15 January 2010

Workout notes 1.5 mile run on the treadmill (just under 15 minutes): 2 minutes at 0, 3 at 1, then I increased the elevation by 1 every 2 minutes; I ended up at 6. Then 35 minutes on the elliptical trainer; played with the incline for the first 23 minutes (1, 10, 15), then increased the resistance and lowered the incline.

Then 3100 yards of swimming: 10 x 100 on the 2 (form), 500 drill/swim (fins), 10 x 50 on 1 (fist), 5 x 200: (25 fly, 25 free, 25 back, 25 free, 25 breast, 25 free, 50 free) on the 4:15, 100 cool down.

The running is FINALLY starting to feel better.

Posts: Here is some perspective on Pat Roberston’s remark:

The French Revolution had been going on for two years when slave leaders gathered in the Caiman woods outside of what’s today Cap Haitien. The fighting between and within the white elite and the free mulatto population presented an excellent opportunity for general revolt. Most of the slaves present worked as overseers or coachmen for their respective masters, giving them freedom of movement and the right to carry swords. Dutty Boukman, a slave originally from Jamaica, and a priestess of disputed identity led a Voudou ceremony where they allegedly charged the gathered slaves “to throw away the image of the god of the whites who thirsts for our tears and listen to the voice of liberty that speaks in the hearts of all of us.” They then made an oath of secrecy and revenge, sealing it by drinking the blood of a sacrificed pig, a ceremony possibly West African in origin. This event bears a similar relationship to the Haitian Revolution as the Boston Tea Party does to the American Revolution—a critical event that helped galvanize the founding generation and forms a centerpoint for revolutionary legend today.

One of the first things that comes to mind in any discussion of Haiti, Voudou is a complex blending of West African and popular Catholic traditions. Paul Farmer gave the best description of Voudou’s place in Haitian culture and society when he thus described a firmly Christian peasant: “Of course he believes in Voudou. He just believes it’s wrong.” The Voudou question strikes at the heart of Haitian religious life. For its practitioners, Voudou offers a pantheon of friendly spirits, or lwas, that offer avenues to healing and hope. For its opponents, including many conservative Protestants and Catholics, it is spirit possession and satanic worship. The two sides disagree on what percentage of Voudou involves curses and malevolence, but both agree that such things are part of the religion. And, for those who oppose Voudou, Boukman’s ceremony in Bois Caiman sold the country to the devil.

For religious conservatives in Haiti and abroad, the idea that the leaders of the slave revolt led and participated in a Voudou ceremony provides a troubling contrast to presentations of the United States’ founding fathers as devout Christians, one that explains their vastly different fortunes. Many view the U.S. invasions and the rule of the Duvaliers as indications of the devil’s two hundred year lease on the country.

So, that is what he meant by “pact with the devil”. Of course, thinking that an earthquake is caused by anything other than natural forces (e. g., brought upon by the wrath of a deity) is ignorant.

(hat tip: Friendly Atheist…who wonders about the units on this graph. )

Science: more about this “life on Mars”:

Final proof that Mars has bred life will be confirmed this year, leading NASA experts believe. The historic discovery will come not on Mars itself but from chunks of the red planet here on Earth.

David McKay, chief of astrobiology at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, says powerful new microscopes and other instruments will establish whether features in martian meteorites are alien fossils.

Ok,…but the key paragraph is here:

He added: “We do not yet believe that we have rigorously proven there is – or was – life on Mars.

That is what is important for those of us who aren’t working on this.

Go ahead and surf to the reader comments; some are hilarious! Here is one of them:

If this turns out to be true, then one other thing will be just as true, they will be illegal immigrants without papers and must be sent back immediately to prevent more of their lazy and shiftless kind from hitching their fat bacterial butts on outgoing debris from meteor impacts and heading our way to make a new home for themselves living the high life supported completely by our much more expansive and generous Earth Biome. If we don’t stop them a few million hear hence, the once proud human race could be reduced to beggars on their own planet whose survival depends on the generosity of extremely small but highly organized imperialistic bacterial organism from Mars.

Student: I Am Your Professor and No, I don’t “Work For You.” I am accountable to you however.

Workout notes: nothing yet. Something over lunch (swimming plus some squats?)

I’ll get to the the subject of the post’s title at the very end.

Personal: Sometimes I get a kick out of reading other people’s blogs because I can relate to their experiences. One racewalking friend is coming back from an athletic injury, and the process is almost always long, slow, painful and frustrating. Yes, it gets longer when you get older.

Oh yes, her daughter said to her:

A funny kid story. Michelle said to me tonight: “Mommy, you have a big bottom!”. Um, yeah, kid, thanks.

Yes, my daughter told my wife that (when my daughter was 3-4 years old, I think). Yes, my wife really does have a big butt; the racewalker in question…really doesn’t. (photo)

Another friend is getting ready for a judged 50K racewalk; he is “feeling it” and is encouraged by a couple of excellent training sessions (here and here) Yes, in athletics, the sweetest thing is a good performance in competition (example of it here and here for me). But one of the sweet things is in a successful buildup; you start nailing your workouts and building that confidence; you just “know” that things are going to go very well! So, I take pleasure in seeing someone else go through that stage; it makes my own rehab a bit more tolerable.

Humor: I got at chuckle at this; my guess is that this was intentional.

see more Epic Fails

Haiti and Science Satellites are helping rescue workers to find the areas of greatest need in Haiti.

Speaking of Haiti: the Religious Right is just plain weird:

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Albert Mohler outdoes Pat Robertson by declaring that God does, in fact, hate Haiti in his blog post entitled “Does God Hate Haiti?” in which he explains that God is judging the nation, just as he judges every nation on Earth so that they may all come to know Jesus Christ:

In truth, it is hard not to describe the earthquake as a disaster of biblical proportions. It certainly looks as if the wrath of God has fallen upon the Caribbean nation. Add to this the fact that Haiti is well known for its history of religious syncretism — mixing elements of various faiths, including occult practices. The nation is known for voodoo, sorcery, and a Catholic tradition that has been greatly influenced by the occult. [...]

God does judge the nations — all of them — and God will judge the nations. His judgment is perfect and his justice is sure. He rules over all the nations and his sovereign will is demonstrated in the rising and falling of nations and empires and peoples … Does God hate Haiti? God hates sin, and will punish both individual sinners and nations … The earthquake in Haiti, like every other earthly disaster, reminds us that creation groans under the weight of sin and the judgment of God … In other words, the earthquake reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only real message of hope.

Like many, I am disgusted by this statement. But I am disgusted for a different reason than many are. If one claims to be a “Bible believing Christian”, well, the deity of the Bible does curse nations (for a variety of reasons) and causes terrible things to happen to them. So, what this whack job says is consistent with the Bible.

What disgusts me is the level of superstition here that both supporters and detractors find credible! Spirits or deities cause earthquakes? Oh please, this is beyond idiotic in this day and age.

To me, this type of statement is every bit as idiotic as blaming this earthquake on the fact that Zeus was upset.

Education Yes, the internet can be a bit positive, but it can extract an intellectual price. Yes, it can be fun to read internet articles; it is like having a magazine at your instant disposal. But I found myself thinking at a shallower and shallower level; that is why I’ve decided to force myself to read books; and I’ve done that!

Now for the title of this post An undergraduate whines that he isn’t permitted to text message during class. Well, it is his blog and he can whine about anything he wants (source).

But I’ll just take issue with this statement (made in a comment)

Believe it or not, you are employed by me in this situation. “Deal with it,”

Wrong! Think of it this way: when I swim, there is a lifeguard whose salary is paid for, in part, by the extra fees that we pay to use the new university gym. So is the lifeguard employed by me? No. The lifeguard is employed by the university (and the recreational department); how good of of a job he/she does is going to be judged by them. Sure, I have the right to give feedback, complain, etc. (but ours do an excellent job…that is an aside).

When I went to the Rams game and paid for a ticket, were the players and coach employed by me? No. They were employed by the team and its ownership. Sure I have the right to not come back, to not buy team gear, etc. But they don’t work for me.

The situation is similar here: the university employs me and if I do a bad job, they can fire me, reprimand me, etc. And yes, the students do get some right to feedback; they can write teaching evaluations, complain to the chair or to other administrative staff, etc. They also have the right to leave our college and go somewhere else. They do NOT have the right to tell me how to do my job; they are not qualified to do that.

Now, of course, I am accountable to the students. I need to be prepared to give them a good course, to patiently explain things, to be available for extra help, to make reasonable expectations of them, etc. But when I say that I am accountable to the students, I am accountable to them over the long term, meaning that they should leave my course having learned the material. My getting them to do the necessary work to learn will anger some of them from time to time, and my holding them accountable to standards will also anger some of them. But that is part of what I am paid to do. I am not paid to be friends with them. In short, I’d rather that they dislike me while in the course but learn rather than like me and not learn.

Of course, there are ways to get the same message across, and antagonizing them needlessly is stupid and pointless.

Note: in fairness to the student blogger: he has moderated his comments and has boldly allowed for criticism to be posted. He deserves credit for that.

I admit that I made a classless, stupid comment on his post, and that embarrasses me. I’ve apologized for that comment there and I’ll apologize for that here as well.