Lemming Tracks: "Sexual Harassment" in the Information Age

The Lemming will be back, later today, with something lighter.

First, though, there are two items from the news that warrant attention. The first is a followup on the latest lunacy from America's government schools. The second is an example of why the Lemming doesn't want laws that force niceness down our throats.

"Sexual Harassment," When Everyone's Looking

This post is about a "sexual harassment" charge that wasn't decently hushed up.

As for what happened to the principal: maybe forcing him into retirement was a bit extreme; maybe not. The Lemming doesn't have enough facts to have an opinion.

Is it possible that the nine-year-old boy is a big meanie, and is to blame for the principal losing his job? Maybe. Maybe not.

Could the mother of the nine-year-old be seeing her son's treatment from the point of view of a parent? Could be.

Anyway, here's the Lemming's rant on what happened in the Gaston County School District.

Ex-Principal: 'It's Not Fair'

"Principal forced to retire amid 9-year-old boy's suspension"
wsoctv.com (December 6, 2011, updated December 7, 2011)

"A Gastonia principal who accused a 9-year-old of sexual harassment retired abruptly Tuesday night.

"Principal Jerry Bostic told Eyewitness News he retired as of 5 p.m.

"He told the Gaston Gazette the Gaston County School District gave him one hour to decide whether to quit or be fired.

" 'One mistake in 44 years, and I'm not given the benefit of the doubt. I really don't believe I was treated fairly,' Bostic told Eyewitness News...."

Maybe what happened to Mr. Bostic really was 'unfair.' "One mistake in 44 years" suggests quite a few things to the Lemming. Several of which are mutually exclusive:

• Mr. Bostic
  • Is 44 years old
  • Has been
    • Employed for 44 years
      • Anywhere
      • In the Gaston County School District
        • In a variety of positions
    • A principal for 44 years
      • With G.S.D.
      • In several school districts
• The 9-year-old's suspension
  • Was Mr. Bostic's only lapse in judgment
  • Something that
    • Didn't happen
    • Wasn't Mr. Bostic's fault
    • Was demanded by School District policy
      • (Remember "zero tolerance?")

Not all of those things could be true, obviously: and the Lemming doesn't have enough facts to have an opinion about how fair - or unfair - Mr. Bostic's dismissal was.

The WSOC TV article clears up one point, right at the end. Mr. Bostic had been with Gaston County Schools for 44 years: 35 as an administrator; 15 at Brookside Elementary.

'Sexual Harassment' and He Said / She Said

The Lemming has done time inside academia, on both sides of the desk. It's possible, in the Lemming's opinion, that folks with the school district are telling the truth. There are other possibilities, too. Back to that WSOC TV article:

"...Chiquita Lockett said her son, Emanyea, was suspended from Brookside Elementary last week for calling a teacher 'cute.'

"The school initially claimed it sexual harassment, adding Emanyea used the word 'fine' in a suggestive tone. School officials said in addition to the comment about the teacher, Emanyea had been warned about calling students bad words...."
(WSOC TV)

Again, the Lemming doesn't have enough facts to sort out what happened from what "the school," Emanyea's mother, and Mr. Bostic:

• Remember
• Wish had actually happened
• Want folks to believe

It's the Lemming's opinion that "the school" would have been well advised to do at least one of the following, before making a public statement:

• Find out what Emanyea actually did
• Think about what should be said in the statement
• Notice which decade we're at

Everybody involved in the "sexual harassment" thing at Brookside Elementary is probably rather tense just now: so it's no wonder that their stories don't match. Or that "the school" seems to have been changing it's version of events as reality intruded.

Which threatens to get the Lemming distracted by the (un) reliability of eyewitness testimony, video cameras, and how not to deal with embarrassing situations. Which is another topic. Topics. Some of which the Lemming ranted about last week:

• "2009 Preakness Beating: Phones, Freedom, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 2, 2011)

"Cute," Dictionaries, Sexual Harassment, and Getting a Grip

The word "cute," by itself, can mean quite a few things, including:

1. Princeton's WordNet
   1. Attractive
      • especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
   2. Obviously contrived to charm
      
2. Google dictionary
   
   1. Attractive in a pretty or endearing way
   2. Sexually attractive
   3. Affectedly or superficially clever

Saying "cute" in some contexts could, using definition 2B, could be considered "sexual harassment."

On the other hand, coming from a 9-year-old, after too many cases of "sexual harassment" being more about snits than sex: someone in the school district should have checked the calendar to see which decade they were in.

Before someone has a stroke: Yes, the Lemming knows that "sexual harassment" happens. Real sexual harassment. The Lemming also remembers when "she's as smart as a man" was supposed to be a compliment.

Moving on.

"We Regret" - That, the Lemming Believes

There's one part of the school district's collective story that the Lemming believes.

Back to WSOC's article:"...The story went viral with reports showing up on Fox News, CNN and the Huffington Post in addition to papers and blogs across the country.

"But Tuesday, the district released a statement apologizing to the family and saying there was no sexual harassment.

" 'We regret this situation happened. The superintendent has attempted to contact the family to offer an apology to the parents and student. The school system is also sending an official letter of apology to the parents and student,' the statement says in part...."
(WSOC TV)

The Lemming has no trouble believing that the school district's leadership regrets that "this situation" happened. It's almost certainly an embarrassment, joining the ranks of exposed bunglers in education.

Particularly since the folks at Brookside Elementary and Gaston County Schools may not have realized how important it is these days, to get your story straight before blurting something out in public.

From Yellow Journalism and Spunky Girl Reporters to Blogs and Camera Phones

There was a time, not many decades back, when American journalism was a rather tidy affair: a gentleman's club, if you will, 'yellow journalism' and 'spunky girl reporters' notwithstanding.

That was then, this is now.

For the last few years, folks of the 'right sort' enjoyed a degree of protection from The Masses. We weren't likely to hear about a nine-year-old accused of sexual harassment, or a teen girl strip-searched, unless we knew the family or lived in the neighborhood.

Ah, those were 'the good old days.' For some folks.

Information technology, and the social structures developing around it, have changed America's 'good old boy' network: and are in the process of ruining the retirement plans of despots in the Middle East and elsewhere.

On the whole, the Lemming likes the "chaos" that happens when The Masses start learning more than what their 'betters' think is good for them.

"Something That Everyone Needed to See"

Before one last excerpt from WSOC TV, some good news about Emanyea.

Now that they're being watched, the school district won't count the suspension against Emanyea; and he'll allegedly get help with catching up on classroom time missed. That's very generous of them, the Lemming thinks. Also an example of enlightened self-interest.

Meanwhile, his mother has something to say:

"...'This is something that everyone needed to see,' Lockett said, 'just to see what's happening within our school systems.'

"Lockett said she will likely pursue legal action...."
(WSOC TV)

The Lemming thinks that America has seen quite enough silly lawsuits: but in this case, Lockett may have a valid point. If she decides to go ahead with legal action, the Lemming hopes she's got documentation for everything, and a lot of money.

Related posts:

• Education's loony side
  
  • "Police Handcuff Dangerous Student! School Protected From Erasable Marker!"
    (April 6, 2010)
  • "Rabbit Terrorism: You Can't Make This Up, Folks"
    (July 27, 2010)
    • In Germany
      • America faces tough international competition for 'craziest school system'
  • "Newark Schools Protected From Dangerous Six-Year-Old and His Cub Scout Gadget"
    (October 16, 2009)
  • "Strip Searching a Teenage Girl: The Wild and Wacky World of School Discipline"
    (June 26, 2009)
  • " 'Fairness' Run Amok in Japanese Schools?"
    (June 7, 2008)
    • I am not making this up
• Assumptions and values
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (July 24, 2009)
  • "Lemming Tracks: Accountability? In Education?!"
    (March 4, 2011)
  • "Lemming Tracks: 'Voting Our Way = Ice Cream' "
    (October 19, 2010)
  • "Home Schooling, Religious and Moral Instruction, and American Culture"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (March 6, 2010)
    Particularly
    • Don't Read the News: Study It
    • NOT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE DOLTS
  • "How to Read the News: Or, Missouri Teen Suicide, Lori Drew, and Victims"
    (December 7, 2007)
  • "Who Needs Facts? Cultural Assumptions and Politics"
• Living in a big world
  • "Chauvinism Knows No Borders"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (July 23, 2011)
  • "Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (April 1, 2010)
  • " 'Criticism is Terrorism:' Chavez and Twitter 'Terrorists' "
    (February 1, 2010)
  • "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
    Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 14, 2009)
  • "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (August 3, 2009)

Microsoft Office, and Another 'Death of' Article

"Headlines Predict Death of MS-Office"
John C. Dvorak, Office Suites, Productivity, Software, Product Guides, PCMag.com (September 7, 2011)

"I don't know if you've noticed, but Microsoft Office is pretty tired. All of its elements are old and boring. PowerPoint, except for the addition of a few templates, has never fulfilled its promise. Microsoft never seriously jazzed it up and a PowerPoint presentation from a decade ago barely differs from a PowerPoint presentation made today.

"The rest of the suite elements are just as bad, if not worse. The two Microsoft Word breakthroughs were Spell Check and Grammar Check. Both could use improvement, but Microsoft just sits back. If you think about it, what could it do?

"I'm guessing with the right creative team, many innovations could be considered, tested, and implemented. But Microsoft is the master of coasting while riding a winner. Unfortunately, the copycat suites have mostly caught up in both power and functionality...."

Okay. So far, this sounds like the same op-ed piece the Lemming keeps running into: [desktops/blogging/whatever] are dead because [spiffy new fad] will soon [revolutionize everything].

That sort of article isn't quite 'boiler plate,' but it's close. ("Boiler plate?" That's clerical talk for documents where the wording is always the same, except for stuff like names and numbers.)

Mr. Dvorak seems to have a bit more on the ball than the usual 'death of' writer. Take this, for instance, about Microsoft needing to abandon Windows:

"...It's like Maytag saying that it could not make money forever with washing machines.

"I heard this from everyone. The notion was apparently floated at some conference and taken as gospel by the parrots in the business. At about this time, a similar notion arose, which sent the message to Intel that the microprocessor market was dying; the company would need to invest in technologies like Wi-Fi. Intel spent far too much effort working on Wi-Fi and Wi-Max after everyone 'knew' that the company would flatline if it persisted with microprocessors...."

It's like the fellow said:

"It ain't so much the things we don't know that get us into trouble. It's the things we know that just ain't so." (attr. humorists Mark Twain,¹¹ Artemus Ward, Kin Hubbard, and Will Rogers; inventor Charles Kettering; pianist Eubie Blake; baseball player Yogi Berra (once, by Al Gore))

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: The Continuing 'Death' of Blogging, Hula Hoops, and Getting a Grip"
  (August 28, 2011)
• "Milly Dowler, News of the World, and Old-School Journalism in the Information Age"
  (July 7, 2011)
• "Phone Hacks, Privacy, Pie-Throwing, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (July 19, 2011)
• "Blogging is Dead! Long Live Blogging!"
  (December 16, 2010)
• "Mammoth Ivory, Movie Star, Big Assumption"
  (August 7, 2010)

Milly Dowler, News of the World, and Old-School Journalism in the Information Age

Ah, the 'Good Old Days,' when:

• Spunky girl reporters caught thieves and smugglers
• Superman / mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent fought "a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way!"
• Fearless investigative reporters saved the world from
  • Corruption
  • Killer Robots

Those stories had entertainment value. And there was a sort of truth behind them. Not that a Kryptonian flew over a city called Metropolis, or that spunky girl reporters had experiences quite like Jane Arden's.

Then, there's the real world of old-school journalism. The Lemming suspects that they don't quite understand the information age:

Hacking, Scandal, and News of the World

"News of the World to close amid hacking scandal"
BBC News UK (July 7, 2011)

"This Sunday's issue of the News of the World will be the last edition of the paper, News International chairman James Murdoch has said.

"In the past few days, claims have been made that the paper authorised hacking into the mobile phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and the families of 7/7 bombing victims.

"Mr Murdoch said proceeds from the last edition would go to good causes.

"Downing Street said it had no role or involvement in the decision.

"The News of the World is the UK's biggest selling newspaper and has been in circulation for 168 years...."

Generally, the Lemming's sorry to see a business that managed to last from the 19th to the 21st centuries go away. In this case, News of the World may be more of a phoenix, than a dying swan:

News of the World: Phoenix Act Coming?

"...Labour MP Tom Watson told Sky News it was 'a victory for decent people up and down the land, and I say good riddance to the News of the World'.

"But Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said: 'All they're going to do is rebrand it' and former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, who alleged his phone was hacked, thought the decision was simply a gimmick."

Not to seem too cynical: but the Lemming thinks Clarke and Prescott may be right. News of the World seems to be a huge cash cow - far too valuable to throw away.

Besides, the Masses are pretty much stupid and have rotten memories - right?

There may have been a time when 'the Masses' really were borderline-illiterate, easily-duped pawns for whoever was feeding them alleged facts and 'expert' opinions.

Today? Not so much.

If a 'new' newspaper pops up in the United Kingdom - one that 'just happens' to have the same staff as News of the World? The Lemming thinks folks in the United Kingdom will notice. Giving at least some of the journalists new names might help. Referring to the new names as pseudonyms would give the false identities a literary flavor - think Mark Twain.

'All the Bad Guys Are Gone - Pretty Much - Trust Us'?!

News of the World's political editor, about his "fantastic" paper:" 'They cleared out all the bad people. They bought in a great new editor, Colin Myler, and his deputy, Victoria Newton, who had not been sullied by any of the things that had gone on in the past.

" 'And there's nobody there, there's hardly anybody there who was there in the old regime....'..."
(BBC News,¹ emphasis by the Lemming)

The Lemming has wondered if some of these communications professionals ever listen to what they say. "...nobody there,... hardly anybody there?!"

Spunky Girl Reporters, Investigative Reporters, and Change

There really was a time when "spunky girl reporters" were showing a post-Victorian America that women could be smart, active, capable - and not be 'bad girls,' or 'loose women,' or whatever.

That was before WWII, Rosie the Riveter, and certainly before the '60s.

There was a time when "investigative reporters" saved the world from corruption and five o'clock shadow. Newspapers said so - and they wouldn't print something if it wasn't true, right?

Much as the Lemming likes tradition and nostalgia: 'Watergate' happened in the '70s. 1970s, to be sure - but it's still more than three decades back.

There have been a few changes since 1974:

• Camcorders
• Personal computers
  • Lots of personal computers
• THEORYNET
• Lots of acronyms
  • TCP/IP
  • HTTP
  • WWW
• Smartphones
• Arab Spring²

These days, 'the Masses' aren't the stereotype drawling louts or village idiots of 'the Good Old Days.' If a newspaper publishes information that probably came from someone's private data? Some of us will figure that out, maybe even prove it: and word will spread. Fast.

Superman isn't Real - Sort of

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman isn't real. There isn't a Kryptonian refugee living on Earth. For that matter, there isn't a planet Krypton. Not the one in the comics, television shows, and movies.

But parts of the Superman stories were 'real:' the parts that reflected some aspect of human nature or experience. Otherwise, it's very, very, unlikely that anyone would have bothered with Kal-El - much less made Superman into a cultural icon.

A Purple-Skinned, Orange-Eyed Space Alien: and Today's News

Please bear with the Lemming - this does connect with News of the World and journalism.



No, the Lemming doesn't think that News of the World is really run by shape-shifting, space-alien lizard people.³

Phil Foglio's film noir/science fiction Buck Godot comic book detective stories aren't serous fiction. Well, they are, in a way - but not very. Quite a few pages seem to be written for laughs. And all of them for entertainment.

The gags, though? The Lemming doubts that they'd be very funny if they didn't reflect some facts. Or things that readers thought were facts, anyway. Like this 'history' excerpted from one of the Buck Godot comics:

Journalists as Predators?

A sort of unnecessary (the Lemming hopes) disclaimer: this ain't 'real.' The quote is from a comic book.

"In the Prime Mover's comprehensive overview of sentient and semi-sentient life within the sphere of the Gallimaufry: Why We're Better Than All Of You Put Together, there are various appendices which deal with predators that feed upon sentients. Journalists are placed within this category....

"...these concepts were eventually accepted, and the number of journalists a healthy civilization could support was worked out by the mysterious (and, incidentally, scandal-ridden) Mathemagicians of FftFwand, with a very complex and practically incomprehensible formula....

"...Nobody really understood it, but as it called for the euthanasia of vast herds of journalists, nobody really tried too hard.

"When the last editorial writers had been shipped off to the re-cycling vats, it was noticed that things seemed a lot quieter, a lot less tense, and things weren't nearly so bad as people had thought they were. Stress levels went down, and the new system was dubbed a success...."
("THE HERODOTUS COMPLEX: NOTES BY P'OILGOF LIVY / Chapter 6; The Fourth Estate," BUCK GODOT zap gun for hire (October 21, 2008) [emphasis by the Lemming]

The Lemming does not advocate hunting down journalists.

On the other hand, the Lemming thinks folks who make a living in traditional newspapers should think about why the lizard-like reporter is (somewhat) believable - and why at least some folks think the idea of recycling editorial writers is - funny.

Substitute "editorial writers" with some low-status, but necessary, job title - like "janitor" - and the joke isn't so funny. In the Lemming's opinion - your experience may vary.

The Lemming thinks folks in any profession should be a little concerned, when readers of a modestly-successful series of stories think that wiping out all but a handful of their number is funny.

Facts, Assumptions, and Perceptions

Remember the list at the top of this post? The one that included spunky girl reporters and fearless investigative reporters? Those were stock, stereotyped, characters at various times.

Which readers and viewers accepted, the Lemming thinks, because folks either believed that the stereotypes were 'real,' or were willing to do so for the sake of an entertaining story.

That's fiction, and light entertainment. There's probably little harm in much of it.

When folks start taking the stereotypes - and the assumptions behind them - seriously? That, the Lemming thinks, can be a problem.

Particularly when folks believe that

• They're Superman
  • Earth's only hope against Lex Luthor
• Being reporters means they can do anything, because
  • 'The public has a right to know'
  • Or whatever slogan is in vogue

Whether or not that's what happened in News of the World - the Lemming doesn't know.

Wake Up: It's the 21^st Century

Some folks seem to be in positions where they can get all the 'facts' they need by reading their own books, press releases, and articles. Worse, their colleagues, friends, and acquaintances, get their facts the same way.

Over-simplified? A little, maybe.

But the Lemming's glad that he didn't have a 'successful' career - and so had to keep up with changes in technology and the social order:

• "Why Your Boss Doesn't Understand the Information Age"
  Starting a Small Business Without Losing Your Mind (August 9, 2010)

It's seems fairly easy for folks living in relatively small communities, with little taste for contact with 'outsiders,' to start believing that their preferences are principles, their biases are facts, and that anybody who doesn't agree is - - - an outsider:

• "About a New York City Fire: but Mostly About the News and Assumptions"
  (April 12, 2010)
  Particularly
  • Dunseith, San Francisco, and People
  • People are People
  • Ignorant, Isolated, Villagers? That's So 14th Century
• "The New York Times, Insularity, and Assumptions"
  (October 21, 2008)
  Particularly
  • The New York Times: A Fine Old Family Business
  • The New York Times and the News: You Can't Please Everybody
  • Make a Few Little Mistakes... Embarrassments at The New York Times
  • 'All the News We Feel Like Printing'
  • From the Pier-Bound Shores of Chelsea to the Austere Grandeur...

What does this have to do with News of the World, and other journalists who learned their trade when newsprint was king?

Maybe nothing - and that the 168-year-old newspaper's embarrassment is a one-of-a-kind fluke.

Or maybe too many old-school journalists don't quite believe that 'the Masses' really can collect and share information - fast. And, worse, draw their own conclusions, instead of waiting to see what reporters and the editor tell them they're supposed to think.

Imagine a World With No Reporters? Be Careful What You Wish For

The Lemming thinks that too many reporters and editors haven't quite come to terms with the idea that Watergate is history, and that broadcast network news is no longer cutting-edge journalism. And that a combination of deadline pressure and time zones put editorial decisions for most of America in the hands of a small number of east coast newspapers. The Lemming's posted about that before:⁴

• "The New York Times and the Information Age: Culture Shock?"
  (June 10, 2010)

The Lemming is also very, very concerned about folks who want to 'save the children,' 'safeguard democracy,' enforce niceness, or attain some other goal - by controlling what the rest of us are allowed to know.

McCarthyism wasn't a good idea - political correctness wasn't an improvement - and the Lemming sincerely doesn't want to go back to the 'Good Old Days,' when 'I only know what I read in the papers' might be true for many folks.

So, much as recycling editorial writers, or imposing pre-publication controls on 'those people over there,' might appeal to a desire for a calmer, more tranquil, and more orderly society - - - the Lemming thinks that freedom of expression is important. Very important.

Related posts:

• "Japan Nuclear Power Plants: Behind the Breathless Headlines"
  (March 12, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)
• " 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
  (January 22, 2011)
  Particularly
  • Power to the People: REAL Power
• "Lemming Tracks: Erin Andrews, Policing the Internet, and Power to the People"
  (July 29, 2010)
• "Georgia Bigfoot Hoax: Rube Duped by Sophisticated Humor?"
  (August 21, 2008)

Background:

• "Lemming Tracks: Egypt Government Shuts Down Internet: It Can't Happen Here?"
  (January 29, 2011)
• "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 14, 2009)
• "Writers, Editors, Publishers, and the Marketplace of Ideas"
  (August 17, 2007)
• "Why Blogs Will Thrive"
  (August 10, 2007)

---

¹ More from that BBC News article, about the 'nobody's here - hardly anybody' thing:

"...News International has refused to comment on rumours that The Sun could now become a seven-day-a-week operation.

" 'What happens to The Sun is a matter for the future', a spokeswoman for News International said. The Sun, another News International tabloid, is currently published from Monday to Saturday.

"The spokeswoman also refused to say whether the 200 or so employees at the paper would be made redundant, saying: 'They will be invited to apply for other jobs in the company.'

"The News of the World's political editor, David Wooding, who joined 18 months ago, said it was a fantastic paper.

" 'They cleared out all the bad people. They bought in a great new editor, Colin Myler, and his deputy, Victoria Newton, who had not been sullied by any of the things that had gone on in the past.

" 'And there's nobody there, there's hardly anybody there who was there in the old regime.

" 'The people are very clean, great, talented professional journalists and we pull out a great paper every week. And we're all paying the price for what happened six years ago by a previous regime.'..."

² Actually, 'Arab Spring' is still happening - and that may not be the name it winds up with. Instances of traditional establishments failing to deal with Information Age social structures aren't limited to the Middle East, for starters. The Lemming's discussed part of that readjustment in another blog:

• "Libya, Syria, Bahrain: Journalists Uncooperative; 'the Masses' Worse"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (March 29, 2011)
• "Zimbabwe, Where Watching the Wrong Videos is Treason"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 25, 2011)
• "Information Technology, People, and a Changing World"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 23, 2011)
• "Bahrain, Foreign Troops, and - Maybe - the Last Stand of Kings"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (March 18, 2011)

³ See:

• "How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
  (June 12, 2011)

Those space-alien, shape-shifting lizard people are among the Lemming's favorite conspiracy theories. And quite real. Not space aliens ruling the world - there being an unusually colorful conspiracy involving lizard people:

• "Lebanon, Israel, Pakistan, India, and the Lizard People"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (January 14, 2009)
  Particuarly
  • Someone to Blame

⁴ The Lemming doesn't have anything against The New York Times. It's an old, established paper, and serves a useful function. But not, in the Lemming's considered opinion, a reflection of national character. The Lemming harangued about that in another blog:

"From the Pier-Bound Shores of Chelsea to the Austere Grandeur...

"The New York Times, serving all the land: from the pier-bound shores of Chelsea to the austere grandeur of the United Nations Plaza; from the verdant wilds of Van Cortlandt Park to the cloud-capped towers of Broadway.

"The Big Apple's a diverse and wonderful city, and is America's biggest city. But it isn't America.

"I see The New York Times as a hometown paper with a long history and a dedication of bringing news of the world to its readers: people who live in the boroughs of New York City. I don't expect The New York Times to reflect my interests or views, any more than I read The Straits Times of Singapore to find out what's going on here in Minnesota, or to get a view of the world that takes American Midwestern interests into account...."
(Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 21, 2008)

Beauty, the Scientist, and Dog Vomit Slime Mold

Beauty
xkcd (March 26, 2011)

(xkcd, used w/o permission)

Four panels, taking us from "The problem with scientists is that you take the wonder and beauty out of everything by trying to analyze it." to "Okay, never mind: What's wrong with scientists is that you do see wonder and beauty in everything."

The Lemming has been interested in science for decades. Also art, music, and mud puddles. Those are fascinating things by themselves - and, when studied, give insights and knowledge of the universe as a whole. Each doesn't give the same kind of insight and knowledge as the others, quite.

On the other hand, the golden ratio shows up in art, and in the shape of many nautilus shells: almost.

And the Lemming is not going to get sidetracked on logarithmic spirals, Euclid, H. P. Lovecraft, and fuzzy set theory.

The original strip is wider - and a tad easier to read.

Somewhat-related (by the Lemming's standards) posts:

• "Fukushima Daiichi Plant, Water, and a 'Bad Sunburn' "
  (March 25, 2011)
• "Too Much Radiation is Dangerous: Numbers and Background"
  (March 18, 2011)
• "Beware Warmonger Imperialist Space Aliens!?"
  (January 11, 2011)
• "Clockwork Mass Extinctions, Cosmic Rays, and Cycles"
  (July 14, 2010)
• "Copernicus, Galileo, Science and a Reality Check"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (October 26, 2009)

More:

• "This month's fungus is Fuligo septica, the dog vomit slime mold."
  Tom Volk's Fungi (June, 1999)
  • Which isn't a fungus

---

A tip of the hat to irish_brigid, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this strip.

A Reformer of American Interior Design: A Century Ago

"Four-Square Reformer"
Barrymore Laurence Scherer, Arts & Entertainment, The Wall Street Journal (November 3, 2010)

"If one name most widely represents the style of the American Arts & Crafts movement in Theodore Roosevelt's era, it is Gustav Stickley. From 1900 to 1913—his most inventive and productive years—Stickley (1858-1942) designed and manufactured furniture whose solid, four-square lines and meticulous workmanship offered a bracing, masculine counterpoint to the turnings, curves and carvings of the Colonial Revival that dominated middle-class American domestic interiors at the time. Now visitors to the Newark Museum can closely examine not just some of Stickley's finest furniture, but also his contributions as a reformer of American interior design.

"Organized by the Dallas Museum of Art under the curatorship of Kevin B. Tucker, who edited and contributed to the sumptuous catalog (published by Dallas Museum in association with Yale University Press), this is a handsome show, comprehensive without being overwhelming.

"Comprised of more than 100 examples of furniture, metalwork, lighting and textiles produced by Stickley's designers and workshops, the show illustrates the philosophy of simplicity, functionalism and hand-craftsmanship that Stickley adapted to a factory production system. In addition, the exhibition draws attention to Stickley's work as an architect through an illuminating representation of architectural drawings and related designs for houses and domestic interiors...."

Who knew that interior design needed reformers now and again?

These days, "the philosophy of simplicity, functionalism and hand-craftsmanship" wouldn't stick out quite as much as it did in the early 20th century. America was getting out of the Victorian age, when the guiding philosophy for design seemed to be that not a single square inch of visible surface should lack an unnecessary flourish or two.

I'm not a huge fan of the sort of sensory-deprivation Modern styles, but the sort of thing Gustav Stickley was doing didn't go to that 'abstract art you sit on' extreme.

The Lemming also isn't so sure about the 'people's revolution against capitalistic oppressor classes' take on the Arts & Craft movement that crops up - maybe so, but I was doing time in American academia when it seemed that just about everything was part of a class struggle against male-dominated authoritarian - you get the idea.

Well, maybe that's what Arts and Crafts movement was all about. Or, maybe not.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History has some pretty good photos: "The Arts and Crafts Movement in America." And, sure enough, the second sentence reads "Anxieties about industrial life fueled a positive revaluation of handcraftsmanship and precapitalist forms of culture and society."

Like I said, maybe so. I'll credit the Met with having some balance: "Unlike in England, the undercurrent of socialism of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States did not spread much beyond the formation of a few Utopian communities."

And, like I said, there are some pretty good photos.

Take a look at the furniture, and you may see something that looks a whole lot like things you've seen in a furniture store within the last decade or so. The Lemming hasn't been tracking furniture fashions, but there may have been an Arts and Crafts revival.

Or maybe somebody saw and A & C piece, decided it looked good, and made one with just enough differences to be 'original.'

Back to that Wall Street Journal article: The style's a bit on the artsy side, which makes sense, considering the topic. And you'll find quite a lot of discussion of Gustav Stickley's work. Again, that makes sense.

It's long on text and short on photos: but does a pretty good job of covering the topic, in the Lemming's opinion.

Lemming Tracks: Solar Double Header

The Lemming has a pair of articles again. ("Asteroid Double Header" (October 6, 2010)) This time they're about the sun, Earth, some new data, and what folks who study such things think of it.

That's the interesting part of this post.

The Lemming's also got a rant - but that's at the end, starting with "On the other hand," after the second article's excerpt.

---

"Sun's Surprise: Even As It Relaxes, It May Heat Earth's Climate"
Space.com (October 6, 2010)

"As the ultimate source of all the energy on Earth, the sun has an inextricable hand in driving our planet's climate and atmosphere. But a new look at the sun's connection to Earth's climate has returned some surprising results.

"The study finds that during the most recent lull in the sun's weather cycle, the amount of energy that reached Earth increased, instead of decreasing as predicted. The planet may have experienced a slight warming effect as well, researchers said....

"...As the sun becomes less active, it typically releases less energy in the form of radiation. Previously, this was understood as a decrease in the total amount of radiation that reaches the top of the Earth's atmosphere.

"In examining solar emissions during this declining phase, however, the researchers found that a large decrease in ultraviolet radiation was roughly compensated for, by an increase in visible radiation.

" 'Visible radiation is the only kind that, in any substantial quality, gets to the Earth's surface and heats the lower atmosphere,' Haigh told SPACE.com. 'We found that as the sun's activity declined from 2004 to 2007, more of this radiation was entering into the lower atmosphere.'..."

There's more in the article - detail on what's been noticed recently, and what we're pretty sure about when it comes to the sunspot cycle on our star. Interesting stuff, for folks who find that sort of thing interesting.

The Lemming thinks that this new set of data suggests that the sun has an effect on Earth's climate.

As if that wasn't enough shocking news for one day, here's something from another source:

---

"When the Sun Heats Up, Earth...Cools?"
John D. Cox, Earth News, Discovery News (October 6, 2010)

"The Earthly impact of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle has always seemed like one of the more reliable and straightforward elements in the vast array of climate variables. On the rise, solar radiation increases and so warms the planet a little -- the thinking goes -- and on the way down a subtle cooling takes place.

"Now, a new piece of research argues that's not necessarily so. Looking inside at the individual wavelengths of solar radiance as measured by a satellite-borne device called the Spectral Irradiance Monitor, scientists report that in their study of these measurements during the declining phase of the solar cycle between 2004 and 2007, the opposite pattern emerges...."

Seriously? This is a relatively short, fairly non-technical writeup about some new data and analysis - and includes this statement:

" 'We cannot jump to any conclusions based on what we have found during this comparatively short period and we need to carry out further studies to explore the Sun's activity, and the patterns that we have uncovered, on longer timescales. However, if further studies find the same pattern over a longer period of time, this could suggest that we may have overestimated the Sun's role in warming the planet, rather than underestimating it.' "
(Physicist Joanna Haigh of Imperial College, via Discovery News)

The Lemming takes that statement with a grain of salt. The caution is commendable - assuming that it stems from an unwillingness to start reasoning ahead of the data.

On the other hand, the idea that something other than Big Oil and capitalists is behind global warming is - well, not exactly welcome in much of academia. Physicists and other academic professionals have their careers to consider, as well as facts. (Another War-on-Terror Blog (April 29, 2008))

---

Science, Change, Assumptions, and the Lemming

The Lemming isn't on the same page as folks who take Bishop Ussher seriously. He's the chap who decided that the world was created over a particular six-day period in 4004 BC. He used references to the Bible: which proves, for some folks, that he's right. And that nothing much has changed since then. At all. Except for some details of human society - that'd be hard to ignore.

The Lemming also isn't on the same page as folks who think that the universe popped into existence billions and billions of years ago and went through ages and ages of cataclysmic evolutionary change. Until somewhere in the 19th century, after which all change was somebody's fault.

Actually, the Lemming is okay with that second paragraph - until the last sentence. I've discussed this in another blog. (A Catholic Citizen in America (September 23, 2010))

(If you think the Lemming is trying to spark interest in his other blogs, with these links - you're probably right.)

---

Change Happens

Earth may be warming at the moment. That's likely enough: We're coming out of (or still in) the most recent of Earth's periods of continental glaciation. (July 30, 2010)

Or, maybe Earth is cooling - that's what available data showed about a half-century back. We got some dandy 'scare' articles and several pretty-good science fiction stories out of that set of data.

I've noticed that, these days, the coming ice age is discussed about as much as that famous butterfly expert's apocalyptic visions of impending doom. (April 20, 2010)

I think that what both folks who take Bishop Ussher seriously, and those who are convinced that we're doomed by whatever crisis is now and wow, have in common is a very human reaction to change. Most of us, I think, got used to the world as it was when we were young(er).

For example, I got used to seeing a particular lake, here in central Minnesota. I've been watching it change into a meadow with a few ponds. I miss that lake: during the seventies its reflective surface was a treat for the eyes as I made regular trips on Interstate 94. Another few decades, and it'll be all meadow.

I don't think it's anybody's fault, though. That's what happens to these bodies of water, left over from the last glaciation in this part of the world. Another few centuries or millennia - and all of Minnesota's lakes will be gone.

Like I said, change happens.

Looking at what we've discovered about what's happened in the last few billion years - and assuming that the nature of reality didn't change about a hundred and fifty years back - isn't a popular idea in some quarters.

Earth is Changing

One of the few things the Lemming is fairly certain of is that, a thousand years from now, things won't be just like they are now.

Does that mean that I care not for the environment and cute fuzzy animals? Certainly not. I like cute fuzzy animals. And I think it's stupid to act as though we don't need to be careful about what we do with waste products.

But I also think it's a trifle daft to act as if all of delicate, frail little Mother Nature is doomed, dooooomed, unless we whack the human population down to some arbitrary number, outlaw SUVs, go vegetarian, or whatever the current 'gotta do' thing is. (December 20, 2009)

Don't worry - the next post will be lighter.

Sort-of-related posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: Observations by an Opportunistic Omnivore"
  (April 20, 2010)
• "'Snowball Earth,' Evolution, and Really Old Rocks"
  (March 16, 2010)
• "Global Warming: on Pluto. And Mars"
  (December 14, 2009)
• "The Unchanging Sun and Earth's Climate"
  (August 28, 2009)

More:

• "Change, American Culture, Trilobites, Humanity's History, and the Big Picture"

Mammoth Ivory, Movie Star, Big Assumption

The Mammoth Ivory Male head from Dolni Vestonice
A possible forgery
"Forgeries, Hoaxes and Curiosities"
Don's Maps

"This may be a portrait of the person with a protruding brow whose skull was found in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in 1891. The question still remains, when was it carved?

Since these photographs were published in the National Geographic in October 1988, and Plains of Passage was published in 1990, Jean Auel could well have used it as the model for Brugar, the person of mixed spirits described in Plains of Passage as having lived at Dolni Vestonice.

Eight centimetre high male head carved of mammoth ivory dated at 26 000 years BP.

Note that the figure has very heavy brow ridges. The figure has been stated to have a beard, but this feature is not obvious from the photographs.

Note also that Paul Bahn writing in 'Journey through the Ice Age', says that the head may be a fake. His main argument seems to be lack of provenance (meaning that it was not found by a recognised [!] and trusted archaeologist, or with reliable witnesses to the discovery) and that the style is too modern. He also says that the Lady of Brassempouy (the ivory carving of Ayla) may be a fake...."

Dolni Vestonice, or Dolní Věstonice, is near the village Dolní Věstonice, also known as Unterwisternitz, in what's currently called the Czech Republic. I suppose that should be Věstonická and Česká Republika - but that's enough of linguistics for the moment.

As to whether or not the carving was really made recently, or about 26,000 years ago, my guess is that the late-20th-century analysis of uranium/decay products ratios is right - which puts the ivory and the carving of the ivory about two hundred and sixty centuries back.

Does the carving look "modern?" Yes, but so do paintings made on the walls of the Altamira cave - which we're pretty sure were made at the same time that someone carved that ivory head. Give or take a few millennia.

I think it's a mistake to assume that folks who lived a few centuries, millennia, or tens of millennia, ago were "primitive" in the 19th-century sense of the word.

Or that a particular style has to have come from a particular era.

Take the three sculptures in these photos, for example: they show a fairly clear progression: from a quite realistic, literal, interpretation of a subject, through an intermediate phase, to a highly abstract treatment.



Just one problem with that analysis: left-to-right, the sculptures were made approximately 2, 25, and zero millennia ago.

The "modern" one is about 22 centuries old.

Two points, and I'm done with this post: When I saw that ivory head, the first thing that came to mind was that it looked more than a bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian; and, here's the cover of the National Geographic issue that Don's Maps quoted from:



Related post:

• "African Art, Photos, and a Whacking Great Generalization"
  (June 21, 2010)

Sunflowers 1888: Van Gogh, Looking Past the Ear

"Sunflowers 1888 - Vincent van Gogh sunflower Painting"
artquotes.net

"Painting Title: Sunflowers (Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers) 1888
"Oil on Canvas, 92.1 x 73cm - 36 x 28 Inches (approx)
"Vincent van Gogh
"Famous Dutch artist - Post Impressionist painter

"About the Sunflowers Painting
"This is one of several versions of sunflowers that Vincent van Gogh painted. This version with 15 sunflowers was painted in Arles, in 1888. The painting is in the collection of the National Gallery in London, England."

artquotes.net has a (much) larger picture of Sunflowers 1888, and other Van Gogh paintings: including Starry Night over the Rhone 1888; A Pair of Shoes 1887; and Autumn Landscape 1885. I think they're worth the clicks and the few minutes it would take to look at them.

Vincent Van Gogh may be the most famous 'insane artist' in recent times. There's that thing about his ear - depending on who you listen to, he cut off a part of his left earlobe, or the whole thing. That's the lurid part of the story.

There's quite a lot about Van Gogh's life online:

• "Vincent van Gogh | Dutch, 1853-1890"
  Art access, Art Institute of Chicago
• "Artist Biography: Vincent van Gogh"
  Art Esplorer, Art Institute of Chicago
• "Van Gogh, Solituce & Alcohol"
  Impressionism & the Making of Modern Art, Princeton University
• "Van Gogh Revisited"
  USC News, University of Southern California (December 8, 2009)

Epilepsy, depression, and alcohol show up more-or-less often in discussions of Van Gogh's life. There doesn't seem much doubt that something was troubling him - and that he killed himself in his late thirties.

That was a loss - for Vincent Van Gogh, and for everybody else. At a bare minimum, we lost a painter who had very real talent, and the sort of drive it takes to create art.

Off on a Tangent

Feel free to stop reading right here. the rest of this post is more about insanity, me, and how folks deal with others who are off the 50th percentile.

I've got a personal stake in how 'crazy people' are viewed. I was diagnosed with major depression a few years ago. And, thanks to a number of medications, am thinking more clearly and easily than I have in decades.

My own temperament, the nature of my problem, and my faith, all make it easy for me to continue taking my meds. Not everybody is in that position.

It's anyone's guess how Vincent Van Gogh would have been treated, and what he'd have done with his life, if he'd been born in 1953 - or later - instead of 1853. We've learned quite a bit in the last several decades: not just how the brain works, but that people with malfunctioning brains aren't necessarily 'being crazy' on purpose.

That was quite a step.

Related post:

• "Prayer, Medicine and Trusting God"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 4, 2010)
• "Medication for Depression? Yeah: The Catholic Church is Okay With That"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (February 25, 2010)

A Thought for the Day: Self-Esteem and Lunatic Asylums

"The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums."
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy; p. 14
English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936)
From The Quotations Page

I don't know if what is now a tired old phrase, "self esteem," was in use when Chesterton wrote "Orthodoxy," around 1908-1909: but I'm pretty sure that's what he had in mind.

A limited-pages edition of "Orthodoxy" (1909) is available online, on Google Books. The "all in lunatic asylums" quote is on page six of that edition. It's in a chapter titled, "The Maniac."

Another edition is also available on Google Books. This one is a facsimile of the John Lane, publisher, edition.

The full text of "Orthodoxy" is available in the Cyber Library.

Lemming Tracks: Home Schooling isn't What You May Think

---

WARNING

The Lemming went on a rant in this post. Not only that, but you'll find it just simply crawling with Catholic cooties. If you like your assumptions conventional, and aren't particularly partial to reality checks, I suggest you avoid this post and check back in about an hour.

The Lemming will try to find a photo of a cute rabbit or something for the next post

---

"Home Schooling, Religious and Moral Instruction, and American Culture"
A Catholic Citizen in America (March 6, 2010)

"I'm one of those home-schooling parents you hear about from time to time. Oddly enough, the ones I know aren't particularly outstanding for being poor, uneducated and easily led: and do not intentionally wallow in self-righteous ignorance.

"But what do I know? I'm one of those home-schooling parents you hear about.

"Sorry: That's about as close to a rant as I allow myself...."

That's a post from another one of my blogs. And yes: I'm one of those people. My kids were home schooled from grade seven through high school graduation.

One of them's about to graduate from a tech school and is going into commercial art, another graduated from Concordia with a music degree, a third is a writer and musician, and my son is pretty good at writing software and debugging computers. He's 13, so he may decide to go in another direction, which is also okay with me.

If he decides to be an auto mechanic, he'll make more money than I ever did.

Which is another topic.

The point is, we are not inbred freaks crawling out of the swamp. Like most home schooling parents, we give a rip about our kids and think that we can do a better job of educating them than the state. It doesn't help that I used to be an English teacher: I know American education from the inside.

The home-schooling parents we know aren't all just like us. But they're smart people, most of them are active in the community, and - this is important - they aren't ignorant crackpots.

Shameless Self-Promotion? Sure, Why Not?

I don't feel too guilty about promoting another one of my blogs here. The topic of this blog is 'cool stuff that I find online,' as my oldest daughter put it.

I don't know how 'cool' that post is: but it presents home schooling in a way that you're not likely to find in the traditional, old-school news services.

Besides, I think some all-too-common American assumptions are overdue for a reality check.

"Religious and Moral Instruction" Means "Fundamentalism"?!

"...The Associated Press apparently came up with 'for most home-school parents, a Bible-based version of the Earth's creation is exactly what they want' from 'Federal statistics from 2007 show 83 percent of home-schooling parents want to give their children "religious or moral instruction." '

"Wow...."

NOT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE DOLTS

"My wife and I gave our children the option of being home schooled for grades 7-12. And yes, part of the reason was 'to give their children "religious or moral instruction." '

"But we're Catholics. For us 'religious and moral instruction' means clueing our kids in on what the Church has taught for about two millennia now, and how God and the prophets worked with Israel's descendants.¹ That's the religious part. The 'moral instruction' includes telling them that snorting cocaine is a really stupid idea, and that obeying the law is a good idea.

" 'Religious and moral instruction' does not mean that we teach them that some dude who looks like Charlton Heston in the role of Moses made everything we can observe in 144 hours, a few thousand years back...."

If that sounds like I got rather heated on the subject: you're quite right. I've known a few people whose spiritual leaders have clinkers in their thinkers about the Bible and what's been learned in the last few hundred years: and who really believe what their preacher says about those 'Satanic' scientist. I've also known a few who might not have ditched Christianity - and all religion - if it hadn't been for the ranting of the first group.

Me? I'm one of those folks who like facts, and prefer it when the facts can be fitted together in some sort of coherent, rational structure. Without trashing most of what's been discovered in the last 2,000 years or so. Which is part of the reason I became a Catholic.

But that's definitely another topic. ("Firebase Earth," A Catholic Citizen in America (April 5, 2009), "Why Did I Convert to Catholicism?," (November 24, 2009), for starters)

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Dinosaurs, Mutant Chickens, Evolution, and Faith in God"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (June 29, 2009)
• "Beaten High Schooler to be Home Schooled"
  (April 9, 2008)

A Toyota Prius, Assumptions, and an Imperfect Witness

"Man at Wheel of 'Out-of-Control' Prius Has Troubled Financial Past"
FOXNews (March 12, 2010)

"The man who became the face of the Toyota gas pedal scandal this week has a troubled financial past that is leading some to question whether he was wholly truthful in his story.

"On Monday, James Sikes called 911 to report that he was behind the wheel of an out-of-control Toyota Prius going 94 mph on a freeway near San Diego. Twenty-three minutes later, a California Highway Patrol officer helped guide him to a stop, a rescue that was captured on videotape.

"Since then, it's been learned that:

"- Sikes filed for bankruptcy in San Diego in 2008. According to documents, he was more than $700,000 in debt and roughly five months behind in payments on his Prius;

"- In 2001, Sikes filed a police report with the Merced County Sheriff's Department for $58,000 in stolen property, including jewelry, a digital video camera and equipment and $24,000 in cash;

"- Sikes has hired a law firm, though it has indicated he has no plans to sue Toyota;

"- Sikes won $55,000 on television's 'The Big Spin' in 2006, Fox40.com reports, and the real estate agent has boasted of celebrity clients such as Constance Ramos of 'Extreme Home Makeover.'

"While authorities say they don't doubt Sikes' account, several bloggers and a man who bought a home from Sikes in 2007 question whether the 61-year-old entrepreneur may have concocted the incident for publicity or for monetary gain...."

This sort of situation is one of the reasons why I don't mind investigators collecting evidence and analyzing facts: methodically, 'by the numbers.' What does seem rather certain is that Mr. Sikes was driving a Toyota Prius, that it reached speeds above 90 miles an hour, and that he emerged from the experience unscathed.

Looking at that last paragraph in the excerpt again:

"...While authorities say they don't doubt Sikes' account, several bloggers and a man who bought a home from Sikes in 2007 question whether the 61-year-old entrepreneur may have concocted the incident for publicity or for monetary gain...."

I remember the 'good old days,' some of them not all that far back, when someone in law enforcement went public with the assertion that someone was responsible for a crime. And was alternatively-correct. Sometimes the falsely-accused person was able to put his or her life back together, afterward.

Yeah: I can live with 'due process.' I'm not a patient man, but I'd just as soon trade a bit of fretting for a better shot at accurate results.

Mr. Sikes clearly handles more money than I do on a regular basis, but many Americans do. He reported stolen property, and the amount was about equal to what I paid for the house I live in. Well, some people own valuable jewelry and equipment. Sometimes it gets stolen. If - and that's a big if - Mr. Sikes was unwise enough to have been attempting insurance fraud, that would affect how believable his statements were. Being a victim of theft does not, however, make a person a liar.

As for the idea that only guilty people hire lawyers? I don't buy that. My first impulse wouldn't be to call my publicist, or hire a law firm - but I'm not in the same socioeconomic strata as Mr. Sikes. Not by a long shot.

And with a complex situation that Mr. Sikes was in, after that high-speed ride, hiring a lawyer might make good sense. Remember: he was, technically at least, exceeding the speed limit. That's illegal. Even if there was something wrong with his car, there's the possibility that some hotshot with Toyota would sue him for (allegedly) not properly maintaining his Prius, and thus tarnishing Toyota's reputation.

Crazy? I think so: but the state of America's legal system is a whole different topic.

In My Considered Option: I Don't Know What Happened

So, in my opinion, the authorities have said that they don't doubt Sikes' account, that Mr. Sikes was in a Toyota Prius that was going really, really fast: and that we don't know why that happened.

Someone may know what really happened: but I certainly don't.

If this is another malfunction - I hope that the Toyota Motor Company finds out what went wrong. Not just in the vehicles: what went so horribly wrong in the design and/or manufacturing process.

Toyota had a reputation for making well-engineered vehicles. I hope that Aiko Toyoda's company can re-build that reputation.

Related posts:

• "Another Toyota Incident"
  (March 10, 2010)
• "Toyota, Toyoda, and the United States Congress: Japan isn't America"
  (February 24, 2010)
• "Toyota Cars Recalled: Again"
  (February 9, 2010)
• "Toyota Cars Recalled: Because of Made-in-America Parts"
  (January 30, 2010)
• "Toyota's Power Split Device (PSD) for Prius"
  (March 29, 2008)

Tut's Curse: "Makes for a Great Story"

"King Tut’s Many Curses"
Discovery News (February 22, 2010)

"...'When Tut's tomb was discovered and opened in 1922, it was a major archaeological event. In order to keep the press at bay and yet allow them a sensational aspect with which to deal, the head of the excavation team, Howard Carter, put out a story that a curse had been placed upon anyone who violated the rest of the boy-king.' In fact, the tombs of all royalty—not just Tutankhamun's—were reputed to be cursed, as part of a folkloric effort to deter looters and grave robbers. Other royal tombs with exactly the same 'curse' had been opened without doom befalling their excavators, so there was no reason to think that it would be any different with King Tut. (Makes for a great story, though.)

"It is true that some people involved with the excavation (however peripherally) died shortly after the Tut's tomb was opened. The most famous victim of the curse was probably Lord Carnavon, who financed the work; he died the following year in Cairo. (Of course, his death is less mysterious when we learn that he suffered severe health problems before he even arrived in Egypt.)..."

The relatively short article points out that the timing of the 'mysterious' deaths doesn't bode well for the 'curse' hypothesis. People who should have been targeted lived an average of over 23 years after disturbing Tut's tomb.

Oh, well, ancient curses are a whole lot more exciting than actuarial tables for most of us: so my guess is that the Curse of Tut will live on as an urban legend for generations to come.

Frail, Delicate Little Mother Nature?!

I heard that the theme for this year's Christmas program at the elementary school was "Santa goes green." These days, I'm grateful that we're allowed to use the word "Christmas" for something like that.

But: "goes green"?!

Taking the now-traditional version of Santa's operation, we've got:

• No factory - Santa uses
  • A labor-intensive workshop
  • Run by elves
    • Who live what can most charitably be described as an early-19th century lifestyle
    • Elf rights violations, anyone?
• A transportation system powered by magical reindeer
  • Zero pollution - aside from flatulence and droppings from eight reindeer
    • Nine, after Rudolph made the team

Although the way Santa treats his elves may be leaving him open to serious trouble from a labor rights standpoint - his workshop and sleigh as it stands seems to be the very model of an ecologically clean, Earth-friendly operation. I suppose the big guy could assign elves to keep an eye on kids and collect wrapping paper for recycling. Or start using biodegradable brown paper to wrap the presents.

Mother Nature: Clara Bow or Queen Boudicca?

In some circles, 'everybody knows' about Earth's delicate ecosystem and the awful, terrible things that will happen if the rest of us aren't careful. I get the idea that Mother Nature is seen as a frail little 1920s movie actress: all big eyes and toothpick limbs. Sort of like Clara Bow after a long fast.

If I were to personify life on Earth, she'd be more like the growing things that have been around for the last 2,500,000,000 years or so.

One adjective I wouldn't use for life on Earth is "frail." Sure, individual species, like the panda and the koala, could die out if their environment changed a little - and we didn't take an interest in keeping them alive.

Others, not so much. Think pigeons, rats, cockroaches: and, probably, us. Again, think about it: we're opportunistic omnivores that are living on every continent except Antarctica - and we're starting to move in there.

It's true, though: some kinds of creatures aren't around anymore. Like trilobites and the dinosaurs - unless you count birds as flight-adapted dinosaurs. Just about the only unchanging thing on Earth is that things change. Which, I think, troubles some people.

Back to the personification of life on Earth, Mother Nature.

So far, Earth has seen about seven major ice ages. Every few million years a really big hunk of ice, rock, or metal hits Earth, blasting large areas immediately - and sometimes causing global damage. That may (or may not) be what killed off the dinosaurs.

But not other creatures - including our (very) remote ancestors.

Let's face it: Earth's a tough old mother; she's been through a lot; and it looks like it'll take more than manure and coal fires (the 19th century's dreadful pollution problem) or carelessly-discarded six-pack rings to do her in.

Don't get me wrong: I think fur seals are cute; I like spotted owls; my household recycles; and I don't think it makes sense to pour industrial waste into water we'll be drinking later. But getting worked up about poor, frail little Mother Nature?

I think she needs about as much protection as Queen Boudicca did, roughly 19½ centuries back.¹

Related posts:

• "Change, American Culture, Trilobites, Humanity's History, and the Big Picture"
  (Last updated December 20, 2009)
• "Global Warming, End Times - 'We're All Gonna Die' Over the Last 45 Years Or So"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (October 3, 2009)
• "The Ice is Falling! Runaway Melt Mode! And You Should See What's Happening to Minnesota Trees!"
  (September 23, 2009)
• "Earth Day 2009: Don't Stop Breathing to Save Earth"
  (April 22, 2009)
• "Antarctic Ice Cap Didn't Get the Memo"
  (April 18, 2009)
• "American Academic Institutions: Impartial, Neutral, Nonpartisan, Dispassionate"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (April 29, 2008)
  Particularly the discussion of
  • two people:
    • Dr. William Gray
    • Ben
• "Earth Day 2009: Don't Stop Breathing to Save Earth"
  (April 22, 2009)
• " 'My Mind's Made Up: Don't Confuse Me With the Facts' "
  (March 3, 2008)

Background:

• Earth Impact Database
• "Prehistoric Time Line"
  Science and Space, National Geographic
• "Ice Age Explanation"
  Scott "Welcome to the world of Ice Age Paleoecology!" Elias, Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research Site
  • It's only fair to warn you: some of the ice age information is heretical
• "Ice Ages"
  Canadian Museum of Nature
  • Mentions four of the seven major ice ages:
    • about 2 million years ago to the present—the Quaternary Ice Age
    • 350 to 250 million years ago—the Karoo Ice Age
    • 800 to 600 million years ago—the Cryogenian (or Sturtian-Varangian) Ice Age
    • 2400 to 2100 million years ago—the Huronian Ice Age

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¹ You may not have heard of Boudicca of the Iceni, but she made quite an impression on the Romans: metaphorically and literally. I think it didn't help that Romans were, compared to the inhabitants of northwestern Europe - well, not all that big. Boudicca might not have given the Romans much trouble, except that when her husband, king of the Iceni, died, the Roman occupiers of Britain were - imprudent.

"...As a beginning, his widow Boudicca was flogged and their daughters raped...." (Tacitus, "Annals")

I suppose they thought that, being a woman, she'd be cowed into subservience. Didn't work out that way. She was displeased about her personal treatment: and about how the Roman overlords were treating her people. By the time she was through: "...Two cities were sacked, eighty thousand of the Romans and of their allies perished, and the island was lost to Rome...."
(Cassius Dio, "Roman History (LXII.1-2)")

Aside from her sincerely non-helpless nature, I think Boudicca's appearance makes a pretty good model for Mother Nature:

"...In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips...."
(Cassius Dio, "Roman History (LXII.1-2)")

About that "harsh voice" - Cassius Dio was a Roman, writing from a Roman point of view. After what she'd been through, I daresay Queen Boudicca's voice might have been a trifle harsh when she spoke to Romans.

Higher Ceilings are Better Ceilings? Right?

Actually, we don't seem to know. I picked up this gem at "Office Architecture: Ceiling height."