He's a very naughty boy

You know, I've read this article several times and I really just can't come up with anything clever to say about it. Because it really just leaves me feeling like I've just bee hit in the back of the head with a small antelope, sort of flummoxed and confused and wondering why is there a dik-dik in my house anyway?

So, I can't even imagine how poor Mr. Patel feels about the whole thing. At all. Particularly this bit:

The influx was so heavy, in fact, that he put up a statement on his website referencing Monty Python's Life of Brian and categorically stating that he was not Maitreya.

Instead of settling the issue, however, his denial merely fanned the flames for some believers. In a twist ripped straight from the script of the comedy classic, they said that this disavowal, too, had been prophesied.

He must be a very, very patient man. I think by now I would have progressed from the hysterical, angry screaming phase of frustration to the sobbing disconsolately in the corner phase.

Volcano for Monday

Italy is one of those places where you may think about volcanoes (hello, Pompeii), but you don't tend to consider tsunami hazards. Apparently they've got a real doozy, though, in the form of the Marsili Volcano. It's an undersea volcano, and there are concerns that an eruption (and the subsequent likely collapse of its sides) could cause a tsunami that would be bad news for Naples and anyone else around the Mediterranean.

And, as usual, the important word about risk:

"While the indications that have been collected are precise, it is impossible to make predictions. The risk is real but hard to evaluate."

Like with all volcanoes, the possibility is real, but impossible to predict when something might happen. It sounds like "soon," but we're also talking a geological "soon." It could be next week. Or it could be some time long after human beings have colonized other planets and turned Earth in to a giant historical theme park.

I may start my coin collection again

These new quarters for 2010 are just beautiful. And feature some of the most stunning geological features in our national parks. So really, what more could you ask for out of a coin?

And yes, I really did have a coin collection, once upon a time. Three giant binders worth, including a set of Mercury dimes that my dad passed on to me. Then when we moved during one summer while I was in high school, the box containing my coin collection mysteriously vanished along the way, and there were way too many boxes for me or my parents to notice it was missing until it was too late. To this day, I'm still pretty sure it got stolen by one of the movers, and I'm still not quite over it.

I wonder where people who collect coins sit in the geeky hierarchy relative to stamp collectors?

Volcano for Monday

Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland is erupting, and there are some lovely pictures of it. This is not really surprising; Iceland sits on top of a hotspot and really has a lot in common with Hawaii, at least geologically speaking.

There is apparently also concerns that this eruption could wake up another nearby volcano, Mount Katla, since their eruptions have been linked in the past.

Truly Amazing

James Randi came out of the closet today. (Well, technically yesterday, since it's now after midnight.)

I've had the honor of meeting Randi twice, and I respect him deeply, for a multitude of reasons. The first time I met him was in Boulder, for the Conference on World Affairs, and I only got that lucky because I was shamelessly fangirling all over Phil Plait at the time. I've looked forward to hearing him speak at TAM and listening to him whenever he's on a podcast; he's an utterly charming human being who never runs out of fascinating stories to tell. He's been an inspiration to me personally, and I think there's something indescribably wonderful about seeing a man who's old enough to be my grandfather - and shockingly teeny and just a little frail besides - out there kicking ass and taking names, cutting horrible human beings to shreds with his rapier wit. So now we can add one more thing he's done to the litany of what makes him deserving of his chosen moniker: Amazing.

And damnit, Randi, you've made me go all sniffly now.


Side note: I love what one commenter, FloGiston, says on that post: "Now you're not only amazing, but fabulous as well!"

Dr. Watts guilty

Dr. Peter Wattsfound guilty of assaulting, resisting and obstructing US border guards.

There's not a whole lot to the article, other than a quick overview. Dr. Watts has posted about the verdict on his site.

The press has frequently characterized the charge against me as “assaulting a federal officer”. The alleged (and discredited) “choking” episode has been repeated ad nauseum. Here at the Sarnia Best Western I don’t have the actual statute in front of me but it includes a lengthy grab-bag of actions, things like “assault”, “resist”, “impede”, “threaten”, “obstruct” — hell, “contradict” might be in there for all I know. And under “obstruct” is “failure to comply with a lawful order”, and it’s explicitly stated that violence on the part of the perp is not necessary for a conviction. Basically, everything from asking “Why?” right up to chain-saw attack falls under the same charge. And it’s all a felony.

Obviously, this is Dr. Watts' take on it, so there's probably another angle to look at it from. But as is, I believe him, and I find it all incredibly depressing.

Added:
Another post from Dr. Watts, with some clarifications
Boingboing post on the topic

Eyeballs in the Fridge

This is quite possibly one of the greatest titles for a study ever: Eyeballs in the Fridge: Sources of Early Interest in Science. The link is for the news release about the study, rather than to the study itself, which examined 76 interviews with scientists and grad students to see what got them interested in science, and when.

One of the more interesting things is the indication that focusing on middle school rather than elementary education may mean some kids miss out on having their interest sparked:

"We're concerned that policy right now is so focused on secondary students and usually centers on just making them take more science and math," Maltese said. "Our results indicate that current policy initiatives likely miss a lot of students who may be interested early on and lose that interest by high school, or could be interested early on and aren't engaged. Targeting secondary level may be too late for that."

I really can't say when I became interested in science. I know I thought it was really cool when we got to dissect sheep eyeballs in elementary school. I also remember really enjoying it when my mom read the complete Sherlock Holmes out loud to my brother and I (hey, Holmes liked him some science), going to the NEIC and meeting Dr. Waverly Person¹, and seeing the chalk cliffs in Kansas on a family vacation. But I never really experienced some sort of bolt from the blue "Eureka!" moment, which kind of shows up in my squirming every time someone asks me what I want to do for a career. Still, I know that at the very least, I've been interested in science since grade school.

I'd really like to think that kids today still get the opportunity to be grossed-out yet fascinated by sheep eyeballs, or the other things I got to do as a kid. It's something I worry about, particularly considering the giant emphasis that's put on reading and math (sometimes to the exclusion of other things in more desperate schools) thanks to NCLB.

I also thought that this was interesting:

The results also confirm an indication of science instruction trends that may favor male students, Tai said. He related his own experience as a former high school physics teacher, in which many of his experiments involved throwing objects like arrows, darts and even artillery.

"A lot of those types of examples are not related to the experience of most females," Tai said. "So in a way, we're kind of working against including females in the science pipeline. The study highlights the importance of gender equity in school science."

I know that in my one snooze-fest of a semester of high school physics, I avoided being involved in the demonstrations specifically because I (literally) threw² like a girl. There was also a significant number of sports-related metaphors that I found incredibly off-putting, though that's more because I was an out of shape geek than anything else, I think.




1 - Who told us, and I still remember to this day, that we should learn our math and science no matter what we wanted to be when we grew up.

2 - And still do, actually. I have an absolute bounty of embarrassing stories that involve me trying to throw things and the results never being good. Also, ask me some time why I don't bowl any more.

Choi and Pietrangelo arrested

Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo (discharged under DADT) handcuffed themselves to the White House fence to protet DADT. They have both now been arrested and removed.

The following statement was read by Lt. Choi outside Freedom Plaza before he set off to the White House:

"Hello. My name is Lt. Dan Choi. I am being discharged from the US Army because I am gay and dared to say it out loud.

Today, I am here on a mission with Capt. Jim Pietrangelo, and we are asking you all to join us. We’re calling you to action because we are at a turning point — a moment in time where talk is no longer enough, and action is required.

Equality is not going to happen by itself..."

(Rest of the statement at the bottom of this post.)

In case anyone needed a reminder of what heroes look like.

Also: Zombies

I am not ashamed to admit that I'm more than a little excited about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn Of The Dreadfuls. We read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for our little book club last year, and I absolutely loved the book. Elizabeth Bennett as an ass-kicking kung fu master that defeats both zombies and a horde of ninjas belonging to Lady Catheine is just irresistible. I'm just hoping this book lives up to the first's standards, since they are written by two different people.

I did, however, recently pick up another book by Seth Grahame-Smith (co-author of P&P&Z): Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I hope that it will finally answer the immortal question of "Who was the better vampire hunter - Abraham Lincoln or Jesus Christ?"

And one last bit of zombie related news: On Monday, I watched Dead Snow. If you like ludicrously gory horror comedy, I definitely recommend it. It has Nazi Zombies - fast, strong, and incredibly smart Nazi Zombies - which is really all you really need to know.

No Miranda for you

I'm guessing that this bill (S 3081) is the follow up to all of the complaints about the underwear bomber getting read his Miranda rights. Which was something I heard far too much about in the two weeks following the unsuccessful bombing attempt, and involved a lot of back and forth with one side pointing out that they supposedly got "actionable intelligence" out of the guy without treating him an way that makes me ashamed to be an American, and the other side (as far as I can tell) maintaining that so what, it doesn't count if you didn't get that information 24-style. It also goes with the absolute paroxysms that some people are having about trials for terrorists in civilian court, which is another thing I support. If it was good enough for Timothy McVeigh or shoe bomber Richard Reid (a foreign national), I tend to think it's good enough for other evil pieces of human-shaped refuse that think they have a right to express themselves by killing a lot of innocent people.

So as you can imagine, I am less than impressed by this bill. Eric from Standing on the Shoulders of Giant Midgets has a lovely analysis of the awfulness of the bill, which is better than anything I could come up with.

Taking a look at the bill on THOMAS¹ (if you haven't used THOMAS before, I really recommend having it bookmarked) shows that it was introduced by Senator McCain², who once upon a time I respected as a human being, and 9 consponsors, eight of whom are Republican, with the last being McCain's BFF Lieberman. I find this sadly unsurprising. The bill's currently in the Judiciary committee, where one might hope that it will be set on fire, or possibly used to line a bird cage. Considering that the US Senate has recently become the Great Engine Of Getting Absolutely Nothing Done, I'm not actually that worried, though goodness knows that the Senate as a whole has made it a career goal to be galactically disappointing. I'm mostly just distressed that close to 10% of the Senate seems to distrust our legal system so profoundly.



1 - The Colorado equivalent of THOMAS can be found via the General Assembly website. I find it invaluable for every time I get a new "action alert" from some random political group (this is what I get for having donated $25 to someone's campaign, apparently) and want to see if the bill in question really is what they're claiming. If you're not a Colorado resident, I'm sure your state has something equivalent. It's a good thing to have in the bookmarks, I think.

2 - So this also may very well also have to do with Senator McCain desperately trying to hold on to his senate seat by outcrazying JD Hayworth without sinking to the level of man and horse marriage. The Rachel Maddow clip is very worth watching for the hysterical laughter-inducing revelation of Hayworth's problems with empirical reality.

Volcano for Monday

Mud volcanoes in Pakistan, courtesy of NASA's image of the day. (It was the image of the day for yesterday, actually, but let's not be too picky.) And thankfully, unlike the Lusi Mud Volcano, these guys weren't created by human carelessness and aren't slowly engulfing a city. Pakistan actually has quite a few mud volcanoes; 80 active ones, if you believe Wikipedia.

Alice in Wonderland

Full disclosure: In my last semester as an undergrad, I took a 3000-level writing course that was devoted to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, and I loved every minute of it. Not only did we examine the book minutely, we read literary criticism about the book, historical notes about the book, and did a lot of discussing of the various implications of plot and setting. So it may be that I've been primed to have problems with nearly any interpretation of Alice, since I've gotten far too deep in the details.

That said, there were things I loved about Tim Burton's new Alice movie, and things I really hated.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHOY!

The Things I Loved
Mia Wasikowska did a really good job as Alice, I think. Once Alice as a character started finding her spine and did more than stare unhappily at things, she really shone.

Tim Burton, as usual, did wonderful visuals. There is little about the setting I could complain about, and I really liked his interpretation of many of the characters.

I loved the Cheshire Cat more than words can describe.

The entire first half of the movie was lovely, and interesting, and felt like the story was really going somewhere. I'm not actually that much of an Alice purist; I like seeing the different ways people react to the book and interpret it, because it shows what a profound meaning the story has to a lot of us. And in this case, the movie doesn't change the events of the books; it builds on them, acting as a continuation of Alice's life, thirteen years later. And in the first half of the movie, there is some very solid development of Alice's character and an apparent direction that she's going in; it's not subtle, but it doesn't have to be.

In its first half, the movie builds itself up to be the story of a young woman asserting her independence, both from the control of family and from the control of an incredibly restrictive society. We see it starting off with Alice in the real world being taken to a party, where a snotty red-headed lord is going to propose to her; a big point is made over and over about how her life has been planned out for her, how this is what she ought to be doing, and what is expected of her.

After she escapes the proposal without giving an answer and falls down the rabbit hole, the development continues. Suddenly Alice has a set destiny in Underland (not Wonderland as she mistakenly called it as a child), dictated by a massive scroll that chronicles all the days of the world. The scroll shows her fighting the Jabberwocky with the Vorpal Sword, and she is informed continuously that this is what she must do, that is has to happen. Alice is unhappily dragged along with this, until she's finally had enough and decides that she's extremely tired of being told what she's going to do. Instead of going to see the White Queen like everyone tells her to, she decides she's going to go rescue the Mad Hatter from the Red Queen instead and goes off to do just that, showing just how determined and strong she can be.

This leads us to...

The Things I Hated
Because then the second half of the movie suddenly throws the whole plot in to reverse and backs right over you. Midway through rescuing the Mad Hatter, Alice recovers the Vorpal Sword and is told to leave the Hatter behind and go to the White Queen. Instead of doing what I'd expect - what all the plot about finding one's own destiny has laid the foundation for - Alice does as she is told with barely a peep of protest. (Though I will admit, the Mad Hatter being rescued by the Cheshire Cat was a lot of fun.)

Well, you say, maybe it isn't all that bad, since everyone (the Hatter included) was telling Alice to run to the Queen and not worry about them, because the sword was important. Possibly. But once Alice arrives at the White Queen's palace, she basically gets handed the "this is your destiny, it has been foretold" line all over again. She puts up a token resistance, the substance of which seems to be that she's scared of fighting the Jabberwocky, not that she's really sick of having other people plan out her life for her. And then ultimately, with very little fanfare, she goes along with it.

During the faux internal conflict where Alice is trying to decide if she'll fight the Jabberwocky or not, I still had some hope. I thought it would be a chance for Alice to show her spirit (and the strength of her friendship with the various denizens of Underland) by coming up with some sort of innovative solution. It didn't happen. The dashing of that hope came when the White Queen asked for a champion, and all of the main characters stepped up to volunteer, with Alice being the last; the White Queen's response to Alice was ultimately, "Well that's nice, but you have to fight the Jabberwocky alone." And Alice does, with no further complaint.

It was disappointing. Very, very disappointing. Even more so, because it didn't have to be that way. There were so many other directions that the ending could have gone, ones that would have made a lot more sense in regards to both Alice's previous character development, and the way she reacts upon returning to the real world. Roger Ebert speculated that it's because a big action sequence at the end is the (incredibly disappointing) safe bet. He's probably on to something there.

But this sudden, jarring, and disappointing reversal in the course of the plot transformed the movie from one that I really enjoyed and was considering buying once it came out to one that I won't care if I never see it again.

Things That I Could Have Lived With If The Plot Hadn't Given Me The Finger
Seriously, I am beyond tired of people confusing the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts. They're two incredibly different characters with very different motivations. And mixing the chess and card metaphors without any kind of explanation was something I found very annoying.

The Red Queen's bizarre accent was another thing that was pretty annoying. Her enormous head also got on my nerves at first, but at least by the end of the movie, it had been remarked on and made in to something of a joke. I did like that. I also was amused by all the courtiers with exaggerated physical features turning out to be fakers.

Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts really skeeved me out, and I can't even really say way. Ugh.

The interaction between Alice and the Mad Hatter felt like it was trying to go somewhere and never quite did, which I found a bit frustrating. I actually really liked the Hatter, in spite of the ridiculous dance interlude at the end, and the random, cringe-inducing Scottish accent.




I had such high hopes. At least it was pretty.

Earthquake Q&A

There's a Q&A in the Washington Post with Dr. Michael Blanpied, who is a geophysicist with the USGS earthquake hazards program.

He answered all of the questions really well, I think, which covered some things I've been hearing a lot lately - mostly about animals predicting earthquakes (answer: not really) and if earthquakes have been increasing in frequency.

Native Californian: Are there REALLY more and/or stronger earthquakes and tsunamis lately, or are they just better reported than decades ago (especially the ones occurring in remote land areas or under-sea)?

Dr. Michael Blanpied: There are really three main reasons why we're seeing more news about deadly earthquakes. First is that the quality of reporting is much higher. Second is that we're able to record them better due to global digital seismic networks that report data in real time. Third is that more and more people live in quake-prone areas, so earthquakes are more likely to strike vulnerable populations than was the case decades ago.

It's not surprising that the frequency of quakes is on peoples' minds right now, considering we've had two major earthquakes that have been well-covered by the media in two months. I can't even begin to imagine the general freak-out level if this were 2012 instead of 2010.

International signage

There's a super-interesting article at Slate about exit signs in America versus in other countries. It mostly focuses on the fact that we use a text-based exit sign (which is now so ubiquitous that we may see it more as a symbol) rather than the ISO pictogram of the running man on the green background.

This is one of those things you don't think about until you've traveled outside of America - which isn't all that many of us, all things considered. The first time I ever traveled outside of America was when I went to Japan with my best friend Kat. I want to say that it was in 2000 or early 2001. None of the signs were familiar, and that was a pretty intimidating experience in and of itself. At that time, I'd also only had one semester of Japanese language and had been out of school for a couple of years, so being able to actually read signs that were in Japanese was out of the question. It actually took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize that the green running man meant that there was an exit to be found.

Of course, now that I know that the green running man means there's an exit to be had nearby, I've got that information stored in my brain and I'll never lose it again. But like I said, it was actually pretty difficult to figure it out at first, and I think that's because I want exit signs to look like our exit signs. That's what I'm used to, if nothing else. If you should me a black sign with illuminated text on it, even if the text wasn't in English, I'd automatically assume that it must be an exit sign.

The same thing goes for road signs. I don't think anyone would disagree that our road signs are insanely wordy. But it's easy for us, since we read English and have been around these signs our entire life. I am still incredibly confused by the traffic signs in England or in Japan, as well as the road markings, since they're just so different. I still remember when Mike moved to the US; he was just baffled by our signs and had a couple wonderfully ranty moments about how stupid some of them were. However, I think if you took Mike and plopped him down in Japan, and then were crazy enough to give him access to a car, he'd be able to drive just fine. Whereas I'd be a gibbering mess in the corner, because not only do they drive on the wrong side of the road, I wouldn't even know what the stop signs look like.

It's just a small, interesting way that we've accidentally isolated ourselves from other countries. Going to a place where you can't speak the language is an intimidating proposal to begin with. Once you get there and realize that you can't even recognize something as simple as an exit sign or a stop sign just really drives that discomfort home.

I find it galling

There was an aspen tree in front of the house where I group up. Every year, it got galls on its branches. I remember my mom explaining what galls were to me, but I don't remember there ever being anything all that gross (read: interesting) in them when I tried to break or cut them open. My memories are pretty fuzzy though. And compared to some of these, the galls on the aspen tree were incredibly unimpressive.

Volcano for Monday

How about Mammoth Mountain this week. It's quite the pretty mountain, and sits right next to Long Valley Caldera.

Now, the cool thing is that this volcano formed pretty rapidly - in about 2000 years, which is fantastically fast for an 11,000 foot volcano - during an eruptive sequence of the caldera. A study has recently been done on the age of the rocks there.

The Long Valley Caldera has also been in the news recently, with an article on MSNBC talking about the two different kinds of eruptions the caldera has produced. The article mentions a recent study on the radioactive isotopes in the rocks; I'm thinking that it's the same study that the Mammoth Mountain article talks about.

Also, speaking of calderas, Valles Caldera has a new science center. If only it had been open last year, when I did my field class in the area!

Ding, Dong, McElroy's out...

The Atheist Experience in Austin Texas talks about the developments for Texas' board of education election this year. It's not exactly a clear, sweeping victory for science and reason, but McElroy is well and truly out, having been knocked out in the primary.

We'll see how things shake out, but it does allow a spark of hope that the state of Texas won't single-handedly destroy the quality of school textbooks for the rest of the country.

Though I will admit, I'll miss the big lug just a little. He was always good for a cringe-inducing quote that would leave me torn between despairing laughter¹ and that face you make when you accidentally drink sour milk.



1 - Or possibly a Joseph McCarthy-esque eerie giggle.

A quick writing note

My blog entries are probably going to be a bit scarcer than normal over the next two weeks. I'm in a small writing group with three friends, and we're doing a challenge: write a 15K word story in 14 days. So a lot of my writing time and energy is going to be taken up doing that. It's something of a poor man's NaNoWriMo for people who can't commit to a whole month of frantic (and twice as intense) writing.

I actually have a lot of love in my heart for NaNo. I participated in it for four years in a row and got two completed rough novels, a half finished mess that still has a lot of potential, and an absolute embarrassment that ought to be set on fire before it can escape my hard drive and hurt people. I just haven't been able to do NaNo since going back to university, thanks to lack of time. And that hiatus will be going for at least a couple more years, since I'll be in grad school. Oh well, perhaps some day I'll get back in to the swing.

Either way, I'm expecting this challenge to be a lot of fun. The last couple of months I've been doing nothing but intense rewrites, so having an excuse to write some new stuff is a welcome change.

It must be disappointing the tsunami didn't kill thousands.

I had a very, very busy weekend, plus I don't actually have broadcast or cable television in my house - Mike and I survive quite well with just an Xbox 360 and Netflix. So thankfully, I missed out on most of the burning stupid that characterized the coverage of the post-Chile quake tsunami. I think this article makes a fine example, though: Scientists defend warning after tsunami nonevent

"Nonevent," my butt.

There is some wonderfully comprehensive ranting over at Geotripper about the tooth-grinding stupidity. Since Mr. Hayes has also subjected himself to the awful coverage that I've been able to mostly avoid, I definitely recommend reading his posts.
The Hawaii Tsunami a Nonevent? I Don't Think So...
I Have a Dream... in which the 24 Hour Cable New Networks Serve a Useful Purpose

Indeed, sir. Indeed.

I'm glad that the people who were involved in the evacuation seem to be taking the right attitude about it.

Residents and tourists alike said they weren't bothered by the evacuation and supported the scientists' actions — even though the waves never showed up.

"We lost a lot of business," said Sam Stewart of the Nohea Gallery in Honolulu, which closed for much of the day Saturday. "But it is good to know that the island has it together. We don't want to make this a regular drill, but it's good to know we can get prepared. ... Now it's important to get back to business."

I'm just seriously concerned that if this "scientists cry wolf" drumbeat keeps going, the right attitude won't be present the next time there needs to an evacuation. One would think that "better safe than sorry" is the best attitude to take, in a situation when there is no such thing as 100% certainty and the potential for destruction and loss of life is high. But I suppose that would be the adult attitude to have, as opposed to petulant disappoint at the lack of something explodey to show repeatedly on a news station.

Volcano for Monday

How about Mt. Churchill, a very pretty glacier-covered stratovolcano¹ that's just on the Alaska side of the Alaska/Yukon border. It's not far from the coast either, and is yet another volcano that sits on the subduction zone around the Pacific rim. It hasn't erupted in the last thousand years.

All of this, of course, is a lead up to frozen dead caribou. Because those things often go together. Basically, it's been found that the modern day caribou population is very genetically different from the one that lived in the area over 1000 years ago, which points to there having been a significant migration at some point. Since Mt. Churchill last erupted around that time, the two events are probably linked.

I always find it interesting when a volcanic eruption can be linked to events in our own history (such as the Minoan eruption) or biological changes. Any time I see multiple sciences coming together to form a picture of the past, it makes me happy.





1 - The Canadian site lists Mt. Churchill has a shield volcano for some bizarre reason. Every other catalog I checked, such as the Alaska Volcano Observatory calls it a stratovolcano. Considering its location on the Pacific rim, stratovolcano makes a whole lot more sense.