Unease and Discomfort

First, I’ll start with the easiest thoughts on my mind: sometimes an atheist is asked “what would make you believe”. Here are some ideas:

This kind of shows just how weak the claims of Christianity are, doesn’t it? Of course, the claims of the other religions are just as weak if not weaker; after all the story of Moses, Joseph Smith and Mohamed don’t impress me either.

Discomfort and Unease
Fictional

This is the trailer for the film The Reader. Don’t give up on the film too early; it gets better and even more disturbing. It is especially disturbing stuff given what our country is going though at the moment.

Real Life
Affirmative Action and Fairness

I don’t see a good solution to the current case involving fire fighters and racial discrimination:

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider later this month when the government can use race as a factor in its hiring and promotion decisions.

The reverse discrimination suit, Ricci v. DeStefano, was filed by white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., who passed a promotional exam, only to have the results thrown out because no blacks got top scores, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The plaintiffs claim violation of constitutional equal protection guarantees and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The case is scheduled for argument on April 22. It will give the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. an opportunity to issue its first major decision on racial discrimination in employment, the New York Times reports.

The Los Angeles Times says the court’s decision could change hiring and promotion policies for public employees—and possibly for private workers.

In a 2007 case involving education, Roberts wrote the majority opinion holding that public schools improperly used race to decide school assignments. “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” Roberts wrote.

The Obama administration filed a brief supporting New Haven, saying the city could throw out the test results if they had “gross exclusionary effects on minorities,” according to the Los Angeles Times. About 37 percent of New Haven’s population is black, according to 2000 censure figures. But 32 percent of the city’s entry-level firefighters are black and 15 percent of supervisory firefighters are black, according to 2007 figures.

In a nutshell what happened is that Blacks did poorly on the standardized tests and hence the results were thrown out. On the surface this seems ridiculous and in some settings, it would be.

For example: were these, say, masters degree examinations in mathematics, what counts is one’s knowledge of mathematics and that can be reliably tested via a written examination.

But in this case, we are talking about firefighting, and I don’t know enough about firefighting to know if a written exam is what you need to use.

Sure, the reasons for the exams are evident enough: mostly exams are used to put some subjectivity into the process. But evidently what exams are really measuring might be more about literacy than anything else, and is literacy really a fighter fighting skill? I don’t know.

Besides, literacy IS something that can be improved upon by a less racist society; studies have shown that one’s abilities to master written material is, in large part, determined by one’s early upbringing.

Let me be clear about this: as a citizen, I want competent fire fighters. But are written exams the best way to measure such competence (in this field)??? I don’t know.

I don’t have a good answer here; this is one of those cases in which I can see many sides of an issue.

Discomfort and Unease: US and torture.

Let’s face facts: as a country, we tortured people. The sorry facts are laid out here. Thank you, President Obama, for shining some sunlight on this.

So what are we going to do about it? Some are calling for us to impeach a Federal Judge who gave the Bush administration legal cover to torture. I’ll have to think about whether this is a good idea or not. On one hand, this sure sounds like we are sacrificing someone. On the other hand, the judge did what we said he did and he doesn’t belong on the bench; I sure don’t want him there.

But the reality is that the real people who should be brought to justice are: President Bush and Vice President Cheney. But doing that would be next to impossible; there is a reason that leaders are brought to justice only after the said country has been defeated in a war or if a long, long time had elapsed.

But the reality is that there are just too many people in the country who approve of what Bush-Cheney did. Going after those two would use every resource that we have and ultimately end up being unsuccessful.

Yes, I know, the Repukes impeached President Clinton over a lie about oral sex. But the country was better during that time, and that fiasco didn’t really help anything, did it? And besides, President Clinton was still in office; President Bush is not.

But one thing is for sure: we don’t have lots of moral high ground to stand on, do we? We are better than many but, on moral grounds, we aren’t really as superior as we’d like to think. Oh, the wingnuts will argue; after all they measure superiority by which religious fairy tale that one embraces.

I am disgusted but I really don’t see what we can or should do now, and I certainly don’t fault President Obama for being stuck in this rather tight box.

Personally, I’d like to see Congress run with this and do something, though I don’t have a clear idea as to exactly what should be done. And whatever we do can’t be a partisan operation and, to be frank, I see the Republicans as being morally bankrupt.

More unease and utter disgust

Yes, some societies still burn people alive for being “witches”.

This video is very, very disturbing.

Yes, this practice was condoned in the Bible.

Fear plus superstition equals horrific crimes.

McNaugton Park Trail Runs 2009: Revisited.

My sleep patterns are still screwed up; I can’t seem to sleep for more than 5-6 hours at a time. Yes, I get tired later and want naps.

Photos of the course

Reports of some of the racers
Blogs

Mine

Dexter Ryan (winner of the 150 mile)

Sherpa John (150 dnf but made 100)

Julie Berg (100 dnf: injury)

Jason Zimmerman (50 mile: success)

Travis Lilies (100 mile success)

Ed Kirk (150 DNF but made 100)

Paige Troelstrup (50 mile finish…lots of course photos)

Photos

Mary Gorski

Ulli Kamm

Decatur, IL, with photos

Story from the ultra-list (reprinted with permission)

will taggart

Miserable. Psychedelic. Fun. Hellish. Cathartic. Awe-inspiring.

Just a few words to describe the overall experience of MPTR this weekend.

My race, briefly:

Started a bit fast, loop 1 in 1:48, brisk, but conversational pace,
rainy, incredible mud. 5th through one loop. The slipping and sliding
took its toll very quickly. I was mud-skiing down these little hills,
and my muscles weren’t ready for that. Had very bad lower back pain
and nausea throughout loop 2. Fell back to 14th or so. Regrouped and
was steady miles 20-70, caught a bunch of people and moved up to tenth
towards 80 miles. Played cat and mouse with Alisa Springman and
Charlotte Vasarhelyi all day. They are tremendous. I figured if I
could hold on and keep I could place in the middle of the survivors,
6th or 7th, which was my goal.

But oh how quickly the worm turns. At about 78 miles, after Heaven’s
Gate, I started crying. Bottom lip quivering, trying to hold back the
tears crying. Now, I’m not an overly emotional person, I probably cry
about once per year for one reason or another. But these were tears of
“joy” as I had convinced myself that I was going to make it. Started
hallucinating.

And at 82.7 it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was fine jogging all the
flats until this point. But at Totem Pole on the 9th loop, the wheels
came off. And hard. You know how you feel the day after you run a hard
race, staggering little baby steps, unable to descend stairs, barely
able to walk? That’s what it felt like then, and that’s how I feel
now. And it hit me very suddenly. I have never had DOMS *during* an
event!

At 85.7 I told one of the aid station workers at Heaven’s Gate that I
had a bad case of the “I don’t want to’s,” and she asked me what was
wrong. The bottom lip started quivering again, and I had to turn away,
pulling my shirt over my head to hide my face. Looking back on it, my
weird emotional responses were almost certainly due to sleep
deprivation. Same with the hallucinations. Pretty much done at this
point.

Got back to start/finish and Hans Dieter-Weishaar was sitting at a
picnic table and I struck up a conversation with him. I was going to
take a nap and zombie-walk one more loop and be done with it. “I
didn’t come all this way to go 90 miles [...] I could continue but
it’s not f—ing worth it. That’s like 20 more hours of this s–t
[...] f–k that [...] I’m not getting f—ing hurt out there,” and so
on.” Good to vent a little bit.

So I did, zombie walked, staggered, one more loop “out there.” I was
passed by 10 people in the last 20 miles, which took me over 9 hours,
including a couple of little naps. Hallucinating very badly towards
the end. DNF @ 100 miles, 31:41. DOMS + sleep deprivation = the end.

–

This was an incredible learning experience for me, and a great
introduction to the sub-culture within a sub-culture group of
ultrarunners who do things like running across America on Route 66
(Phil Rosenstein, nice Porsche, btw!), run Badwater (Nikki Segal) and
absolutely destroy the McNaughton 150 (Ryan Dexter put on a superhuman
display of focus which was incredible to watch, that dude is an
absolute badass.) It’s a bit like the Russian nesting dolls, you know
the ones where each dolls contains another of smaller size? And the
smallest doll contains what? “I’m walking to the Moon baby, the Moon!”

Or maybe the culture map could be described using a Venn diagram, with
mountaineers, ultra-walkers, and runners overlapping to produce this
little unique sub-cultural space. I don’t know, either way it was
great sitting around (or hopefully, running) and talking with all
these great people. Moe the Eagle, whose son Logan is an absolute
BEAST. Oh Canada! Mark Tanaka, who is unbelievably tough. Ulrich Kamm,
Charlotte, Hans, Nikki, Juli, Charlotte, Sherpa John, Adam Prebola,
Andy Weinberg and all the volunteers, Travis Liles (who, in his first
100, placed 4th!), Alisa Springman and others made the trip
worthwhile.

Sitting around watching people finish the 150 this morning was deeply
humbling, those people are just incredible endurance athletes.

I’m wondering how long it will take me to recover. I’d like to race
again within the next couple of months to get the stink of DNF off me.
Something, uh, you know, sane. I’m not even going to think about
another tough trail ultra for awhile, I’m going to try to do some flat
timed events next.

I actually feel good about the whole thing. Wanted to finish, but I’ll
live to fight again. I know how much effort I put in to this thing,
and while I might have been able to actually run a good time on a
decent 100 course, I don’t think I would have learned as much. I
figure if I don’t fail every now and then, I’m probably not pushing
myself hard enough. My aerobic system, nutrition and hydration worked
perfectly, but my muscles weren’t trained for the skiing and steep
downhills, and that, along with the sleep deprivation just knocked me
out. I know now many things I can improve, while other things remain a
mystery. Live and learn.

best,
will

Data for those finishing the 50 mile race or those reaching 100 miles and up:

Note: this source has people listed by race and by whether or not they started early.
1. Final Results for the 100 mile:

1 Joe Winch 52 M 1 23:53:50.0 14:20.3 IA knoxville 164
2 Adrian Belitu 35 M 2 24:21:43.0 14:37.0 IL Chicago 117
3 Reeder Fahnestock 30 M 3 25:23:47.0 15:14.3 NH Dover, NH 136
4 Travis Liles 30 M 4 25:32:54.0 15:19.7 IL Troy 114
5 Laura Waldo 45 F 1 27:06:46.0 16:16.1 MI Ludington 163
6 Jeff Heasley 40 M 5 27:15:09.0 16:21.1 CO Gunnison 256
7 Mark French 36 M 6 28:16:20.0 16:57.8 IN Indianapolis 138
8 Jess Mullen 34 F 2 28:27:22.0 17:04.4 WA Seattle 131
9 Howard Schaub 51 M 7 28:29:09.0 17:05.5 IL Decatur 128
10 Tom Krause 37 M 8 30:26:25.0 18:15.9 IL Western Springs 111
11 Randy Dietz 58 M 9 30:46:58.0 18:28.2 PA Harrisburg 260
12 Carl Benton 44 M 10 30:52:47.0 18:31.7 IL springfield 158
12 Jeremy Dopler 31 M 10 30:52:47.0 18:31.7 IA Davenport 139
14 Vincent Swendsen 46 M 12 31:09:47.0 18:41.9 NC Whispering Pines 133
15 Spencer Swearingen 31 M 13 31:12:04.0 18:43.2 IL Morton 125
16 David Stores 38 M 14 31:24:54.0 18:50.9 MO Washington 124
17 Cheryl Zwarkowski 51 F 3 32:04:53.0 19:14.9 CA Spring Valley Lake 255
17 martin fritzhand 66 M 15 32:04:53.0 19:14.9 oh cincinnati 176
19 Dennis Drey 57 M 16 32:28:39.0 19:29.2 NM Albuquerque 166
20 Jared Fetterolf 20 M 17 32:54:29.0 19:44.7 tx tyler 175
21 Cindy Heisdorffer 51 F 4 33:29:08.0 20:05.5 IA Davenport 140
22 CAREY WEAVER 50 M 18 36:33:23.0 21:56.0 IL Peoria 153
23 Dan Fossier 41 M 19 37:21:58.0 22:25.2 IL Decatur 137
24 Ulrich Kamm 61 M 20 39:18:24.0 23:35.0 CO Littleton 179
25 Aaron Friedrich 20 M 21 45:08:03.0 27:04.8 il Pekin 167
26 Ollie Nanyes 49 M 22 47:45:16.0 28:39.2 IL Peoria 120
27 Gary Bird 50 M 23 47:52:54.0 28:43.7 IN Columbia City 226
28 Joseph Galloway 51 M 24 49:33:07.0 29:43.9 IA Des Moines 106
29 Donna Creditor 48 F 5 49:51:40.0 29:55.0 IL Normal 105

Note: The results are skewed by the facts that
1. Many of the finishers were early starters (started with the 150 mile race) and
2. Though 12 finished the 150 mile race, 26 of the 150 mile starters made it through 100 miles

150 mile finishers
1 RYAN DEXTER 32 M 1 34:42:16.0 13:52.9 WI VERONA 206
2 Mark Tanaka 42 M 2 40:56:43.0 16:22.7 CA Castro Valley 242
3 Paul Stofko 33 M 3 41:49:27.0 16:43.8 CO Loveland 216
4 Logan Beaulieu 37 M 4 43:10:51.0 17:16.3 AB Edmonton 200
5 Regis Shivers Jr 38 M 5 45:18:03.0 18:07.2 OH West Lafayette 252
6 Van Phan 38 F 1 47:39:12.0 19:03.7 WA Maple Valley 222
7 Craig Swartwout 50 M 6 48:55:20.0 19:34.1 WI Waukesha 241
8 Kazimierz Swistun 57 M 7 49:50:34.0 19:56.2 IL Buffalo Grove 253
9 Eric Skocaj 23 M 8 51:06:58.0 20:26.8 IL Pekin 215
10 Tony Covarrubias 48 M 9 51:16:30.0 20:30.6 WA Covington 229
10 Shawn McTaggart 32 F 2 51:16:30.0 20:30.6 WA Renton 234
12 Keith Straw 54 M 10 51:28:27.0 20:35.4 PA Malvern 247

List of 150 mile runners making it to 100 mile (includes 150 mile finishers)

206 RYAN DEXTER 32 M 22:08:03.0 13:16.8
216 Paul Stofko 33 M 23:30:48.0 14:06.5
242 Mark Tanaka 42 M 24:37:43.0 14:46.6
200 Logan Beaulieu 37 M 25:05:32.0 15:03.3
217 Tracy Thomas 47 F 26:58:31.0 16:11.1
243 Adam Prebola 30 M 27:56:36.0 16:46.0
232 Sue Lucas 45 F 28:12:43.0 16:55.6
240 Alisa Springman 34 F 28:28:58.0 17:05.4
241 Craig Swartwout 50 M 28:32:38.0 17:07.6
249 David Corfman 46 M 28:36:06.0 17:09.7
228 Jim Cook 44 M 28:43:02.0 17:13.8
252 Regis Shivers Jr 38 M 29:11:17.0 17:30.8
245 Robert Lebrun 55 M 30:05:37.0 18:03.4
229 Tony Covarrubias 48 M 30:39:54.0 18:23.9
234 Shawn McTaggart 32 F 30:39:55.0 18:24.0
222 Van Phan 38 F 30:57:54.0 18:34.7
247 Keith Straw 54 M 31:08:00.0 18:40.8
253 Kazimierz Swistun 57 M 31:17:53.0 18:46.7
244 Will Taggart 34 M 31:41:06.0 19:00.7
215 Eric Skocaj 23 M 32:15:13.0 19:21.1
239 Nikki Seger 47 F 32:22:40.0 19:25.6
212 Ed Kirk 53 M 32:53:09.0 19:43.9
220 Sherpa John Lacroix 27 M 36:16:11.0 21:45.7
221 Chase Marsden 18 M 38:50:59.0 23:18.6
209 Paul Hanaki-Martin 45 M 42:26:39.0 25:28.0
236 Joseph Neubauer 61 M 47:47:07.0 28:40.3

50 mile finishers

1 James Roche 21 M 1 8:47:55.0 10:33.5 IL Normal 190
2 Matthew Condron 42 M 2 9:11:54.0 11:02.3 IL Libertyville 65
3 Jason Elliot 35 M 3 9:28:12.0 11:21.8 IL Champaign 73
4 Rachel Furman 26 F 1 9:40:05.0 11:36.1 IL Edelstein 7
5 Aaron Pleitner 21 M 4 9:56:56.0 11:56.3 IN West Lafayette 77
6 Drew Deppen 25 M 5 10:04:03.0 12:04.9 IA Davenport 98
7 Cougarbait Eyerly 44 M 6 10:16:53.0 12:20.3 IA Lisbon 198
8 Todd Winget 1 M 7 10:22:45.0 12:27.3 unknow 262
9 Adam Schmidt 34 M 8 10:34:17.0 12:41.1 MI Ann Arbor 14
10 John Jorgensen 53 M 9 10:39:02.0 12:46.8 IA Clinton, IA 52732 87
11 Kevin Bradshaw 40 M 10 10:43:07.0 12:51.7 IA Coralville 96
12 Damon Ehrett 18 M 11 10:47:43.0 12:57.3 IL Pekin 199
13 William Mcalpine 35 M 12 10:53:26.0 13:04.1 IA Boone 89
14 David Timmsen 33 M 13 11:05:46.0 13:18.9 IA Davenport 21
15 jaketrailblazergirl! vernon 40 F 2 11:07:12.0 13:20.6 IA knoxville 46
16 John Williams 21 M 14 11:10:59.0 13:25.2 IN West Lafayette 81
17 Matt Stockdale 28 M 15 11:17:14.0 13:32.7 IL Crest Hill 70
18 Thomas Waterman 49 M 16 11:29:15.0 13:47.1 IA Pleasant Valley 28
18 John DeDoncker 44 M 16 11:29:15.0 13:47.1 IA Bettendorf 97
20 Mark Carlson 46 M 18 11:30:25.0 13:48.5 in Indianapolis 27
21 Michael McDaniel 44 M 19 11:32:12.0 13:50.6 IL Peoria 41
22 Jeremy Griswold 32 M 20 11:33:51.0 13:52.6 MI Muskegon 37
23 Sean Peecher 37 M 21 11:33:53.0 13:52.7 MI Dearborn 43
24 Adam Clapper 34 M 22 11:38:40.0 13:58.4 MO Columbia 36
25 Mary Gorski 46 F 3 11:42:35.0 14:03.1 WI Milwaukee 86
26 Thomas Neidenbach 45 M 23 11:51:17.0 14:13.5 IL Glen Ellyn 13
27 Jason Voccia 27 M 24 11:53:32.0 14:16.2 IL Aurora 49
28 Kevin Cox 44 M 25 11:53:37.0 14:16.3 IL Batavia 18
29 John Turner 50 M 26 11:55:25.0 14:18.5 ON Burlington 186
30 Dominic Guinta 38 M 27 11:57:50.0 14:21.4 IL lake zurich 57
31 Doug Williams 44 M 28 12:04:39.0 14:29.6 IN Lafayette 92
32 Jason Zimmerman 34 M 29 12:07:21.0 14:32.8 IL Eureka 52
33 Matt Davidson 24 M 30 12:11:41.0 14:38.0 IL Chicago 82
34 Lynn Hawbaker 60 M 31 12:23:05.0 14:51.7 IA Bettendorf 25
34 Mark Stegmaier 53 M 31 12:23:05.0 14:51.7 IA Davenport 80
36 Russell Pigatto 24 M 33 12:28:16.0 14:57.9 IL Chicago 90
37 Bill Dey 49 M 34 12:31:04.0 15:01.3 IL Champaign 6
38 Ashley Harrington 25 F 4 12:31:45.0 15:02.1 IL Elburn 194
39 adam campbell 27 M 35 12:34:33.0 15:05.5 IL pekin 32
40 Dexter Litwiller 34 M 36 12:40:10.0 15:12.2 IL Deer Creek 88
41 Tony Carl 55 M 37 12:40:15.0 15:12.3 IA Muscatine 33
42 Stephen Lamson 51 M 38 12:41:35.0 15:13.9 MN Oakdale 38
43 Stan Zygmunt 46 M 39 12:49:18.0 15:23.2 IN Valparaiso 53
44 Adam Echter 29 M 40 12:52:19.0 15:26.8 NY Rochester 84
45 Staci Yehl 35 F 5 12:52:46.0 15:27.3 IL Hudson 94
46 Cullen Howe 36 M 41 12:53:41.0 15:28.4 NY New York 75
47 Joe Timmsen 38 M 42 12:54:00.0 15:28.8 IA muscatine 54
48 Bob Nelson 56 M 43 12:56:50.0 15:32.2 IA Davenport 42
49 Christopher Braun 34 M 44 13:12:13.0 15:50.7 IL Wilmette 23
50 Gena Bonini 46 F 6 13:14:52.0 15:53.8 MO Saint Louis 165
51 Paige Troelstrup 27 F 7 13:17:58.0 15:57.6 IL Chicago 17
52 Michael Hall 34 M 45 13:17:59.0 15:57.6 VT Burlington 196
53 Beth Simpson-Hall 50 F 8 13:18:44.0 15:58.5 WI Bayside 187
54 Casey Lopez 32 M 46 13:20:31.0 16:00.6 WI Wauwatosa 193
55 John Gleason 26 M 47 13:25:05.0 16:06.1 IL Glenview 24
56 Gary Tinker 45 M 48 13:26:22.0 16:07.6 IL Wheaton 22
57 Steve Riportella 43 M 49 13:26:23.0 16:07.7 IL Des Plaines 20
58 Jim Wilson 49 M 50 13:29:27.0 16:11.3 mn St Paul 184
59 Jerry Davison 51 M 51 13:37:56.0 16:21.5 IL West Peoria 63
60 Ryan Hawkins 31 M 52 13:41:45.0 16:26.1 IL Metamora 26
61 Charity Vitkus 18 F 9 13:42:24.0 16:26.9 IL Aurora 47
62 Michael Gibson 37 M 53 13:42:28.0 16:27.0 IA Davenport 8
63 Mary Beck 36 F 10 14:13:59.0 17:04.8 IL Bolingbrook 56
64 Max Chapman 64 M 54 14:37:04.0 17:32.5 IL East Peoria 35
65 Timothy Gallagher 34 M 55 14:45:13.0 17:42.3 IL Chicago 62
66 bruce purdy 52 M 56 14:47:45.0 17:45.3 MI manchester 69
67 Beth Haynes 44 F 11 15:02:41.0 18:03.2 IL East Peoria 58
68 Robert Yehl 35 M 57 15:22:26.0 18:26.9 IL Hudson 93
69 Jorge Amaro 61 M 58 15:45:53.0 18:55.1 IL New Lenox 9
70 Scott Hoag 42 M 59 16:00:41.0 19:12.8 ia Dewitt 263
71 Jerry Shepherd 44 M 60 16:41:31.0 20:01.8 IN INDPLS 78
72 Neil Short 61 M 61 17:20:57.0 20:49.1 WY Casper 79
73 Phil Wright 65 M 62 18:05:28.0 21:42.6 CA San Ramon 51
74 Ryan Scoles 21 M 63 18:46:51.0 22:32.2 IL Macomb 189
75 Brett Kinkead 24 M 64 18:46:53.0 22:32.3 IL Pekin 11
76 Laurie Eash 48 F 12 18:52:34.0 22:39.1 IA Muscatine 99
77 Lindsae Baldes 26 F 13 18:57:46.0 22:45.3 IL Chicago Ridge 61
77 dustin marsden 24 M 65 18:57:46.0 22:45.3 il pekin 192
79 Katie McCullough 40 F 14 19:22:58.0 23:15.6 WI Middleton 40
80 Mo Fraley 46 F 15 19:23:00.0 23:15.6 WI Waunakee 15
81 Jana Kiefer 55 F 16 20:08:15.0 24:09.9 IL Bloomington 10
82 Mrs. Cecilia Picklemeyer 36 F 17 25:34:40.0 30:41.6 IL Chicago 66
82 Mrs. Deanna Picklemeyer 33 F 17 25:34:40.0 30:41.6 IL Oak Park 67
84 Mrs. Nancy Picklemeyer 42 F 19 27:56:39.0 33:32.0 IL Chicago 68
85 Philip Vitkus 55 M 66 29:27:29.0 35:21.0 IL Aurora 48

Burn!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a physics blog called Cosmic Variance; it is one of my regular reads. Check out this latest post:

Do not be alarmed! The blog has not Gone Galt in protest of the encroaching socialist menace, or have we been dumping teabags in public parks at outrage over Obama’s tax cuts. Sometimes, you know, the real world gets in the way.

But the internet chugs on! Especially here at Discover. And a good thing, too. Of late:

* You may have heard the news that celebrity blogger Phil Plait and Discover CEO Henry Donahue made a bet — against themselves, basically — and lost. Or won, depending on how you look at it. The bet was whether Bad Astronomy could get two million page views in a month, and the stakes were permanent: tatoos for everyone! Phil is thinking about a galaxy, while Henry is going for something more piscatorial, in the best tradition of scientific tattoos.
* If Cosmic Variance gets over two million page views next month, I hereby promise that Julianne will get a tattoo. [...]

Ok, innocuous enough…. but then we come to:

Explain evolution in two minutes! It’s biology, right, how hard can it be? This is a contest to make a video that communicates the idea of evolution in 120 seconds or less.

Ooooohhhh….burn sizzle! True, physics and mathematics are harder than biology but it is a bit impolite to bring that up….

Seriously, physics is, in general more mathematical that biology but biology deals with things that are, in many ways, more complicated to model. Try reading a biology paper; the amount of jargon and concepts that one has to juggle are immense.

I Fess Up: I don’t fit in.

This post ultra week has given me lots of time to think. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am just not suited for some of the things that I am doing in my life.

Volunteer Stuff One of the ways that I give back to the community is that I volunteer substitute teach yoga classes (at a Park District Gym) and I help out at our running club’s “Building Steam” class each year. The idea is to get a new runner or walker up to being able to finish the Steamboat 4 mile run (or walk). Yes, the course is pancake flat over roads.

Why I do these activities: Mostly I was asked to; in yoga class the teacher noted that I had an interest in improving my poses and that I attended regularly and practiced on my own.

In running/walking: people noticed that I race frequently and that I’ve run and walked long distances; no I was never that successful (1996 to now PRs are 5:43 mile, 19:53 5K, 41:27 10K, 1:34 half marathon, 3:38 full marathon; in the walks I went (judged): 8:31 1500 meters, 30:42 5K, B judging: 2:17 half marathon, 88 miles for the 24 hour), 4:44 marathon, 101 miles 24 hours unjudged.

So I’d be perfect to lead the walking group, right? Wrong.

What is going wrong: my attitude. I’ve noted that the coaches that seem to be the most popular (and effective in terms of getting people to stay with it) are the ones that gush and use adjectives like “awesome”, “amazing” and “fantastic” all over the place.

I just can’t do that! To me: 3:36 for the judged 50K racewalk is amazing. A 2:06 running marathon is awesome.

Getting through a mundane race under the cut-off is a “good job” and not much more than that; I can’t make myself lie to them.

Fortunately, I asked a bubbly sort of person to help out and she has taken over; she joked with me “I’ll do the foo-foo stuff; you do the training” and that worked very well.

Yoga: same sort of thing. My regular teacher just gives out class praise all over the place; ok she has given me harsh blunt criticism at times, but only in private. But she can gush over the most incompetent overweight out of shape newcomer.

I can’t do that. I can say “that is better” or “that is a step in the right direction” but that’s about it.

College Teaching

I do ok with a certain type of student. For the student who wants to be gushed over: nope, I can’t do it. For the student who likes a well earned pat on the back from time to time: sure. I can do that. But no performance in our undergraduate classrooms can get me to gush over a student; after all they are mostly learning what someone else has already discovered.

What is worth gushing over: John Milnor solving a major open problem in mathematics while in HIGH SCHOOL. Oh yes, he won a Fields Medal.

18 April 2009 (easy day)

On tap today: easy run (2-4 miles?) followed by grading, grading, grading.

Note: I finally slept through the night from about 9 pm to 4:10 am; the body is readjusting. Also, I had a nice dinner last night and am feeling just a bit perkier, though my allergies are driving me nuts.

Update 38:45 for a flat 4 mile course (perfect weather), followed by a 1 mile cool down walk. The run was ok but 4 miles seemed to be enough today.

Poltics At Daily Kos, Sgt. Major Myers talks about the need for civil discourse.

My third point is this. I believe it is past time for real civil discourse in this country. It seems to me that the far right knows only how to shout people down using catch phrases that grab simplistic headlines. It’s time for that shouting and the sound bites to stop. It’s time to talk about the real issues facing this nation and all their complexities and look for real solutions that benefit the nation as a whole. I served and defended my country for 27 years in every hell hole on the planet. I didn’t serve part of my country I served all of my country, white, black, red, and yellow, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and Independent, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Agnostic and Hindu, straight and gay, naturalized and native born and everyone in between. I did this without question because I swore and oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States. Our political leaders took that very same oath and I think it’s time they started living up to it.

So I should do my part: when I sounded angry and bitter, I wasn’t talking about conservatives who believe in a different set of public policies. I am talking about the loud mouthed wackos who are using anger as a public policy position.

We need to have different points of view. If someone says “I don’t like this policy because of this or that”, I don’t mind listening (reading?) to their arguments. But if someone goes on with this “Obama is a Muslim tyrant and is like Hitler” crap or “we should secede from the union”, then go away.

I think that former McCain adviser Steve Schmidt has a point:

Speaking publicly for one of the first times since the end of the presidential campaign, John McCain’s campaign manager Steve Schmidt painted a dire portrait of the state of the Republican Party, arguing that the GOP has largely been co-opted by its religious elements.

“If you put public policy issues to a religious test, you risk becoming a religious party,” Schmidt declared. “And in a free country, a political party cannot be viable in the long term if it is seen as a sectarian party.”

The remarks came in a passionate, roughly 20-minute speech before the Log Cabin Republican’s national convention, in which Schmidt laid out the case for a far more open party — one which did not consider gay marriage to be a “litmus test” issue. And while he made it a purpose not to offend social conservatives — they “remain an indispensable part of the Republican coalition,” he said — Schmidt did not hide his concerns that religion had become the predominant thread of the GOP.

“If you reject [gay marriage] on religious grounds, I respect that,” he said. “I respect anyone’s religious views. However, religious views should not inform the public policy positions of a political party because… when it is a religious party, many people who would otherwise be members of that party are excluded from it because of a religious belief system that may be different. And the Republican Party ought not to be that. It ought to be a coalition of people under a big tent.”

This is what I like to see. No, I don’t want to see Republicans win elections, but having Democrats with no serious opposition is no good either; look at what has happened in Illinois (at the state level). We had our chance to govern and we have screwed up miserably.

Speaking of secession: it is good to see that Governor Perry sees the need to back-pedal a bit.

World Events: this is not good.

The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government.

Among the steps taken to ready Israeli forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack.

Two nationwide civil defence drills will help to prepare the public for the retaliation that Israel could face.

“Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours. They are making preparations on every level for this eventuality. The message to Iran is that the threat is not just words,” one senior defence official told The Times.
[...]

He added that it was unlikely that Israel would carry out the attack without receiving at least tacit approval from America, which has struck a more reconciliatory tone in dealing with Iran under its new administration.

An Israeli attack on Iran would entail flying over Jordanian and Iraqi airspace, where US forces have a strong presence.

Ephraim Kam, the deputy director of the Institute for National Security Studies, said it was unlikely that the Americans would approve an attack.

“The American defence establishment is unsure that the operation will be successful. And the results of the operation would only delay Iran’s programme by two to four years,” he said.

A visit by President Obama to Israel in June is expected to coincide with the national elections in Iran — timing that would allow the US Administration to re-evaluate diplomatic resolutions with Iran before hearing the Israeli position.

“Many of the leaks or statements made by Israeli leaders and military commanders are meant for deterrence. The message is that if [the international community] is unable to solve the problem they need to take into account that we will solve it our way,” Mr Kam said.

If they attack without our approval, it would be time for us to pull the plug on them. But this leads me to a social point: it is all but impossible to discuss Israel with my best friend (Tracy, who is Jewish). My guess: discussing Israel for her is a bit like discussing immigration reform with me.

Yes, one can condemn Israel’s actions without being anti-Semitic. But many of the loudest critics of Israel are anti-Semites and it must be difficult on an emotional level for her to separate the two.

The same goes with immigration reform. I am a “play by the rules” kind of guy and think that legal immigrants ought to get proper priority when it comes to getting in line for citizenship, green cards, etc. Also, I don’t like it when groups come from Mexico and make no attempt to fit into our culture (e. g., they play their music loud into the night, litter, etc.)

But when I see other (mostly white) people making such criticisms, my stomach tightens up as I know what is usually coming: racist stuff that is directed at people who look like me. Hence this is an uncomfortable topic for me, even if I am somewhat more conservative than most on this matter.

3quarksdaily: Colbert Nation saves America from Gay Marriage!

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The way that I see it: if gays want to make themselves as miserable as the rest of us, let them.

Pink Chimps and Fat People in Airliners

This chimp lost its hair. Do you still think that we aren’t related?

Fat People in Airliners

Obese passengers might soon have to buy two tickets to fly on United Airlines. The company says “for the comfort and well-being” of all their customers, they have a new policy for passengers who:

- Can’t fit into a single seat
- Can’t properly buckle the seat belt using an extender
- Can’t put the seat’s armrests down when seated

If there are extra seats available, the passenger will be moved next to an empty seat at no charge. But if the flight is full, they either have to buy an upgrade to business or first class where the seats are bigger or change to another flight and buy a second seat.

United says they decided to adopt the policy after getting more than 700 complaints last year from passengers who didn’t have a comfortable flight because the person next to them quote “infringed on their seat.”

[...]
But United isn’t the first to charge extra for overweight passengers… in fact, now they’re on the same page as the other five biggest U.S. carriers. This is something that presumably could affect millions of people when you consider that about one-third of Americans are obese — that’s double the rate from 30 years ago.

Here’s my question to you: Should obese passengers have to pay for two seats when they fly?

I don’t have any answers. But I can say this: all too often we try to decide policy in anger. Some of us don’t like the obese. Some obese people feel picked on.

So, I’d phrase the question this way: what should an airline do if, say, the passenger was 7 foot 6 inches tall and of proportional width?

I can see many sides: many times a large person has to pay more for clothes (more material needs to be used) and for other things. Hence it is more expensive for some large people to do certain things, even if there is no “fault” involved.

But deciding things based on anger is no good.

17 April 2009

Workout notes 2650 yards; 500 warm up (9:13), 10 x (25 fly, 75 free) on 2, 5 x (100 paddle, 100 fins) WAY SLOW, 150 cool down.

Still sputtering; my weight is close to being under 180.0 pounds.

Economy This article by Robert Reich is interesting:

A Short Citizen’s Guide to Kooks, Demagogues, and Right-Wingers On Tax Day

No one likes to pay taxes, so tax day typically attracts a range of right-wing Republicans, kooks, and demagogues, all of whom tell us how awful we have it. Herewith a short citizen’s guide (that is, a citizen’s guide that’s short rather than a guide for short citizens) responding to the predictable charges:

1. “Americans pay too much in taxes.” Wrong: The United States has the lowest taxes of all developed nations.

2. “The rich pay too much! The top ten percent of income earners pay over 72 percent of all income taxes!” Misleading: The main reason the rich pay such a large percent is they’ve become so much richer than the bottom 90 percent in recent years. [...]

The article continues similarly. But this isn’t all that Reich has to say:

Here he argues that we need less “bail out” money and more “stimulus spending” and here he argues that the market has probably NOT bottomed out; in fact he claims that we are probably not even at the “end of the beginning.”. That isn’t what we want to hear but we should at least listen to him and take what he has to say seriously.

Tea Parties:

Talk about having brass balls!

Better Know a District – Illinois’ 18th – Aaron Schock | April 15th | ColbertNation.com

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Texas: not as Wingnutty as you might think

Yes, I’ve seen this:

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And yes, this disgusted me.

But this doesn’t tell the whole story about Texas.

First of all, remember that Texas is a huge state with many diverse regions; East Texas is very different from West Texas which is very different from South Texas. And, of course, Austin, Texas is very different from the rest of the state. In all, Texas has 32 Congressional Districts.

So, let’s look at some facts from the 2008 election. Yes, Senator McCain won the state 55-44, with racking up 4.5 million votes to only 3.5 million votes for President Obama.

But remember, those 3.5 million people live somewhere in Texas.

Here is the county by county election map (via CNN)

As you can see, there are blue areas. Some facts:

1. President Obama won 11 of Texas’ 32 Congressional Districts. (data source) That is far from a shut-out.

2. Of the 6 major cities in Texas (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, El Paso and Austin), President Obama won 5 of them (Senator McCain carried Fort Worth 55-44).
Senator Obama won Dallas County 57-42, Harris County (Houston) 50-49, Bexar County (San Antonio) 52-47, Travis County (Austin) 64-35 and El Paso 66-33!

So, Governor Perry can run his mouth as much as he wants to. That doesn’t mean that he’ll have every Texan with him!