gentleman on the larger world stage this coming week?

Dark days on Fawell

2008-10-26T10:33:00.003-05:00

And not just because the long days of summer have been hurtling towards those dark mornings of winter; even now, when I rise from my bed of pain of a morning, the sun is barely visible, poking reluctantly above the trees on Raintree. No, the darkness on Fawell is emanating from the boardroom: for the second time in little over a week, my breakfast's Go Lean-inspired equilibrium was disturbed by the newspaper.

Last week, the disturbance was caused by one trustee, new boy on the block Atkinson (not elected by the way, but selected by other BOT members to replace one of the two resigned trustees), engaging in a crude, pre-meditated and thoroughly classless ambush on a fellow trustee at the board meeting. It was all recounted in the Herald: Atkinson spending nearly nine minutes of the board's time revealing (shock, horror!!) Trustee Wessel's well-known connections with a group called DuPage United.

This time the story was in the Tribune .

Read it yourself if you wish; I do not intend to discuss the tawdry issues at hand here. For one thing, I know very little about the individuals involved. What clutched at my colon and impelled me to the heights of unquenchable fury was the fact that the BOT chairman's attorney, a certain Chuck Roberts, has attempted to drag the SSCP into the mess by insinuating that the allegations in question are motivated by faculty members objecting to the new policy of wide-open public accessibility of the college's financial records.

Quoting from the article, "He's basically opened the checkbook for review by everybody," Roberts said Thursday ... "If I was a highly paid faculty member, that may make me a little nervous. There's been a little bit of a tussle over that kind of stuff."

Note yet again the qualifier "highly paid" applied to faculty member. As Dulcie rather acerbically observed, "Have they seen where you live?" Whether or not we are or are not "highly paid," as Mr. Roberts implies, (there's irony, a lawyer implying a college professor is "highly paid." Just so you know, I don't bill people for every phone call I make, or every time I use the lavatory), it is all beside the point. As countless people observed in comments on the column, the suggestion is as dumb as it is erroneous. The "transparency" policy adopted to humour Mr. GoodforIllinois occurred just a few weeks ago, at least a year after the original allegations arose. Mr. Roberts, for your client's sake, I hope you make better arguments in court.

There is an election in April 2009 for four of the BOT seats. It would be nice in future to read articles about the COD that involve student success and achievement, rather than the machinations of BOT members.

Golf carts no more

2008-10-25T16:37:00.006-05:00

As both an ardent fan of F1 racing and student of alternative energy, the recent article in New Scientist on electric cars took my immediate fancy. The main feature of the article was the Tesla roadster prototype funded by some Californian whiz who had made masses of money doing something else. Although there are shades of the Monty Python line, "...made a cool 4 million in vanadium and sank it all into diesel powered nuns..." (Editor's note: the internet is an amazing thing: I enter diesel powered nuns into Google, every academic's best friend, to check the accuracy, and get 76,200 hits; and there's even a blog of the name "dieselpowerednuns."), initial results are certainly impressive from the performance perspective; while massive questions of cost and practicality remain.

Time was when the electric car was a tiny, nasty little box with absolutely no performance and even less range; it was as if it were necessary to carry around a long cable so it could plugged in every few miles to recharge. It's not the first car to have changed the image, but the Tesla blows it out of the water, with its blinding acceleration and claimed top speed of 200 mph apparently limited internally. I don't recall the range but for sure it is far superior to yesterday's golf carts. So what is the difference? All in the battery. The Tesla derives its awesome power from a lithium battery that weighs in at a mind-blowing 450 kg. Lithium batteries are the wunderkind of modern batteries, since lithium combines very low atomic mass with very high reduction potential (the bit that makes the voltage). So they combine low mass with high energy density unparalleled by other competing battery technologies. As a side note, the SSCP is not slow to point out that he worked on lithium batteries back in his youth at Exxon. That was the era of the first oil crisis.

The amazing thing about the Tesla power plant is that the size of the battery far exceeds anything I have been familiar with. The lithium battery powering this laptop as I type weighs maybe 100 grams. It would also cost be about $150 to replace unless I buy one from some disreputable place on eBay. Two issues with lithium batteries are safety and cost. I already alluded to the latter. Little wonder then that the Tesla would set you back $100,000. At that price it is hardly the answer to all our transportation issues; but to be fair to the developer, he does say that the Tesla is a kind of marketing vehicle and that "future products" would emphasize lower-performance, mass-production type cars.

The safety issue represents a longer term problem perhaps. Most people have heard about, or seen pictures of, laptops spontaneously bursting into flames. Imagine that happening on an airplane with an armed marshal sat in the row behind you. My understanding was that the size of the lithium battery was limited by this safety concern. Imagine the conflagration that would ensue if a 450 kg battery (4,000 times larger than the laptop battery) went off. An earlier lithium-powered car made by Volvo (also a high-performance sex machine) used hundreds of tiny cells. Evidently things have moved on.

Looking down the road there are other things to be concerned about. So, if each existing automobile, not to mention the millions more that will appear in places like India, China and Brazil, uses a lithium battery like the one in the Tesla, that means a lot of lithium. At a stroke we will have moved from concerns about peak oil to concerns about peak lithium. In all probability, the latter will be an even more massive problem. And then supply issues will negatively impact prices and so on.

Then what about the recharging? Although the Tesla emits no carbon in its travels, other than that emitted by the driver, the production of electricity to recharge the battery currently does. Although calculations show that, apparently, the carbon footprint of electrical power generation is lower than that of fossil-fuel-powered cars, it is far from zero. So, to some degree, the carbon problem is simply moved somewhere else by the Tesla. Then of course there is the irritating charging time.

The developer is disdainful of the fuel cell approach; but at least the latter requires no long charge times; nor does it hold the owner hostage to the cost of lithium. Of course fuel cell technology will require a hydrogen infrastructure, which is still in its infancy; and that is probably a stretch.

Still, all-in-all, interesting times in electrical transportation.

Hmmm. Firm.

2008-10-20T07:25:00.002-05:00

Word of the week from COD.

I was listening to my uber-favorite podcast, BBC Radio Wales' "All Things Considered" - not to be confused with NPR's version (I think I may have said this once before), while going about my constitutional amidst the autumnal splendor of Danada/Herrick Lake preserve. The mellifluous Roy Jenkins, as soothing a voice as can be heard on the radio, was interviewing some old geezer who had kept a diary on a daily basis for more than thirty years; it might have been fifty, but I forget. Seeing as how the "blog" is the contemporary version of the Letts Schoolboy's diary, the medium that the interviewee had begun his diarying with, I find it unimaginable that I could maintain such a regimen. For one thing, there is a degree of narcissism involved in writing something in a form for others to read. Being one visited occasionally by self-doubts about the value of my thoughts, that narcissism is occasionally defeated. And then there are the times that one simply has nothing to say.

Dulcie looks up from the kitchen table over her glass of Punte Mes (I have introduced her successfully - perhaps too successfully - to the delights of Italian bitter aperitifs, which all started with the search for Fernet Branca inspired by James Harrison Patterson) with the question, "Did I know that T.S. Eliot wrote Prufrock when he was only 23?" Since among the immortal lines there are bits such as "I grow old, I grow old..." I found that fairly amazing. On more than one occasion do I find myself identifying with the poem's hero. The tea and cake and ices lines: definitely been there. At the moment though, my trousers are not yet rolled. For the moment. Later, who knows.

Given that the youth of today read about five minutes a day on the average for pleasure, I wonder how many have heard of T.S. Eliot. Let alone read anything.

Postcard from the Kremlin

2008-10-15T07:46:00.002-05:00

This is my 101st post, which has taken about 18 months to achieve. There are those that make a hundred posts a day; such is the fecundity of their brains, the nimbleness of their fingers, and the unlimited availability of their time. Despite my being a "teacher;" reviled the length and breadth of DuPage county by the likes of "Head of the Family," occasional contributor to the lavatory wall that is the comments section in the Daily Herald; for working as little as possible, the time afforded to me for gifting to the world my genius with the pen is limited. Or perhaps I am as idle and lazy as Head of the Family believes. As I pen these immortal words I am still in my pajamas, or what passes for them these days (don't imagine too deeply), knowing that I must to the COD shortly. Damn! I must do the washing up too before Dulcie returns to find it strewn about the kitchen like the remnants of Hurricane Gustav.

Life at the COD is taking on some of the elements of one of those C.P. Snow novels in a university setting full of Machiavellian plots and internecine goings on. Who would have thought the same possible at the linoleum floor educational level. As I think I have commented previously, time was I knew not the BOT, its members, when they met or what they did, if anything. Times have changed. Over my morning Go Lean (but not lightly), I read the Herald article in which one BOT member publicly attacked another one for allegedly master-minding "protests" against the BOT actions. This same BOT in the course of the past few months assassinated the president, swiftly replacing him with a stand-in puppet. In recent weeks, the Vice-President for Academic Affairs was similarly gunned down in the car park (behind one of the new weed-strewn bioswales - so that's what they are for); and, just for completeness, the Associate Dean of Natural Science has also been offered cyanide pills. Given that the Dean is on a year's sabbatical, my entire management line has been removed in less time than it normally takes to convene a committee meeting. All this is supposedly done with the interest of the tax-payer at heart, but the costs are not inconsequential: paying for two presidents as we are now, with money being spent trying to find a third.

The Gang of Four is unhappy. It doesn't like having to pay attention to the views of others, particularly those that have any experience or interest in education. It appears hostile to education and those that actually do it. To placate one anti-tax activist, the salaries are all going to be posted. For what? To denigrate the employees. It attacks the student newspaper because the latter actually has the bollocks to write about what is going on and questioning the wisdom of recent decisions. It tries to eliminate public comment at its meetings and bristles when anyone approaches the microphone. Board procedures are invoked to discourage the emergence of opinion. It has foisted upon the college a "revised" policy manual that weighs twice as much as the previous one, and wants to force it through the process avoiding any form of due process in so doing.

And I want to know why? What motivates these people? They have no interest in education, no background in it, no vision, no mission, no desire to promote it. Why has the once peaceful little COD been turned into some sort of politically motivated circus that successfully generates masses of bad press.

There is an election in April.

Clean coal: put that in your stack and smoke it

2008-10-08T07:41:00.003-05:00

It was about a year ago that Mattoon was on the brink of becoming the epicentre of advanced coal research with the awarding of the giant Futuregen project to that small burg somewhere off I-57, close to the home of Eastern Illinois University. Parents, do your children a favor by not ruining their college years by sending them there.

Although Dulcie informs that I was incorrect in remembering there to be a Sonic burger place, I must have been confusing it with St. Louis (easily done), the lone restaurant near the interstate exit, whatever it was, defined fine dining in that area. Rightly or wrongly, and that is a debate rich in nuance, Mattoon's glory was short-lived as Futuregen got slashed a few weeks later as being too expensive.

For my loyal readers unfamiliar with Futuregen, it is/was an ambitious project aimed at developing carbon-free emissions in a coal-fired power station. Since almost all the energy from the combustion of coal involves converting carbon into carbon dioxide, this is a mighty problem. Coal is almost all carbon; whereas natural gas, methane (CH4) has four hydrogen atoms for every carbon atom, so energy from burning the latter comes from both creation of CO2 (bad) and H2O (not bad). Fans of alternative energy sources are largely opposed to any research on improving coal. The trouble is, there's lots of it and, for several decades, no conceivable way that the non-carbon alternatives will replace it.

Earlier this week, an advanced emissionless power plant, much smaller than the one proposed in Futuregen, was unveiled in Germany (the former East Germany as people are still wont to say). It is fairly amazing that this idea really has practical and economic utility, but perhaps it does. For one thing, the coal must be burned in pure oxygen rather than air (only 21 % oxygen) to ensure complete conversion into CO2. All this CO2 must then be captured in the exhaust. It is then pressurized, liquefied, and stored in tanks for later disposal. The current design has the tanks being transported for injection underground at another location. This is the equally improbable-sounding carbon sequestration where, instead of releasing the CO2 into the atmosphere (bad), it is pumped deep underground where it will happily live ever after in the seams of some old mine or something.

Compare all that effort with simply taking a lump of coal and burning it, and you have to wonder how it can be cost-effective. Then consider the logistics of converting every single coal-fired power station to this kind of process. Bear in mind that the infrastructure of capturing, transporting and sequestering mammoth quantities of CO2 is yet to be developed. Bear in mind also that new power stations are popping up in India and China like mushrooms in the Morton Arboretum in the damp fall weather.

The enormity of the problem of eliminating carbon from the energy game is so massive that it seems that all solutions are pointless. It will never be a question that one approach is the way. However, if all of the myriad approaches using various renewables, sustainables, bio-this's and thats, futuristic clean coal, and even including the nuke (nukular in the GOP parlance), are all applied, then a difference can be made, over time and with monumental investment at the government level. If all the money frittered away in the pathetically wrong-headed attempt to impose "democracy" on a unwilling foreign country, much of which ended up in the pockets of the president's pals, was focused on developing those sources, think where we might be now. Maybe Mattoon would have become more than just a one-burger town.

If the glove fits...

2008-10-05T21:06:00.002-05:00

The news came over my radio Saturday announcing that O.J. Simpson had been found guilty on all counts. A flood of memories provoked by the juxtaposition of those words: Simpson and guilty. Was it almost fifteen years now when he was the beneficiary of one of the most celebrated miscarriages of justice in modern history? The most celebrated perhaps if not the greatest. For day in, day out, there are more grievous perversions of the system of justice as innocent men, lacking the celebrity and resources of the likes of Simpson, are quietly put away. Some of them may get lucky decades later, when some vital evidence missing at the time surfaces. Many do not. The sordid imperfections that permeate the system are the strongest argument I know against the death penalty. (As an aside, how are those folks who are so pro-life with their Christian worldview usually so profoundly pro-death when it comes to law and order? Not to mention the obsession with rights to carry guns)

Almost fifteen years: the white Bronco, the weird chase, the envelope, the cut on the finger, the horrid slaughter, Judge Ito, the rest. I was spending a lot of time cutting and polishing crystals for my fledgling company using the equipment at the then Amoco Optics. The radio was on the whole time and the trial was a constant fixture, like a soap opera. In spite of the Himalayas of evidence the jury saw fit to acquit. One could really question the efficacy of the jury system.

Is it possible that justice could finally be served, or at least repaid a little? No doubt there will be an appeal. This is America, and, as everyone knows, freedom is always available at a price. Back then, a cavalcade of "celebrity" lawyers whored themselves to get a piece of the action. It was a truly disgusting sight. And it paid off. Hopefully this time it won't happen and the Goldman's will get a semblance of justice at long last.

Safe inside the "Ivory Tower"

2008-10-05T08:43:00.002-05:00

While it might be a bit of a stretch to equate the rusting hulk of the Berg Instructional Center (pity poor Mr. Berg for having his name attached to this monument to horrible 1970's "architecture," with its ugly rusting walls and lexan windows rendered utterly opaque by degradation and rivers of rust) with the ivory towers of learning, nonetheless, it is a place of learning, albeit at the lower end of the spectrum of higher education. I like to tell people when introduced to them that I am very familiar with the lower reaches of higher ed. And, being so, the college is largely insulated from the horrors that a plummeting economy visit upon people in the real world, as Dulcie likes to refer to everyone else; college professors do not live in the real world.

It is largely true, as scarcely a whisper of the recent panics on Wall Street filtered into my soulless square of a cubicle that passes for an office. Indeed, on the latest Black Monday, I arrived home blissfully unaware of the disaster; Dulcie rolling her eyes in scornful disbelief at my ignorance.

I'm sure the protection afforded us teachers is partly responsible for the hatred that many of the community apparently have for the profession. A letter in the Daily Herald regarding the publishing of the salaries provoked an astonishing vitriolic torrent of abusive "discussion." Notable among the posts was the hostility of some towards teachers ("Head of the Family" in particular, anonymous coward): how we are only interested in working as little as possible for as much as possible. Having spent the best part of a Saturday without receiving a cent of compensation, not to mention the weeks in the summer working with my research students for next to nothing, I am not entirely in agreement with this viewpoint of the teacher; though I can think of a few that might qualify - where art though football guy?

While for most, the daily rumination revolves around whether or not their employer will weather the storm, for the COD faculty the current crisis is the modification of the reading requirement - a decision made without their full consultation, blessing and consent.

The beautiful language

2008-09-30T23:25:00.002-05:00

Feathers of our great and glorious faculty have been ruffled recently by the announcement that the reading test applied to determine entry into some classes maybe relaxed in certain situations to accommodate the needs of the computer system that is meant to control all these things. What Big Brother wants...

In some situations this may well be a good thing. Dulcie, ever anxious to improve her learning, avaricious for learning, insatiable consumer of books, addict of Bravo, attempted to register for an accounting class. Having waded through the several screens, surely enough of a prerequisite in itself, to register for the chosen class, she found herself blocked by the need, apparently, to take the reading test. Here is an adult woman (age not to be disclosed), a professional, a previous student at COD, now apparently required to take a reading test. How preposterous is that?

A recent correspondence from the college indicates perhaps that the reading test may well be put to better use in the hiring of personnel than the registering of students. I present it here verbatim to allow you to enjoy in full the mutilation of my native language.

"I would like inform you that, our next Diesel fuel delivery, will be containing a 5% Bio-Diesel formula. So I am asking for two mean's of assistance from you as supervisor's as well as from your departments' as a whole, in the means of, all your patience during this trial/experiment, while we iron out any issues that may arise from using a bio-diesel formula, we may or may not experience any issue's with this fuel, because as a starter point we are only running a 5% mix, so if any of you experience any problem's in both performance and or strange Oder's while driving these diesel vehicles, please contact me any way you would like. Thank you for you help and future understanding while we convert to this new fuel. I am including my contact information, please feel free to contact me at any time if any issues arise from this bio-diesel in your College vehicle."

DuPage: nucleus of proton therapy

2008-09-21T08:57:00.002-05:00

With the recent approval of a proton therapy center in Warrenville, DuPage county will soon boast having two of these "cutting-edge" facilities, as it will add to the one being built by Northern Illinois University in West Chicago. Your savvy cyber professor is not without interest in this development since he is involved in some peripheral manner with developing education for future operators of these facilities. If Argonne lands the mammoth Rare Isotope Beam Facility (FRIB) contract from DoE, then truly DuPage will be a nuclear center nonpareil. FRIB will utterly dwarf in scope and money what will be spent on these proton therapy centers. I hope Argonne gets it because it will be exciting times in accelerator technician education.

Skeptics will wonder at the utility of these centers. For many years the efficacy of proton therapy in the targeted treatment of tumors has been established. This efficacy comes with a cost: over twice as much as conventional treatment. It has not been demonstrated yet that proton therapy is a necessary alternative in a sufficiently broad range of procedures to justify the additional cost. Is this another situation of an expensive new technology chasing an application? Back in the day, lasers (or laser as the medical community likes to refer to them as - "We use laser.") received a great deal of hype when they were introduced into surgical procedures. There was a lot of aggressive marketing to replace conventional surgical procedures with "laser." Quickly it became apparent that, in many cases, the laser was not superior but was much more expensive. Just as I was trying to get into developing a laser product idea, I encountered a tremendous amount of antipathy: once bitten, twice shy kind of response.

The managers of the proton centers won't care if their procedures are not really necessary. Provided they can load them up with patients that the insurance companies will pay for they will be happy. The rest of us will foot the bill down the road.

Meet COD's new friend of the people

2008-09-17T07:48:00.003-05:00

With all the talk and irritation swirling over the new "transparency" policy, intended largely to demean and denigrate COD employees by publishing earnings for all to see, I was motivated to discover who or what was behind it all. There was talk of the "lone blogger," echoes of lone gunman or the Unabomber there, who had started it all. The so-called organization forthegoodofillinois.org - it is really a website - appears to be a front for one Andrew Andrzejewski self-proclaimed friend of the good citizens of Illinois and watchdog of public spending, or so one is led to believe. The website is loaded with pictures of our hero and I discovered one with him posing with certain members of the BOT. What a surprise: only four of them are shown - the four that voted for publishing the salaries. Was the photo shot before or after the vote? Did he have to pay? A final question, in the interest of transparency, is the hair real?

One has to wonder at the real motivation for meddlers like this who present a front so righteous and public spirited. Buried within all the overt desire to promote good government is usually a more malicious intent. That intent usually involves reducing public spending on anything. Why is it, for example, that so many right-wing folks are global warming skeptics? You will find them crawling all over promoting the idea that global warming has nothing to do with carbon emissions. I think it stems from a desire to reduce public spending. In the global warming case, reduce public spending on alternative energy research. In transparency in local government it is reducing spending on education and everything else that relies on it. Publishing salaries is one way to alienate the college from the public. These crusading meddlers ultimately want to smash all the systems to prove they don't work.

The See-Through Professor

2008-09-10T09:22:00.005-05:00

Back in the day when I joined this most esteemed center of learning, this Harvard of southern Glen Ellyn, this beacon of knowledge, I only had the vaguest notion of what or who the Board of Trustees was. I never really heard anything about them and never went to the meetings, nor did I ever hear about what happened at any of the meetings; I could not have told you their names. For five years as an adjunct (disposable) I only had the dimmest awareness that there was a president; he would make an occasional appearance, offer an utterance over his wire-framed spectacles about nothing in particular and retreat into the shadows for another year. Perhaps it was better that way: a sign of good management is often an invisible one. Times have changed. Or me. I rather think it is the former. The BOT is now much more visible; one would go the extent of saying that it has become intrusive, even to the point of divisive and destructive. The faces on it have changed: more male, more right wing anti-tax Republican, more "fiscally responsible," decidedly less friendly towards education. I was showing Dulcie the latest article in the Herald (to be further discussed) and the comments that it provoked (dozens of them - you would think it was an article about abortion or teaching evolution or something really controversial) and she responded in that insightful way of hers that to her; and she is no friend of education either, and thinks I have the cushiest job around - and there to my own defence I must differ; the BOT appeared to be angry that COD was somehow involved in education rather than doing something more useful like selling stuff, or making money. Indeed it does seem that way at times.

I have already reported on the whacking of the president on the quiet of the day after Memorial Day. Yesterday, the Vice President of Academic Affairs followed a similar path. In the interests of transparency, explanations yet to be forthcoming... Further, the BOT is yet to explain to the taxpayers why there are now two presidents rather than just one; it hardly seems in keeping with their penny-conscious philosophy and concern for the taxpayers and stakeholders etc.

While administrators tend not to be the greatest friends of faculty members this wholesale slaughter does not sit well. To add to the general ill feelings around the campus, now the BOT appears to be bending over backwards to appease a single anti-public-spending activist nutcase who masquerades as public spending watchdog "forthegoodofillinois" (never trust organizations that sound overly patriotic or do-goody) by voting to publish all the incomes with names of the employees on some public website. While it is not the end of the world, and in any event this sort of information is available anyway, the haste and enthusiasm with which the BOT jumped at the chance, ignoring the wishes of the employees that it represents, leaves a bad taste. And really, what good does it serve? The BOT appears to be repeating with interests the types of actions that earned it such critical reviews in the Fisher Report published in 2000.

An article published in the Herald incited a monumental flurry of comments. The general tone and nastiness of many are quite shocking to behold. What is it about teachers and the profession of teaching that unleashes such venom? Do all those folks have woodsheds as a result of some horrible abuse as a student?

Needless to say, the BOT elections this coming April will be far more significant than most previous ones. The future is at stake.

Opposites attract

2008-09-10T08:37:00.002-05:00

The result of my rant against the likes of eminent global warming skeptic nutter and general crackpot (he was a Thatcherite) Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, is that an ad appears on my blog page advertizing a "layman's guide" to "flaws" in the case for global warming. The nerve of it.

Mob rules

2008-09-05T21:51:00.002-05:00

As is my custom of the morning, I take my daily bowl of Go Lean (but not lightly) with a browse of the Tribune; the idle life of the college professor ideally suited to those extended, leisurely morning repasts with opportunity for reflection upon the ways of the world. An article on the proposed irradiation of produce to eliminate bacteria on the front page caught my eye. When I began the educational trail as a fresh-face adjunct (how soon the optimism of youth gives way to the cynicism of old age in the academic setting), food irradiation was a "hot topic" in the food world. It served as an interesting case study in perception versus reality in assessing risk.

Anything containing the word radiation leaps to the top of the charts in perceived risk, regardless of any facts pointing to its absence. One can discover these disconnects all over the place from the mundane to the sophisticated. We think nothing of driving a car to work (pretty high risk of trouble) but sweat feverishly when the airplane takes off (pretty low risk of trouble). How many pages are devoted to shark attacks (almost no fatalities) versus say coal mining (high numbers of injuries).

Radiation though is the number one bad word, perhaps closely followed by chemical. The reasons for that are pretty clear: the awfulness of Hiroshima that ushered in the nuclear age; the hugely published Chernobyl disaster; the ghastliness associated with radiation sickness. Selling radiation presents a major challenge to the nuclear industry, but I don't think that it has really embraced the challenge.

A decade ago food irradiation was established as a perfectly acceptable and safe technique for sanitizing various food groups by several organizations including food organizations that had no ties with the nuclear industry. Yet the public perception could still be swayed by a collection of dedicated anti-nuclear groups that operated a number of anti-irradiation websites. While the mainstream organizations found no evidence of health effects with irradiated food, the anti-nuke activists referenced various "studies" that found sickness in dogs and other troubling things. The innocent investigator would be left wondering what is what when confronted by this apparent conflict in findings. Who has the time to sort out which of the "evidence" presented is bona fide and which is fake? And that is the point of course: the activists recognize that all you have to do to establish doubt is to suggest problems; it isn't necessary to have any real proof of any problems.

Ten years later nothing has really changed regarding irradiation. The problem, the article stated was consumer acceptance. What is wrong with this picture? It is all arse backwards. It is absurd that uneducated consumers should be dictating what is or is not acceptable. If a process has been established as safe by a critical mass of research, then that should be the end of it; the consumer should be satisfied. Unfortunately that is not the case in this country at least. It points to a fundamental lack of respect for science in the general populace and an overwhelming vulnerability to misleading influences from special interest groups.

Maybe I am weird, but for my part I am far more comfortable munching a tomato that has been zapped by gamma rays than one that may be crawling in e-coli.

Justifiable exclusion or suppression?

2008-09-03T07:36:00.002-05:00

So many things to talk about it's hard to know where to begin. One thing is for sure, unlike many people who seem to be able to make a living writing their diary on the internet - all those bloggers who blather interminably and normally crudely about the daily political round - the SSCP lacks sufficient time (though Dulcie would probably disagree) to attend to these sorts of writings. I mean I still have my real book to finish; so how can I be wasting time doodling here?

An article in New Scientist, my absolute favourite science publication, which it is my custom to review over a pint of filthy at my local hostelry (which is on the verge of going out of business it would appear), caught my eye. The author was Lawrence Krauss, who is some kind of physicist often found to be slagging off the faith people in his defence of the rationality of science: he criticized the magazine recently for accepting advertising money from the Templeton Foundation. But that is another story.

In this article he was discussing how the line can be drawn between uncensored, open debate on scientific issues and the exercise of control on the content in these debates. The determining factor should be that the former should be restricted to discussions where there are legitimate scientific differences to discuss. That sounds fair; but exactly who gets to define what is "legitimate" can be the problem. He was relaying the slightly embarrassing, yet highly amusing, tale of how his American Physical Society's Forum on Physics and Society had inadvertently invited a climate change "skeptic" (that means nutter), a certain Christopher Monckton of Brenchley (you know with a name like that you should be wary), to share the stage in a discussion of the accuracy of climate change predictions. The slightly amazing thing is that no one in the publication seemed to be aware who is this Monckton chappie was, even though I have previously exposed him in these very pages. They even addressed him as Dr. Monckton, even though he is no closer to obtaining a PhD than the fellow who delivers my newspaper, with all apologies to the latter if he is an out-of-work Fermi physicist. The wily Monckton wasted no time in seizing his opportunity and now claims to the world that his concocted "evidence" for the absence of climate change has been peer reviewed in a prestigious publication. This is not the case; it was (foolishly) invited, which is way different from enduring the critical eye of review. Worse, political opportunists such as Senator Inhofe are now using this unfortunate blunder as evidence that the American Physical Society is skeptical of climate change. This changes the episode from a slightly amusing gaffe to something of serious consequence. The level of high octane ranting against climate change and alternative energy proponents on the part of the nutty right-wing commentators such as the odious, vile and loathsome Rush Limbaugh, the only person you hear on the radio west of the Mississippi it seems, is truly terrifying. Collectively anyone supporting action against global warming and in favour of alternative energy is part of an extreme liberal, left-wing, Marxist conspiracy to take over the world. The solution according to Limbaugh is simply to drill a bunch of holes.

Although climate change is a pretty hot topic, so to speak, and there are well-funded "skeptics" out there trying to obfuscate the issues with their fake science such as the aforementioned crackpot Monckton, the most popular arena where the boundaries between legitimate discussion and fake science are blurred is undoubtedly evolution. Although the Dover decision may have derailed the Creationist community, operating under the guise of "Intelligent Design," momentarily, like one of those creatures from the horror flicks, it refuses to die completely. This time the approach is even sneakier as the proponents of "ID" (do we really have to continue the pretense?) are pursuing legislation in states like Louisiana that support the "legitimate" questioning of scientific theories in high schools. On the surface it sounds great; I regard skepticism and critical thinking as primary characteristics of a scientific mind. Scratch a little bit deeper and the true motivation of the initiative is revealed: there is really only one theory that is being called into question. Why am I not surprised. So, the story goes, weakness in the scientific theories can be discussed and alternatives (now what might they be?) reviewed, or something like that. So here we are again, pitching millions of man years of research and facts against a few nutty activists and their preconceived ideologies. Is that legitimate debate? I don't think so. Time was, in my naive youth, at the very dawn of ID, which I think emanated from honest men, I would have countenanced the discussion. When ID was hijacked by the Creationist activists and became a weapon in their "wedge of truth" strategy (courtesy of clever but devious creatures like Phillip Johnson (I note in passing that he is a son of Aurora) things changed (trust a lawyer to muddy things up): it's no longer about science, but about social and religious (not even theological) agendas. Nowadays the very mention of ID has me rushing headlong for the porcelain.

Where did the summer go?

2008-08-29T07:45:00.002-05:00

Noting with horror that the last post was July 22, more than a month ago, I am left wondering where the time went. My gentle readers, all four of them, though perhaps I exaggerate, are probably pondering the fate of the Super Savvy Cyber Professor. It has been just a blink of time between the fierce heat of July and the beginning of a new academic year at the college of last resort. In truth, my Argonne sojourn; another triumph for my two wonderful students Amanda Manley and Julie Bafia, who were such great ambassadors for the COD; combined with a full load of teaching - a torrid evening class with a very intelligent group of high performers that lacked only personality - left the SSCP a little drained and lacking both time and creativity to attend to his blogging. Immediately after the end of term began Dulcie and Aylwin's Big Beer Adventure, which involved driving the big Acura to Portland, Oregon in a quest for craft beer. Connection to the outside world, i.e. the internet, at each roadside motel was occasionally a fickle thing and the driver's tired arms were normally in no mood to attend to his blogging. Over time some reports of our adventures in Beervana - how Portland is known in the beer world - may emerge, but my main conclusion from the journey is that America is very large. The maps do not lie. The other main conclusion is that America is by far the most advanced brewing nation in the world and should no longer tolerate cheap jibes from the likes of the English about weak (it never has been actually), tasteless (that has been just) beer.

I was going to write about my reaction to the beginning of term but now I find I must prepare for class. More later, but I did want to register my continued existence, lest you were concerned.

Want free cash? "Tutor" some children with Hollywood Hendon

2008-07-22T23:11:00.002-05:00

All one hears about these days is that the State of Illinois doesn't have a pot to piss in money-wise. My future retirement is regularly plundered to make ends meet, various programs go unfunded and the state struggles to meet its obligations to honest providers of services. It turns out though, according to a lengthy expose in the Tribune, that money appears to fall off trees if you want to tutor needy children after school, particularly if you are a buddy of Rickey "Hollywood" (as he likes to be known) Hendon. A noble idea perhaps, if it is actually carried out. Tens of thousands of dollars have been handed out by the State Board of Education without apparently any attempt to establish accountability. Qualifications to receive money: some association with Hollywood. It is not even necessary to be able to spell or construct a grammatical sentence, let alone have a real plan.

Needless to say, the aforementioned Hendon has no shame about stealing taxpayers' money from across the state and handing it out to his cronies. It's Chicago: if not him then someone else.

It's all very different from the days I obtained a Technology Challenge Grant from the state and I had to account for every penny that they gave me. It did not seem that important, however, to have obtained any concrete results from the money, provided it had been spent according to what the budget had ordained.

NU - The expensive choice for summer crash courses

2008-07-20T21:18:00.002-05:00

The long hot days of summer must be here; not necessarily evidenced by the weather, though it has been hot the past few days, but by the types of articles that make it into the Tribune's main section. Saturday's paper featured a lengthy piece on summer science courses at Northwestern, written in such a way as to suggest that this was something really unusual. Perhaps that is the case at one of the world's most prestigious educational institutions, but at the humble COD it is standard practice during the short summer session to offer the first year chemistry course (or the second year organic) in ten weeks. NU is on quarters and they offer three classes in 9 weeks (3 weeks each). Okay, that is one week less than our two five week semester classes but, hey, that is NU after all.

We refer to them affectionately as the "suicides," though I am not aware of any actual evidence to support that appellation. As the article noted, the casualties are usually heavy: during the first half this summer, 10 out of 24 fell by the wayside; but unusually 22 out of 24 are still hanging in there. Many, if not most, of our students visit from other universities to take the course at a massive discount. I would like to tell the Tribune author that a student could take the classes at COD for maybe $1500 compared with the $9K shelled out at NU. Before you all come back with the old community college line, I should tell you that many of the students find the COD experience to be better than their "real" university education, and many tell me how well prepared they are for tests like PCATs and MCATs. So I think we do something right. It might lack the cache of NU but COD, at least in chemistry, provides an excellent value-for-money education. It's more than just ash trays.

Is that nanotechnology in your trousers or are you just happy to see me?

2008-07-13T22:40:00.002-05:00

I thought the SL of this post might be a good title for a talk on nanotechnology I gave to a group of youthful students recently but respect for political correctness got the better of me. One could only wonder at the scope of the sexual harassment suits that might follow such an opening gambit. The days of risque banter in the classroom are long gone I fear.

This was the first talk on nanotechnology I had given and I had spent a rather anxious Sunday putting it together. It is the intention to offer a course, that I have designed, in the fall, although the reluctance of some of my colleagues in the division in supporting this venture is slightly surprising to say the least. In a review of the program that is currently underway, one advanced the suggestion that nanotech should be dropped! FU2 dear. I'm not sure of the identity of the individual though I have a pretty good idea.

My fear is that COD is a day late and a dollar short in the nanotech field, as readers of the Tribune might have seen a large article last Sunday on nanotechnology education with a focus on Harper College and its new program unfolding this fall. We have a lot of work to do. The skeptics will wonder how many students will want to sign up for this program and ask how many jobs are out there for these putative nanotechnicians. These are fair questions; I am also interested to know the answers. But if the answers are vague is this a justification for not trying to build for the future? Whatever the reality that nanotechnology eventually becomes, surely it will be something more than nothing, for it is so broad and so varied. This is very different from the superconducting bubble that swelled up so dramatically and faded with quiet disappointment a couple of decades ago. Sadly there are still not trains running on rails of liquid nitrogen, nor will there ever be. As I trudge between the dull red brick of Argonne's aging buildings, I am reminded of the superconductivity conference I attended in the late 80's: the first meeting I ever attended at which fashionably dressed bankers mingled with scientists, eager to buy in to a piece of the action. Looking beyond the obvious hype associated with nanobots and other far-fetched fantasies, the real applications of nanoscale materials across society in both technical (cancer treatment) and mundane (waterproof trousers)applications for me make the choice a no-brainer.

Nominative Determinism at Argonne

2008-06-26T22:55:00.002-05:00

I read that a scientist at Argonne named Khalil Amine received a performance award this week. Another example of nominative determinism, though I rather think he should be an organic chemist rather than being involved with batteries.

Fine country for old men

2008-06-21T06:35:00.002-05:00

This is my third summer at Argonne National Laboratory; each time I enter its gates I feel as if I am going back in time thirty years. Is it the buildings, the people or both? Argonne began to take shape after the Second World War as nuclear energy research was wisely moved from its location at the University of Chicago. Buildings have been added over the years; but until recently they have all followed the same drab low, red-brick style. I work in 205 which is the home of the historical Chemical Engineering Technology Division (CMT - always curious as to how CMT derives from that name), though a reorganization late last year has the name changed to Chemical Science and Engineering (CSE). Outwardly little has changed. The interior of 205 is fantastically drab and depressing; not a single cent has been spent on decor or upkeep. The floors, wall coverings and furniture are ancient (there are apparently some WWII surplus desks floating around), dull and sterile and appear to have never been subjected to rehabilitation. The lavs are a delight to anyone interested in WC archeology, though perhaps less inviting to those who enjoy their evacuations in modern shiny porcelain. I wondered if it was just me so I shared my observations with my office mate, who joined Argonne about five years ago from Northwestern. She admitted to being in culture shock for about six months after arriving from the comparative luxury and modernity of NU; and she had been a graduate student.

A fascinating feature of 205 is the haphazard layout of labs. There is no rhyme or reason to it; the labs belonging to the various groups are randomly dotted throughout the building making lengthy treks along corridors from one to another part of the routine. Occasionally one is required to ascend an ancient grey iron staircase into a gloomy attic where will be revealed a secret room containing perhaps an NMR spectrometer or XRD machine.

The walls of 205 are hung with rows of aging black and white portraits of its storied engineers and scientists. They are stereotypes of the fifties scientist: male, short hair, tie, glasses. One looks up and finds the living members of 205 to be little different from the faces staring down from the walls; in some cases they are the same ones. Argonne is an aging population: too old, too white and too male, or so it seems. Because of, or maybe in spite of all this, Argonne is a center of basic research across many scientific frontiers. The cracked avocado tiles in the lavs not withstanding, my annual exposure to its inner workings are a rewarding experience.

Splendor in the grass

2008-06-20T07:19:00.003-05:00

The SSCP and his moll indulged in a rare taste of culture en plein air and a little dejeuner sur l'herbe the other weekend when they took in ELH's concert at Morton Arboretum just down the road in Lisle. It is a sure sign of encroaching middle age when a two-mile drive seems like a major adventure. I find it a little odd to find myself, a one-time hardcore Rolling Stones fan, now getting all misty-eyed over a similarly aging country star. Not sure exactly how it happened but it might have been the evening I turned on Prairie Home Companion (another sure sign of age) to hear Mark Knopfler and ELH sharing their then new Road Running album. About once every two decades I hear a transcendent song and If This is Goodbye was one such. Of course, being a huge Dire Straits fan FROM THE VERY BEGINNING (not just from that infernally popular song about fridges) didn't do any harm.

Anyway, the Arb, as we affectionately call the salt king's garden, was the perfect locale for ELH's mellifluous, melodic, melancholic music; as we sat back in the fading light the songs swirled among the rustling leaves of a pleasant summer evening.

The occasion was not without its annoying aspects though: surprisingly biting insects was not one of them but the other humanity there was. Perhaps I have led a sheltered life and know not the ways of the modern world; but when I attend an event of the performing arts, it is my expectation that the audience is indeed there to be auditors: silent listeners in other words, and participants only when called upon. It seems I am mistaken; for at the Arb, at our somewhat distant location from the stage, the gentle vocals of ELH had to compete, often unsuccessfully, with the constant, clanging chatter of the crowd. Does this happen at the theatre, at the Lyric, even at the local cinema? I think not for the most part. Okay, being a college professor (not that kind of doctor) means I am not the world's wealthiest man, but I still think $50 is a significant sum for most people (to put it in perspective we are inclined to wait for films to make the rounds of the Glen ($6.50) and tolerate the ancient seats and the sticky floors); so why do they bother to spend $50 just to sit and chat. One woman in front chose the beginning of the set to show the rest of her group some photos on her camera; our view of the stage was compromised by the girth of her not inconsiderable rear end. To our left two young women continued an animated conversion in which one of them had her back to the stage the entire time; fortunately she left early. Why bother coming in the first place?

The other notable about the event was the TSA-like rigour with which the Arb staff interrogated our "carry-ons." Although we were not required to remove our shoes, belts or even trousers, the contents of the picnic baskets were subject to intense scrutiny for any contraband drink. Not that drinking was not permitted; only that drink purchased on the grounds was permitted. How I was quaking with fear as the Argentine Torrontes secreted in one of those ridiculously expensive environmentally conscious (supposedly) SIGG metallic bottles was likely to be exposed. Fortunately, the indolent youth that search our bag did not bother to open it, and we were able to dull the pain of the ceaseless chatter without recourse to the local beverage.

Night of the long knife

2008-06-06T07:06:00.002-05:00

The Tuesday after Memorial Day began my third sojourn at Argonne National Labs, working with some COD students in the newly named Chemical Science and Engineering Division (it used to be CMT - Chemical Engineering Technology - how does one get CMT out of that?) on fuel cells. The previous day we had indulged in a quiet and meditative stroll around Oak Park gazing enviously at all the Frank Lloyd Wright houses and their knock-offs, remarking at the alarming number of Obama signs in front lawns. The day did not pass completely without incident as there was a tense moment at Poor Phil's over some incorrectly identified Three Floyds Dreadnaught. Just for the record, it's not Dreadnaught, despite their claims; but at least we didn't pay for it.

Anyway, back to the Tuesday, I did not get to read my e-m until early evening and so was completely shocked upon opening the mailbox to find an "Official Communication" informing the "transitioning" of President Sunil Chand to the position of "President Emeritus" effective immediately. In other words he had been whacked that very day, on the quiet of a Tuesday after Memorial Day, with all the students and most of the faculty gone to the country, in a hastily gathered and private board meeting. The gang of thugs, dummies and failed political hopefuls that is the BoT of COD had just performed its Soprano-esque dispatch of our leader.

Trustees of the College of DuPage regularly take the opportunity to say when the microphone is on that decisions are made with the interests of taxpayers in mind. Many decisions that have been made call this into question however. For the second time in five years the college will be paying for two presidents as Dr. Chand is under contract and a replacement, Hal McAninch, he of the Arts Center, had to be brought in as interim. The likely cost of this as-yet unexplained move is about $400,000. History reveals several other questionable costly actions by the Board. Notable examples include $650,000 for a parking lot that was never used, and $90,000 for a PR firm hired preemptively without discussion with the administration. One could go on: the soccer stadium fantasy, the Costa Rica cock-up...

More damaging to the COD infrastructure than these individual actions is the Board's intrusive, bullying and meddling style. Research revealed a review of the college performed in 1999 – 2000 by James Fisher, Ltd. In this breathtakingly scathing report the Board is described as being "…persistently guilty of inappropriate interference in the college's operations." There are other gems too: "Many of its actions provide text book case studies of how a board of control should not exercise its responsibilities."

Clearly the present group has neither read from nor heeded the message. Concerned taxpayers have a right to hear explanations about expensive and disruptive Board decisions. They also have opportunity and responsibility to make changes. There are four seats up for election in 2009. I urge voters to choose candidates that are committed to creating a board dedicated to strategic long-term governance rather than costly micro-management.

FIA endorses spanky

2008-06-05T07:13:00.002-05:00

As predicted in this column several days ago, Max Mosley was able to hang on to his seat on the FIA more successfully than he holds on to his trousers when there are whip-lashing prostitutes around. The margin of victory, 103-55, was larger than I had anticipated. Motoring federations around the world appear comfortable to have their figurehead indulge in S&M orgies in his "private" life.

The vote is not truly representative of the importance of the member organizations. As Paul Stoddart (an entrepreneurial former F1 owner from Australia that patrician Max despises) remarked, 80 % of the countries that voted yes people wouldn't be able to recognize. Those that voted no include places like American and Germany, and manufacturers of some note - Honda, Toyota... What does it matter that the United Arab Emirates chief of motorsport was fulsome in his support of the trouser-less one? Motorsport in the United Arab Emirates? Something about turbo-charged camels I suppose.

What these rich folks who get to play at being important in things like the FIA will find when they get to play favourites is that people will realize they don't need them. It is already happening with organizations that matter already leaving. Does the FIA actually do anything important? Certainly not for F1.

Spankygate

2008-05-25T09:12:00.003-05:00

F1 never fails to entertain, off the track as much as on in the last couple of seasons. Last year was Spygate, which gave the patrician Max Mosley, President of the FIA, opportunity to give a good reaming to working class Ron Dennis, boss of McLaren, for allegedly using purloined Ferrari information, courtesy of a disgruntled Ferrari man, on his cars. The extent to which McLaren did so, Ron denies it, and the advantage if any gained, will never be known for sure; but I suspect the lordly Max did not regret slapping the $100 million penalty on Ron.

This season the aforementioned Max himself is the centerpiece of the continuing off-track entertainment for his starring role in a spanking video with several prostitutes which, according to the film's producers, the ever-scholarly, truth-seeking, and even-minded News of the World, has clear "Nazi role-playing." Max is the son of English fascist Oswald Mosley (watch Remains of the Day for a review of the English aristocracy's attitudes towards Germany in the years before WWII). Max considers the whole thing a terrible invasion of his privacy (the kind of "what I do in my private life is my business" attitude) and is determined to stay on. A meeting of the FIA in June will determine his fate. My money is on his staying. Needless to say, Ron Dennis denies any role in the sting, though he would not be at all at fault for deriving just a crumb of satisfaction from seeing Max's lashed bottom available for public scrutiny.

Apart from the obvious voyeuristic appeal - YouTube videos and all - Spankygate provides an informative insight into the minds of rich, powerful men. Some have come out in support, like his chums at Ferrari (some say the F in FIA stands for Ferrari); and one can appreciate the natural affinity of the class-conscious Max with the faux aristocracy of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo (kind of like the mysterious "Count" in Real Housewives of NYC - yes I do my homework here). They say that Max is doing a good job and his "private life" (now extremely public) has nothing to do with it. Except that no one now wants to touch Mosley with a ten foot pole, as he has been unwelcome at any of the F1 races since the scandal began. For others, the sticking point seems to be the Nazi bit; as if to say it was really okay provided there wasn't any of that stuff going on. Are we to conclude that the FIA members are not opposed to a bit of slap and tickle (and spanking) - it all being in good sport? Maybe strippers emerging from large cakes is a regular item on the agenda at their meetings on road safety or whatever else they prate on about.

I told Dulcie about it in great excitement when the story first broke and her first world-weary question was, "What is the FIA?" I replied that it was a really important organization. Ever penetrating she asks what they did. I had to say I really didn't know; but they are "really important." On reflection I still don't really know, but I suspect it is a collection of middle-aged men having regular parties at other people's expense in order to create a sense of importance where none might really exist. Max thinks he is important and is telling the FIA members that F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone (he of the short stature and two tongues) will steal F1 away from the FIA if Max is whacked. Truth be told that F1 needs the FIA as much as a healthy prostate needs a poorly lubricated finger. Bernie probably would want to steal it, but he is too smart to actually say so before doing it; and has responded to the FIA by rebuking everything Max has claimed.

However it plays out, once again one is left to marvel at the hubris and utter lack of shame displayed by these folks in high places who risk all by indulging in perverse antics, thinking all the while that they have the right to do so and can get away with it.

Academic Integrity - Naperville Central Style

2008-05-24T09:07:00.002-05:00

Yet another Illinois administrator (previously there was Mr. (or is that Dr?) Poshard from SIU and a dean at NIU - the latter I have actually met) has been caught with his academic trousers down. This time the principal of Naperville Central (the other Naperville high school) gave a speech that he had stolen wholesale from a former student. What's worse, the student in question is now a teacher at the school and was in the audience. What can one conclude other than these administrators are either very craven or extremely dumb. Or perhaps both. These high schools take a very rigid zero-tolerance attitude towards plagiarism as I know first-hand from my children; their essays are fed into the Turnitin checking software and if it comes up worse than yellow, for whatever reason, it's an F. I tend to take a softer approach with these things because you need to judge each situation on its merits; I don't like doing it just by the percent match.

In Mr. Caudill's case, it was a "mistake," although he might have used the word "blunder." He says he was going to call the author but got "too busy" and didn't want to send her an e-m. Jim, Jim, this is a lamer excuse than I get from my lazy-assed students trying to explain away their copied assignments; but at least you didn't use the "death in the family" line I guess. Jim, why didn't you simply say at the outset that you were lacking inspiration, which you said was the reason you borrowed it in the first place, and give her all the credit by saying her speech, which you are using, was much better? You would have looked humble; she would have looked good. Now you look like a complete dope and have lost credibility, rightly so, with the students.

The superintendent is "concerned and disturbed" and needs to talk with the "key players" before deciding what to do. Hmmm...Now let me guess what the outcome will be...

"I don't know whether to eat or not"

2008-05-18T22:11:00.002-05:00

Is a line from the A.R. Gurney play "The Dining Room." In my case it is perhaps a case or not knowing what to eat. With an impending food crisis about to doom mankind I am feeling a growing responsibility to eat with a social conscious. Trouble is, what exactly does that entail?

The locavore philosophy (see earlier posting in archives about white asparagus) that entertains only local produce does not necessarily ensure superior environmental stewardship; it may yet be better in some cases to ship the same product from a different clime where it grows more energy efficiently. In any event, locavoredom only makes practical sense where you can obtain a diet that is more varied than corn and turnips.

Then there is the whole organic thing. Some folks on the radio this Saturday were celebrating some sort of green festival and were chortling enthusiastically about the growth of organic farming compared with conventional. I don't dispute the claim for the growth; but when you look at the relative quantities, larger growth on a very small amount is not significant. Moreover, anyone who seriously believes that organic farming is the solution to the world's food problems is seriously delusional. Wholefoods may be a great way for the upper middle classes to indulge their self-absorbed, gluttonous cravings, but it is scarcely a practical solution for the world's poor.

My biggest quandary perhaps is the fish. Given the decline in stocks you might have thought the farm-raised fish is the way to go, environmentally responsible and sustainable. Not so goes the argument: appallingly inefficient, unhealthy (all those toxins and metals concentrated therein), not to mention the awful quality. So, should we all be eating line-caught salmon? Preferably served with a video showing its capture, and maybe with a podcast describing its life history (as Charlie Trotter would do). This seems unlikely given that the salmon season in California and Oregon has been canceled because of the low stocks.

Part of the problem with the food crisis is all the uppity Chinese and Indians abandoning their traditional diets in favour of a more western meat-focused one. As an aside, one notes yet again how the much reviled U.S. is being copied by other nations. I have yet to see nations abandoning the western diet in favour of a bowl of rice and a stick of bok choi. And here is the problem: all that meat requires lots of energy and lots of food to grow it. One is forced to the conclusion that all the good foods, meat and fish, must be discarded in favour of more lowly creatures: instead of a salmon, a fistful of sand eels; instead of a steak, a well- washed clump of grass. I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that.

Blue bags over...

2008-05-10T08:10:00.003-05:00

Fortunately not the White Cliffs of Dover to paraphrase the immortal wartime anthem of Vera Lynn; but they are banished from the streets of Chicago and the fields of Indiana (their usual destination). The city announced that the Blue Bag recycling program is to be replaced by more practical bins that separate the recyclables at birth so to speak, rather than wait for some hapless twerp to perform the task at a later time in some garbage dump someplace - which of course didn't happen. The program had long been a farce of preposterous proportion, accompanied by monstrously inflated claims of success by Mayor Capone (the king of bicycling and other things green) until the whole sham was ripped open, much like the bags themselves tended to do, by a series of articles in the Tribune. Why were we not surprised to learn that the infamous blue bags, if they were used at all (the general gender appeared to show some intelligence by disdaining them as pointless), were dispatched with the rest of the rubbish in some far-flung field in another state, rather than being painstakingly picked over at great expense to retrieve the precious cans and bottles.

Recycling in a large urban area remains a formidably complex problem. Although instinctively one feels it is the right thing to do, returning all those materials back into the cycle of production, the costs of doing so don't necessarily reward the effort. When all the factors are taken into consideration; and that exercise is very complicated and occasionally controversial; for some materials one is left with the conclusion that maybe all that effort to do the "right thing" was in vain, as more resources are spent on the recycling than on getting fresh material. Unfortunately the materials that are most in the public eye in recycling - all those horrid plastics that don't degrade - are the ones least effectively recycled and the ones that emanate from our precious dwindling fossil fuel supplies. In Europe, recycling is more institutionalized; but for them recycling also includes burning stuff to obtain energy; and that is the fate of most plastics - not exactly the cradle-to-cradle philosophy expounded by the likes of Bill McDonough (self-proclaimed sustainability visionary). The Euros recognize the difficulties associated with recycling plastics and they take the path of avoiding their use. While more beverages appear in the plastic in this country, you will not find a single one on a European grocer's shelf.

Is using glass and aluminium actually superior? When one accounts for the energy costs in extracting them the answer is not so clear. There are several questions really: the availability of resources, the energy costs, the global warming impact, pollution and other environmental effects of disposal. While we feel good by religiously putting all the stuff with triangles in the blue bin, and get all self-righteously angry at those that don't, it is not at all clear that we are actually doing any good by it.

Congestion Relief

2008-05-04T08:24:00.002-05:00

So on Saturday I ventured forth on a rare road trip, burning some more of our precious fossil fuels in the process and adding to my carbon footprint, the nagging sense of guilt all adding to the stress of the occasion, to Oakton Community College. I took to the tollway system which was a carpet of orange cones and diamond signs from beginning to end of my journey: all in the interest of "Congestion Relief" a larger board declared, though I could scarcely avert my eye from the constantly switching lanes to really digest it. In view of my considerably weakened state at the hands of a particularly virulent virus, congestion relief was what I needed, but perhaps not of the tollway's thinking. As I raised my transponder in a salute to our little Napoleon (Blago) at each "open-road tolling" stop, one finger vertical in his honor, another 40 cent deducted, I was given to thinking there are easy ways for the system to separate us from our money. Seeing as how not a single vehicle adheres to the 45 mph limit in the zones, a couple of speed cameras could be hauling in hundreds of thousands per hour at $375 a clip without the need for elaborate toll collection systems. Why don't they? The English do it with some success; even the threat of a speed camera indicated by the rectum-clenching sign induces all but the most brazen of motoring criminals to slow down. At the entrance to I-88 there was one forlorn sign warning of photo-monitoring of speed but no one believes it for good reason: it isn't done. It would seem to me far more effective in terms of road safety to enforce speed laws than erecting monuments to the Gov to shake us down for 40 cents a time.

Hero to Villain in half a gallon

2008-05-01T08:10:00.002-05:00

In a world sinking under the weight of its computing power, where one can learn and communicate information almost before it happens, why do some things seem to catch us unawares? It wasn't that long ago that the financial folks were gladly handing out loans to anyone who could sign their name using a variety of financial "products" like 125 % mortgages. All of a sudden there is a mortgage crisis and all those smartly dressed banking chaps are wearing a sheepish look as if to say they had no idea how it happened. Now the world is suffering a "silent tsunami" (overused word) of a food crisis. How do these things happen so suddenly? Well they don't really but it is the manner in which events are managed and reported that gives the impression that they are sudden and unexpected. Folks at Enron knew very well what was going to happen and manipulated the situation to suit themselves; to outsiders the inevitable collapse was sudden and unexpected. Much the same picture could be drawn in the banking cartel: collapse was inevitable and anticipated by the insiders, yet the ship sailed on; after the denouement, the hapless homeowners and taxpayers pick up the bits. The food thing is a bit more complicated. Weather, and inevitably climate change, can be blamed.

So can ethanol.

It seems just a few years ago that I attended a lecture at the COD about global warming (really before the mass publicity) at which the virtues of using corn rather than fossil fuels were being touted as a means to both energy independence and carbon neutrality. Both of course are wrong when a proper look is taken. Ethanol became the saviour and there was E85 and of course in Illinois the ethanol plants popped up like mushrooms and our politicos supported it (still do). Now it is the villain of the piece, blamed for rising grain prices with all sorts of knock-on effects to other crops since farmers want to grow corn rather than soy for example. Now the environmentally conscious Euros are complaining about the dumping of all those subsidized biofuels made in America. What is becoming clear now should have been obvious back in the day. Ethanol from corn was never going to be carbon neutral; it was never going to provide energy independence; it was never going to be economic (thereby introducing the absurd policy of subsidizing something really, really bad).

But the corn to ethanol thing is only one aspect of the dark side of biofuels. All over the world disastrous things are happening as various countries are trying to get into the act, destroying natural vegetation and habitats in misguided attempts to contribute to the biofuel supply by planting new crops to convert to ethanol. If this is motivated by the goal of carbon neutrality and energy savings it cannot be more disastrously wrong, because neither is likely to be achieved by turning peat bogs or forests into some other crop.

Meanwhile people whine about $4 a gallon and Presidential candidates want to save people money by waiving taxes. What would that accomplish? The wrong thing. To put it in perspective the European price is about $8 a gallon so there is a long way to go. Prices must increase to encourage conservation and efficiency, not decrease to promote consumption, which would make things worse. The chickens are coming home to roost after decades of squandered opportunities to develop rational alternatives to the American lifestyle: excessive consumption, grossly over-sized homes, grossly over-sized vulgar (more to the point) cars (Hummers etc.), absurd commutes, neglect of transportation infrastructure.

My main complaint is that the prices of Three Floyds have increased through all this. How about a subsidy for craft brewing?

Men of the cloth - not

2008-04-30T08:27:00.002-05:00

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" it is written in the first letter of Peter. It seems the "Reverend" Wright has forgotten those kind of lines. The nauseating and odious Wright refuses to go quietly into his good night (all ten thousand square feet of it on a golf course) but rather wants to screw with the taller one. I am unclear as to the motive - perhaps it's the latter's failure to tithe on his full income. Anyway, among the many absurdities offered up to all and sundry the other day (Farrakhan one of the most important voices of the 20th century! - that says it all right there) Wright insinuated that being a pastor made him different from other men (read better), like the taller one is lesser by being a politician.

I think it is the conventional wisdom that the men of the cloth have a higher calling and purer motives; and so they tend to treated with greater reverence than mere mortals. Exactly how the likes of Sharpton, Jackson and now this Wright fit that image I'm not sure. In my experience though, pastors are no different from us non-pastors. Scratch them do they not bleed? They too have ambition, harbor lust for money, women and the trappings of success, enjoy the privilege of power. And these pastors are powerful people in their kingdoms. Church organizations are typically very top down, demanding and expecting obedience from the flock (sheep - appropriate description of the faithful even though it shares the image with the lamb of God). There are very few checks and balances provided the church leadership is tame and easily ruled by the pastor.

Sitting through sermon after sermon, it struck me how non-interactive the process is. In the classroom we long and hope for students to question and interrupt our sermons on bonding or stoichiometry. Such interruptions on a Sunday would wreck the timing of the script.

I should not unfairly tar all pastors with the brush used on the aforementioned. I recently listened to an interview with one Evelyn Davies on my favourite spiritual radio program from BBC Wales "All Things Considered" (not to be confused with the synonymous very different NPR animal). Evelyn Davies had just retired from being a vicar in a windswept remote St Hywyn's church at Aberdaron on the Llewn Peninsula on the north coast of Wales within sight of Bardsey Island where legend has it that thousands of Welsh saints are buried (or something like). She had gained some renown for having run a successful campaign to restore the historic (6th century!) church from near ruin. A figure more diametrically opposite to Wright in character is hard to imagine. In response to the question, "How would you like to be remembered?" came the immediate response, "Oh I don't want to be remembered at all." That is the humility that Peter was talking about.

"Expelled" from my viewing schedule

2008-04-21T07:48:00.002-05:00

I had not heard of the upcoming film of the subject line until it was the subject of the weekly Scientific American podcast. Apparently, Expelled is a piece of pure propaganda aimed at promoting Intelligent Design. Having listened to the discussion I am unlikely to watch the film and I would recommend the same approach to anyone else no matter how open-minded, like myself, they may be. The film is marketed by the same company that made a blockbuster success out of the ultimately gory "Passion of the Christ" by skillful manipulation of the flock prior to its release. It is unlikely that the same approach will be successful with this film, lacking as it does a legitimate star and interesting story. For how many really know enough about the arguments to care that much about ID? I have never seen the Passion, not for any spiritual reasons, but because it is just way too violent for my delicate sensibilities to bear; but I recall the slightly uncomfortable feelings engendered by the church leadership, who were being lobbied by the film's marketers, encouraging us to go as if it was some kind of spiritual duty. Only later did it become evident that the ultra-violence in the film was motivated, perhaps entirely, by the antisemitic tendencies of our Mel that he let slip in a drunken moment of indiscretion. More on the antisemitic thing later. I will never see the Passion and maybe it is completely discredited now. The flock should feel that they were used and that is always the danger of being too much a sheep.

Anyway, back to Expelled. Scientific American doesn't mince its words when it comes to ID. It is not science end of story, QED. Not even worthy of a discussion of its merits. That is probably reasonable, though I myself some years ago invested time in trying to identify its legitimacy. I don't doubt that some involved in its development such as Michael Behe ("Darwin's Black Box" - which I read) and William Dembski are honest, decent souls who were motivated by honest thought and reason to explore the idea; regardless of its ultimate correctness, that was a reasonable thing to do. Somewhere along the road, ID was hijacked by stronger, darker forces armed with the agenda of infiltrating public school education with anti-evolutionary, creationist dogma. These forces were centered in the Discovery Institute (footnote: I am constantly alarmed by the existence of so many grandiosely named, improbably well funded bodies in this country that are motivated by highly questionable political, religious or economic motives), which wanted to put into practice the ideas expounded in Phillip Johnson's "Wedge of Truth" (confession: I read that too to my eternal shame).

The film takes the tawdry, appalling simplistic tack of painting all of science as being monolithically anti-Christian and atheistic, as if the the various theories of evolution (actually the film probably tries to establish that there is just one theory that is centuries old) are all motivated by atheistic belief rather than actual natural observation. This us-against-them paranoia does a horrible disservice to all scientists who have faith. Not for the first time does the film try to establish a link between Darwin and the Holocaust as evidenced by the extensive footage from concentration camps - Ben Stein (of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") pondering deeply outside Auschwitz or some other concentration camp. WTF you are saying? Preposterous as it sounds, the argument goes something like belief in evolution leads directly to moral degradation and loss of belief in the value of human life. All "bad" things - genocide, abortion, homosexuality - are the fault of Darwin and his silly theory. Interestingly, the Jews themselves are far more likely to attribute the antisemitism that motivated the Holocaust to the Church and its history of antisemitism dating back to the Crucifixion. Martin Luther was not alone in giving vent to antisemitic feelings. Somehow that doesn't get a lot of air time in the modern church, seeing as how he is regarded as a hero of the Reformation.

The truly appalling and tragic aspect of Expelled and all the other misguided activities of the various Creationist-inspired groups is the squandering of vast resources in beating this dead anti-evolution horse for such little useful purpose. Think of what a difference could be made in the world, if the money wasted on the Creation Museum, for example, had been invested in legitimate research into curing diseases or eliminating poverty or developing alternative energy. Think what a positive public image the church would generate by directing its power to the good rather than towards promoting an untenable, unnecessary defence against reason.