PLEASURE KILLS

Do you eat to live, or do you live to eat?  It is a life-and-death question.  Take all your clothes off and take a good look in the mirror, as though you were critiquing a stranger.  What do you see?  Is the body in front of you slender and toned, or packing a few swells and bulges?  Or is it downright blubbery?

We are in an epidemic, one that we are paying for in cold, hard cash every year.  According the the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), fully one third of all Americans, including children, are seriously overweight.  Fully another third are clinically obese.  According to a PBS Newshour feature, "When you have too much weight around the middle, the changes in blood pressure, the changes in blood sugar, in cholesterol, these are silent processes .... people have a rather benign view of weight gain.  And it's now catching up.  Now we have people who, in their 40s, 50s, 60s, are having heart attacks and strokes.  Big is not beautiful.

" .... One out of three children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in his or her lifetime.  One out of two if that child is African-American or Latino.  It's not just developing diabetes.  If that child develops the diabetes before the age of 10, his or her lifetime will be cut by 19 years, and the life will be an unhealthy one.  It will be a painful one. It will have kidney failure or amputations, heart attack or stroke.

" .... The foods that are so affordable are the high fat, high sugared foods that are activating the pleasure centers of our brain in the same way that drugs do.  It's the dopamine system.  It's the pleasure-reward system of the brain.  And so we've refined these food products to be as potent as we can for that reward."

But the reward, as with drug addictions, is temporary.  We get suckered into coming back for another fix, and another.  Our fixes become larger ~ we are literally, as Mike Huckabee says, "digging our graves with a knife and fork".  What isn't temporary are the long-term, deleterious health effects, as well as the effects on our national economy.  Obesity is costing us $200 billion a year, and the cost is growing.  Here is a sampling of what's at stake ~

• Obesity is a contributing factor in 5 of the top 10 causes of death ~ heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, kidney disease.  ~ CDC.
• In 2009, roughly 94 percent of schools served a lunch that failed to meet federal standards for healthy school meals.  80 percent of the lunches served in those schools exceeded federal recommendations for total fat and saturated fat.  ~ USDA survey.
• Someone with diabetes costs on average $6,600 more per year to care for than someone without diabetes .... Someone who is obese costs on average more than $1400 more per year to care for than someone who is not obese.  ~ CDC.
• At the current rates of increase, obesity-related health care costs are expected to exceed $300 billion by 2018 ~ more than double the $147 billion reported in 2008.
• Workers who are obese are less likely to be promoted than their fit peers.  ~ Reuters.

(Source:   Obesity in America, by the numbers.  The link includes in interactive map showing adult obesity by state, with a click-and-play feature showing the increase from 1995 to 2010.)  

Imagine how revolting we must look to (a) developed countries which promote fitness, and (b) underdeveloped countries where famine is a fact of life.  It breaks my heart to watch small children and teenagers waddle down the street.  It verges on revolting to see adults with huge rolls of fat on their bodies, stuffing junk food and soft drinks into their faces.  I find it difficult to muster much sympathy.  Every bite is a conscious choice.  It's not like these people are oblivious to the fact that, as time passes, they are having to buy clothing in larger and larger sizes.  They get it.  They're simply, tragically in denial.

I know, I've been there.  From age 40 to age 56, my own over-eating (mostly healthy foods) caused the scale to tip to higher and higher numbers.  My reality check came when I reached 199 lb.  The thought of weighing 200 lb. or more was grotesque.  So I made a decision to limit my food intake to 1200 calories per day.  This allowed me to lose about 2 lb. per month, a rate slow enough to improve the chances that weight loss would be both manageable and permanent.  Reading the nutrition labels on food packaging was an education in itself ~ all those toxic additives ~ but my main references were the content of fat, calories, and fiber.  And my best friend was the bathroom scale.  

Today, at 5'9" I weigh 144 lb., exactly at the low end of the healthy weight range for my height. I'm slender, but if I were to add muscle mass (which is denser than most other tissues), I'd still be within acceptable weight limits.  Here is an indispensable tool ~ a chart broken down by gender, showing the ideal healthy weight range for a given height.  Within that range, lower is better.  The website includes a link to determine your body mass index (BMI).  I encourage you to place the link on your computer's desktop, for easy reference.  

Now is the time.  Not tomorrow, not next month.  Like quitting smoking, losing weight will have immediate health benefits.  Exercise, and eat healthy foods in moderate portions.  You'll feel better, you'll look better, and you'll live longer.  Your loved ones will thank you, your doctor will thank you, and most of all you'll thank yourself.

The map below (click to enlarge) shows the rate of obesity in America by state, as of 2010.  Note that in no state is the rate less than 20%.  One in five people.  In the majority of states, the rate is much higher.  Our national self-indulgence is a disgrace.

FLOATING LANTERNS

(click to enlarge)

I'M HOT AND MY FEET ARE WET

From today's Washington Post ~ U.S. Completes Warmest 12-Month Period in 117 Years.  "Dating back to 1895, never has the U.S. strung together 12 straight months warmer than May 2011 to April 2012, according to new data released today by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) .... As warm as it's been, it's no surprise that the calendar year 2012 (spanning January to April) is off to a record warm start, 5.4 degrees F above average across the Lower 48 [see image below, click to enlarge] .... The degree by which some states and regions have exceeded their norms so far this year is incredible, and record-setting.  North Dakota's temperature so far this year is 10.4 degrees above normal.  That's the biggest warm anomaly for the first 4 months of the year on record for any state .... The U.S. Climate Extremes Index ~ that tracks extremes in temperatures, precipitation, and tropical cyclones ~ showed a record 42 percent of the country experienced extreme weather during the first four months of the year, primarily exceptional warmth .... At least 332 locations (mainly located in the Rockies and Southern Plains) soared to their warmest April temperature on record .... April snow cover extent was third smallest on record.

" .... This onslaught of record-breaking warm weather over the Lower 48 this year is related to a jet stream pattern which has locked up cold air in the higher latitudes and favored sprawling heat domes over the mid-section of the country which have meandered east and west at times.  Although the contortions of the jet stream established the unusually warm weather patterns, the intensity and persistence of the warmth compared to the past is likely related to the elevated greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere from human activities."

It's not just the heat, it's the wet.  As anthropogenic (man-made) climate change warms the atmosphere, the world ocean, and the earth, glaciers and ice caps melt at an alarming rate, adding to the rise in sea level which is compounded by the fact that warmer water expands.  That's bad news for human communities in low-lying areas, such as coastal cities or island nations.  Millions of people in the U.S. alone live only a few feet above sea level.  Think Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Charleston, Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle.  The future is now ~ a feature on the PBS program Need to Know reports that "The city of Norfolk, VA, is getting an early look at what sea level rise means for a big coastal community.  The city is experiencing sea level rise earlier than most because not only are the seas around the city going up, but much of the land beneath Norfolk is going down.  This one-two punch means the city is seeing today the kind of flooding that many cities could experience down the road if the scientific projections of sea level rise play out.

" .... A bit of additional background ~ sea levels globally have gone up about 5-8 inches over the last century ~ a side-effect, most scientists say, of our heavy use of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.  Burning those fuels warms the planet [by producing greenhouse gases], and warmer ocean water expands, causing the seas and oceans to rise.  The federal government projects that sea levels will rise an additional foot or two in coming decades.  If the planet continues to warm, the world's ice sheets could continue to melt, releasing more of their water into the seas, which could drive sea level up much further."

Check out the embedded video in the Need to Know segment for a glimpse of what lies ahead for more and more people around the globe.  Low-lying Pacific island communities and nations will simply disappear beneath the rising sea.

So getting back to temperature for a moment ~ given a global rise, one envisions tropical climates migrating slowly toward the Earth's poles, and temperate climates doing the same.  But consider this ~ climate migration will also rise in altitude.  Already all the glaciers which gave Glacier National Park its name have disappeared, or shrunk to the brink of extinction.  Plant, animal, bird, reptile, and fish species will (if possible) follow the climates they have adapted to over evolutionary time.  But what happens if (a) they run out of places higher in latitude, or (b) they run out of places higher in altitude?

Consider the flora and fauna of tepuis, sheer-sided, flat-topped mountains in the Amazon basin.  Featured in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel The Lost World, and again in the 2009 animated film "Up", tepuis are host to species found nowhere else on earth.  Each tepui is an island in the sky.  A NYTimes article explains these towering, exotic land forms more fully, and recounts research on how the species at the tops could have arrived there, and when.  Prophetically, the article ends thus ~ "There may not be much time left to gather data.  Global warming has been driving mountain-dwelling species to higher altitudes, and will drive them up even farther.  But the frogs and other species that are dound only on top of tepuis have already gone as high as they can go.  They're just going to go extinct."

Humans have cause the extinction of countless species in all parts of the world through intentional eradication, and through mindless overhunting and overfishing.  We have driven our fellow creatures into the precincts of distant memory simply by the sheer weight of our numbers, expanding to destroy native habitat.  But extinction by means of climate change seems the most insidious method of all ~ and one which may take us along for the ride.

THE INVITATION

From NASA ~ Pursuit of Light.  What's next?  It's up to all of us.  (Image above ~ galaxy M101 in Ursa Major ~ click to enlarge)

LIFE ON THE BORDER

Last night I discovered treasure ~ the most recent episode of the PBS show Moyers & Company featured an interview with writer Luis Alberto Urrea, who grew up in the border culture between Mexico and the United States.  Urrea is affable and eloquent, yet his insights into the white and Latino experiences penetrate like a stiletto.  He identifies strongly with those who must struggle under gruesome conditions just to survive.  His manner is gentle, persuasive, sometimes self-effacing.  Born to a Mexican father and a white mother, Luis grew up first in Tijuana, Mexico, then in San Diego.  He is uniquely gifted at piecing through the beliefs and stories of both cultures, and though he self-identifies as American, he can move with ease from one to the other.

Urrea has written award-winning novels, poetry, memoirs, and non-fiction.  His books include The Hummingbird's Daughter, By the Lake of Sleeping Children, and The Devil's Highway.  You can view the entire Moyers interview with Urrea, and click on related links, here.  You will come away wishing this man was your friend.

Part of the discussion touched upon the January 2012 decision by the Tucson Unified School District (the largest in the state of Arizona) to eliminate the Mexican-American Studies program from its curriculum, and to ban a list of prestigious books which were deemed "divisive".  The cowardice and insensitivity of this act cannot be overstated.  Only insecure, oppressive regimes like Nazi Germany feel the need to impose mind control over their citizens.  How sad that the U.S. is no exception.

In order to understand each other, we need to read and ask questions and converse.  Arizona state government in general, and TUSD in particular, appear to think that diversity should be ignored or suppressed.  I consider Arizona my second home, and I'm ashamed of what goes on there politically.  Racism and white supremacy have no place in a gloriously multicultural community.  Here is a summary of the TUSD book controversy, and a list of the titles banned and seized.  They range from Rethinking Columbus:  the Next 500 Years, A Peope's History of the United States, and several books by Urrea and Native American writer Sherman Alexie, to William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

Far from being banned, this list should be required reading for everyone on both sides of the border ~ not least for the Arizona state legislature, Arizona's reactionary governor Jan Brewer, and the TUSD school board.  In my opinion these are ignorant people, not suited to their roles as lawmakers and educators.  Their actions have made Arizona the subject of satire (see the April 2, 2012 sketch on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show) and ridicule, adding to the grimly racist image of the state created by the anti-immigration law passed in 2010.  The law not only encourages racial profiling by police, it violates the U.S. Constitution by assuming a role reserved for the federal government, and is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

So.  An eloquent humanist writer, and the banning of books.  Busy day.

CHAIN GANGS

During the current election campaigns, much will be made about high unemployment.  The Reagan-Bush-Bush era of economics led to the 2008 financial crisis, with Republicans' willingness to promote corporate welfare through tax breaks, corporate bailouts, insider trading, and a hands-off approach by regulatory agencies.  Historically, many corporations have bypassed the American labor force (with its expectations of decent wages, health care benefits, and humane working conditions) by hiring undocumented immigrants at low wages.  Paradoxically, the neocon fuss over immigration has meant a partial reversal of the flow of workers, especially those originating in Mexico.  The corporate plan B is offshoring ~ moving manufacturing to other countries whose people are willing to work for low wages.  It is cost-effective for corporations ~ too bad that the consequence has been fewer jobs available for American workers.  For CEOs who make 400 times what their employees earn, it's all about profit, regardless of who gets left behind.

In addition to undocumented immigrants (who perform labor most Americans refuse, and ought to be allowed into the country under work visas), and workers living in other countries (in true sweatshop conditions unregulated by American standards), I've learned of a third labor pool, a literal captive audience ~ prison inmates.  Steven Fraser and Joshua Freeman in Salon wrote an article titled 21st Century Chain Gangs, in which they've compiled information which should outrage anyone concerned about the economy.  Here is an excerpt ~

"Sweatshop labor is back with a vengeance.  It can be found across broad stretches of the American economy and around the world.  Penitentiaries have become a niche market for such work.  The privatization of prisons in recent years has meant the creation of a small army of workers too coerced and right-less to complain.  Prisoners, whose ranks increasingly consist of those for whom the legitimate economy has found no use, now make up a virtual brigade within the reserve army of the unemployed whose ranks have ballooned along with the US incarceration rate.  The Corrections Corporation of America and G4S (formerly Wackenhut), two prison privatizers, sell inmate labor at subminimum wages to Fortune 500 corporations like Chevron, Bank of America, AT&T, and IBM.

"These companies can, in most states, lease factories in prisons or prisoners to work on the outside.  All told, nearly a million prisoners are now making office furniture, working in call centers, fabricating body armor, taking hotel reservations, working in slaughterhouses, or manufacturing textiles, shoes and clothing, while getting paid somewhere between 93 cents and $4.73 per day.  Rarely can you find workers so pliable, easy to control, stripped of political rights and subject to martial discipline at the first sign of recalcitrance ~ unless, that is, you traveled back to the 19th century when convict labor was commonplace nationwide.

" .... What some historians call 'the Long Depression' of the 19th century, which lasted from the mid-1870s through the mid-1890s, was marked by frequent panics and slumps, mass bankruptcies, deflation and self-destructive competition among businesses designed to depress costs, especially labor costs.  So too, we are living through a 21st century age of panics and austerity with similar pressures to shrink the social wage.  Convict labor has been and once again is an appealing way for business to address these dilemmas."

The only problem?  The practice is morally bankrupt, and ought to be illegal as well.  What sort of integrity, what degree of empathy, is possessed by someone who is willing to use a position of power to take advantage of those deprived of their rights?  If you or I become dissatisfied with working conditions, we at least have the freedom (even under the financial pressure of the recession) to quit and find another job.  Prisoners have no such freedom.

But then, Wall Street and corporate America have clearly demonstrated over the past thirty years that they have no qualms (and certainly no moral compass) when it comes to enhancing their wealth and power.  The Occupy Movement has it right ~ capitalism has been corrupted beyond recognition.  Our democracy has become an oligarchy, ruled by the wealthy.  As the financial gap between the richest 1% and the rest of us widens, and a paralyzed Congress is bought and paid for by corporations, who will have the courage and independent spirit to step forward and insist on reform?  A few try.  We need more.

One more thing ~ incarceration is the job of government.  Private, for-profit prisons hire poorly-trained security staff, tolerate the abuse of inmates, and should be abolished.  They are one more example of the corruption inherent in outsourcing.

DEBATING THE VALUE OF COLLEGE

Louis Menand in The New Yorker considers the oft-asked student question, "Why do we have to read this book?" ~ stated more broadly as "What is the return on investment in a college education?"  In Live and Learn he suggests two possible justifications for all that work, and all that tuition.  

The first explanation (we'll call it the career model) runs like this ~ "Society needs a mechanism for sorting out its more intelligent members from its less intelligent ones .... Society needs to identify intelligent people early on so that it can funnel them into careers that maximize their talents.  It wants to get the most out of its human resources .... College is, essentially, a four-year intelligence test.  Students have to demonstrate intellectual ability over tie and across a range of subjects.  If they're sloppy or inflexible or obnoxious ~ no matter how smart they might be in the IQ sense ~ these negatives will be picked up in their grades. As an added service, college also sorts people according to aptitude.  It separates the math types from the poetry types.  At the end of the process, graduates get a score, the G.P.A., that professional schools and employers can trust as a measure of intellectual capacity and productive potential.  It's important, therefore, that everyone is taking more or less the same test."

The second explanation (we'll call it the liberal arts model) can be summarized thus ~ "In a society that encourages its members to pursue the career paths that promise the greatest personal or financial rewards, people will, given a choice, learn only what they need to know for success.  They will have no incentive to acquire knowledge and skills important for life as an informed citizen, or as a reflective and culturally literate human being.  College exposes future citizens to material that enlightens and empowers them, whatever careers they end up choosing."

Menand concludes ~ "If you like the first theory, then it doesn't matter which courses students take, or even what is taught in them, as long as they're rigorous enough for the sorting mechanism to do its work.  All that matters is the grades.  If you prefer the second theory, then you might consider grades a useful instrument of positive or negative reinforcement, but the only thing that matters is what students actually learn.  There is stuff that every adult ought to know, and college is the best delivery system for getting that stuff into people's heads."

When science writer Jennifer Ouellette posted the link to the above article in the news feed at Facebook, it generated an insightful conversation thread discussing students' reluctance to learn.  I'd love to copy-and-paste the thread here, but will not out of respect for the participants' privacy.  So I'll content myself with exerpts from a few of the more astute responses, most of them by educators ~

• It's not about their investment, it's just whining about having to do the work.
• The problem is that the whining, combined with other changes in the system in the last decade or two, has contributed to a huge reduction in what students need to learn in order to earn that degree.  At least half of my students were totally and completely wasting their time and money in college.  A lot of them could not even put a sentence together, but managed to get into upper-division coursework by memorizing bullet points and recognizing terms on multiple-choice tests.  99% of them graduate.
• My sister-in-law is a teacher and before she starts anything she tells them 'This is why I am teaching you this.'  And then explains WHY recognizing irony is important.  They still bitch.
• I blame it on 12 years of teaching to the test.  By the time I get them in their freshman year of college, they have only learned to regurgitate and that's what they think learning is.  I sometimes despair that the critical thinking window may have already closed by the time I get them.  And if they don't understand the connection between learning and grades, it's because of what they've experienced for the first 12 years of education.
• I think it's a perfect storm ~ narcissism, teaching to the test, consumer culture.
• I try to hold my husband up as an example of why [learning for the future is important].  He hated math and earned a BFA at a college of art and design.  But now he designs sets and decor with giant trusses and structures.  He has to do floor plans.  He has to do math.  He has to know that A squared + B squared = C squared.
• I fully identify with the 'regurgitation vs. critical thinking' remarks above.  When I taught high school, one summer I was asked to evaluate students' math skills.  So I had them take a batter of (you guessed it) standardized tests.  You wouldn't believe how often a student whined, 'Algebra?  But I already TOOK algebra' .... while unable to solve the simplest problems.  They 'took' it, but they didn't learn it.

I do believe that we've dumbed down public education to the point where many young people cannot perform basic math without a calculator, and cannot construct or speak a coherent sentence.  In doing so, we've betrayed an entire generation of children, and our own nation's standing in the world.  We should be raising standards for both students and for teachers.  I'm also persuaded that both the 'career' and the 'liberal arts' models described above may have validity, but between the two models it is the latter which is the most persuasive, and the most important in a rapidly evolving world.  There are few goals more compelling than becoming "an informed citizen, a reflective and culturally literate human being."  Learning to think critically, to question assumptions, is essential whether you are a scientist testing a hypothesis, a musician interpreting a score, or a voter at the polls.  Enlightenment is priceless.

Alexander Pope once wrote, "A little learning is a dangerous thing.  Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.  There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."  He meant that a small amount of knowledge can mislead people into thinking that they are more expert than they really are.  Which is quite true, but one must start somewhere.  I would paraphrase Pope thus, with a dare ~ "A little learning is a dangerous thing.  Go to school.  Learn a little.  Live dangerously."

SECRETS OF THE SUN

Life on Earth would not be possible without the constant flood of energy from our closest star, the Sun.  Yet that same energy would fry us to a cinder if (a) we were not in a safe orbit 93 million miles away, and (b) Earth were not protected by a magnetic field which deflects nearly all the Sun's harmful radiation from the planet's surface.  Our sun is a nuclear fusion furnace, with a surface temperature of around 10,000 degrees Farenheit (dF), and a core temperature of 27,000,000 dF.  It is so massive that it accounts for 99.86% of the total mass of the solar system.  If you were to line up 109 Earths in a row, you would have the diameter of the sun.  Its surface area is 12,000 times that of Earth, and its volume is 1,300,000 times the volume of Earth.  All that mass produces a surface gravity 28 times as strong as Earth's.

Until recently we had little understanding of the powerful, complex forces with operate within the Sun.  We understood that energy is transferred by convection, conduction, and radiation, but we did not have a grasp on how that might relate to the Sun's own magnetic field, or to the planet-sized sunspots (see image above - each 'cell' surrounding the darker, hotter sunspot could swallow the state of Alaska) and solar storms which go through an eleven-year cycle of greater or lesser intensity, or to the solar prominences which geyser in graceful arcs hundreds of thousands of miles high.

Thanks to orbiting solar observatories, robotic spacecraft, and powerful computer modeling, our grasp of the Sun's inner workings is starting to clarify.  The PBS series NOVA recently aired a spectacular program entitled Secrets of the Sun.  The visuals are stunning, and the sheer scale of the Sun's interacting layers, currents of plasma, and magnetic field is hypnotic.  The knowledge comes just in time, too.  In the past, the sun has experienced superstorms which penetrated Earth's magnetic field defense ~ but we have not experienced one since the advent of satellite communication, the Internet, global air travel, and a complex power grid.  Understanding how to accurately predict solar superstorms is essential if we are to survive its effects.

CARDIO AND WEIGHTS

In yesterday's post, I discussed the need for most people to reintroduce regular, extended walks into their lives.  Doing so, in conjunction with a healthy diet, provides a maintenance level of physical fitness.  If you are an athlete, an avid hiker in rugged terrain, or otherwise in need of more advanced physical training, you're a likely candidate for membership with a gym which features (at minimum) aerobic equipment like treadmills, stairmasters, stationary bicycles, and elliptical trainers ~ in conjunction with weight-resistance equipment like free weights and a variety of weight-adjustable machines designed to work on specific muscle groups.  If your gym also has a swimming pool, a basketball or handball court, a yoga class, or a sauna, so much the better.

I've been a natural athlete most of my life, though I was well into adulthood before I believed it.  In my mid- to late-thirties, while a student at the University of Arizona, I was doing shorin-ryu karate workouts and weight workouts daily.  During the summer I was a lifeguard at the university's family housing swimming pool.  At the time (mid-1980s), no one was shy about mixing cardiovascular (aerobic) training and weight training on the same day.

In recent years, according to a NYTimes article, there are those who advocate separation ~ cardio one day, weights the next.  Why?  Because some "coaches and athletic trainers have come to believe that aerobic exercise, if practiced in close proximity to strength training, reduces the ability of muscles to strengthen and grow.  Conversely, many content that weight training performed on the same day as aerobic exercises blunts the endurance training response."

However, most of the discussion has been anecdotal, with little scientific evidence supporting or challenging the existence of interference.  Until now.  Studies in Sweden and Canada (with only men as subjects, a glaring omission) have concluded that there is no evidence of either mode of training interfering with the other, whether performed on alternating days or on the same day.  Little or no difference in the genetic or biochemical responses within muscles was found.  According to the Times, "These findings are important for serious competitive athletes who are designing serious, complicated training regimens.  But they also have implications for those of us who've been, until now, ignorant of the possible existence of exercise antagonism.  We can, it seems, remain blissfully unconcerned .... Best of all, [one study] suggests that you can potentially do less of each form of exercise when you combine them, and still gain considerable benefits."

Whether you're a serious athlete or someone who simply wishes to become fit and toned, in my experience moderation is key.  Start at a level of exertion which feels challenging but not painful, and gradually increase the aerobic or weight workout over time.  It's like losing weight ~ if you lose too much too quickly, you're more likely to gain it back.  Just so with exercise ~ if you build up gradually, it will remain rewarding and you'll be more likely to stick with it.  The best reward?  You'll feel better, look better, and live longer.

THAT NOT-SO-DAILY WALK

My friend Bill sent me the link to a four-part series of articles on walking ~ how little we do compared to other countries (or compared to generations past in this country), why that is, and what we can do about it.  It's not news to those living in the U.S. that starting a century ago, walking was increasingly supplanted by automobile travel.  At first cars were an oddity, but it wasn't long before pedestrians became a minority on city streets and country roads.  Civil engineers and city planners now assume that accommodating vehicular traffic is the starting point for any urban, suburban, or even rural design.  "Walking in America has become an act dwelling in the margins, an almost hidden narrative running beneath the main vehicular text .... America is a country that has forgotten how to walk.

"Here are just some of the benefits, physical, cognitive, and otherwise, that [walking] bestows ~ walking six miles a week is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's;  walking can help improve your child's academic performance;  make you smarter;  reduce depression;  lower blood pressure;  even raise one's self-esteem.  And most important, though perhaps least appreciated in the modern age, walking is the only travel mode that gets you from Point A to Point B on your own steam, with no additional equipment or fuel required, from the wobbly threshold of toddlerhood to the wobbly cusp of senility.

"Despite these upsides, in an America enraptured by the cultural prosthesis that is the automobile, walking has become a lost mode, perceived as not a legitimate way to travel but a necessary adjunct to one's car journey, a hobby, or something that people without cars do .... The decline of walking has become a full-blown public health nightmare.

"The United States walks the least of any industrialized nation.  Studies employing pedometers have found that where the average Australian takes 9,695 steps per day (just a few shy of the supposed ideal '10,000 steps' plateau), the average Japanese 7,168, and the average Swiss 9,650, the average American manages only 5,117 steps.

" .... Why do we walk so comparatively little?  The first answer is one that applies virtually everywhere in the modern world ~ as with many forms of physical activity, walking has been engineered out of existence .... why then do Americans walk even less than people in other countries?  Here we need to look not at pedometers, but at the odometer.  We drive more than anyone else in the world .... More time spent driving means less time spent in other activities, including walking.  And part of the reason we are driving more is that we live farther from the places we need to go [schools, work, shopping, friends] .... And since our uncommon commitment to the car is at least in part to blame for the new American inability to put one foot in front of the other, the transportation engineering profession's historical disdain for the pedestrian is all that much more pernicious .... modeling software tends to treat [pedestrians] not as actual actors, but as a mere 'statistical distribution', or as an implicit 'vehicular delay'."

The above quote is from the series part 1, The Crisis in American Walking (how we got off the pedestrian path).  Within each part there are pictorial links to the others ~ part 2, Sidewalk Science (the peculiar habits of the pedestrian, explained), part 3, What's Your Walk Score? (the company that puts a number on walkability), and part 4, Learning to Walk (how American can start walking again).  This is something I definitely want to explore, and act on.  Incidentally, remember that target of 10,000 steps daily mentioned above?  For someone like me with a 2.5-foot stride, that translates to a little more than 4.7 miles' walking per day.  Say, an hour and a half?  That's quite a bit more than the half-an-hour, three-times-per-week target I've seen in some health sources.  But given that fully one-third of Americans (including children) are clinically obese, and another one-third are substantially overweight, 4-5 miles per day doesn't sound like a bad idea.  For those not in shape, it would be wise to start with a mile per day, then each week add a half mile.  That should make the adjustment fairly painless.

With regard to street design, I came across another article which addresses the need for safe pedestrian walkways which don't interrupt with automobile traffic like sidewalks do (and vice versa). It's called Take the Skyway, and describes the efforts in several major metro areas to establish networks of elevated walkways which shelter pedestrians from the elements.  (See the image above of a skyway network in the congested Pudong district of Shanghai, China.  Click to enlarge.)  Some readers may have encountered shorter skyways at major airports, or linking urban office buildings separated by a street, or even at some tourist attractions.  Their history in the U.S. has been one of mixed success, largely because, according to the author, "designers must recognize that they are creating a total environment, one that is very much the antithesis of city streets that promote serendipity and dynamism."  In other words, skyways remove one from the distractions and the movement conflicts of street-level sidewalks.  There's no window shopping up there, and no waiting at intersections ~ just safe, efficient travel on foot.  

I would like to see attractive greenery, landscaping, benches, and effective lighting built into any walkway design, as well as easy access to police or medical assistance in case of emergency.  Whether on the surface or up on a skyway, the experience of walking should be made pleasant, safe, and expedient.

THE FALL OF SAIGON

Gather around, children, and learn how things end when your country becomes needlessly involved in a war whose stated goals (preventing the spread of communism) mask the real goals (securing natural resources like oil and rubber) ~ all the while guaranteeing the loss of the war by using conventional tactics against a guerrilla opponent.  We continue to make that same mistake.

37 years ago yesterday and today, more than 7,000 American civilians and 'at risk' Vietnamese were airlifted from various points in South Vietnam's capitol city, Saigon, to a fleet of U.S. naval ships deployed in the South China Sea off Vung Tau.  The evacuation took place as North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars were appearing in Saigon's suburbs.  Fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters manned by military and CIA pilots struggled to accommodate as many refugees as possible, but time was running out.  One of the enduring images of the evacuation appears above (click to enlarge) ~ a line of CIA station personnel filing to a waiting helicopter perched precariously atop the roof of their apartment building (often mistakenly identified as the U.S. embassy).

The sad and moving story of this complex operation is summed up nicely here.  Incredibly, amid the confusion and gunfire, only four U.S. Marines lost their lives.  Virtually all U.S. combat forces had been withdrawn from in-country by August 1973.  Those who remained protected the U.S. embassy, and maintained advisory liaison with the South Vietnamese army and air force.

Human societies tend to have short memories, and new leaders take advantage of that fact.  I was opposed to the Gulf War, the war in Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan from their inception.  Clearly we weren't being told the whole story.  Subsequent history has confirmed this. Nearly every war since WWII (with the exception of those few in which we sought to end genocide) have been fought to secure local natural resources or territory, shoring up American hegemony in the world.  And all those wars have backfired.  Our standing among the world community hasn't been been lower since the nineteenth century.  We spent (officially) ten bloody years in Vietnam, to no good end.  Ask me ~ I was there.

WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER

Today's post is pure entertainment ~ President Barack Obama's address to the annual White House Correspondents' dinner.  Traditionally the gathering has featured entertainment, including a comedian whose remarks roast the president.  Obama needed no assistance ~ he poked fun at himself, as well as at his Republican opponents.  He also delivered a few serious moments, remembering journalists who had died in the past year while gathering news around the world.  As Obama correctly pointed out, an essential role of journalism lies in informing the people about how well or poorly their government is doing.  The fourth estate ideally helps to keep government transparent, and in doing so becomes a tacit member of the balance of power in Washington.

While I disagree with some of the decisions Obama has made, particularly with regard to war and to conservation, I admire his intellect, his moral compass, and his articulate style.  He can be as focused as a laser when the situation warrants it, or he can flash that Barack grin and charm even those who disagree with him.  Being willing to laugh at oneself ought to be a prerequisite for holding any high office.

WHAT IS SCIENCE?

The word "science" comes from the Latin word scientia, meaning knowledge.  Broadly, it is "a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe."  In classical usage, science referred to the body of reliable knowledge itself.  In modern use, science more often refers to a way of pursuing knowledge, not the knowledge itself.

Why should this be?  After all, isn't knowledge immutable and certain?  As it turns out, often not.  Knowledge evolves over time, as we learn more about the universe, our world, and ourselves.  For instance, we once thought that the Earth was flat, and that it was at the center of the universe, with the other planets, the Sun, and all the stars revolving around it.  We no longer believe those things.  Our knowledge grows with questioning, study, experimentation, drawing conclusions, and further questioning.  The manner in which we pursue and refine knowledge, the scientific method, provides the framework within which we reliably (subject to further testing) trust in our familiarity with facts, information, descriptions, or skills.  Thus the modern emphasis on science as a way of pursuing knowledge.

And yet, being a voyage of discovery involving intuition and curiosity, science is not limited to cold calculations or mathematical precision.  Science and art overlap (see illustration above, click to enlarge) precisely in the realm of wonder.  And it is in this realm where scientists themselves offer the most fulsome descriptions of their life's work.  Here are a few examples ~

• "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious ~ the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science." ~ Albert Einstein
• "Science teaches the value of rational thought as well as the importance of freedom of thought, the positive results that come from doubting that the lessons are all true." ~ Richard Feynman
• "Real science is a revision in progress, always.  It proceeds in fits and starts of ignorance." ~ Stuart Firestein
• "The scientist is not the person who gives the right answers, he's the one who asks the right questions."  ~ Claude Levi-Strausse
• "Science is an inherent contradiction - systematic wonder - applied to the natural world."  ~ Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon
• "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge." ~ Carl Sagan
• "All of science is uncertain and subject to revision.  The glory of science is to imagine more than we can prove." ~ Freeman Dyson
• "One thing I have learned in a long life ~ that all of our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike ~ and yet it is the most precious thing we have." ~ Albert Einstein
• "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.  Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." ~ Marie Curie
• "Being a scientist requires having faith in uncertainty, finding pleasure in mystery, and learning to cultivate doubt.  There is no surer way to screw up an experiment than to be certain of its outcome." ~ Stuart Firestein
• "The heart of the scientific method is the reduction of perceived phenomena to fundamental, testable principles.  The elegance, we may fairly say the beauty, of any particular scientific generalization is measured by its simplicity relative to the number of phenomena it can explain." ~ E.O. Wilson
• "Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers of the preceding generation." ~ Richard Feynman

The above observations come from Maria Popova's What is Science?  An Omnibus of Definitions.  My thanks to her for publishing the collection.  You can find more by clicking on the link.

So science combines the best of discipline and wonder, rigor and joy, precision and uncertainty.  A core tent in science is that any hypothesis, theory, or law must be falsifiable.  That is, if evidence is discovered which disproves an explanation for an observed phenomenon, then the explanation can no longer be regarded as universally true.  In science, we can disprove statements, but we cannot prove them, because we are operating limited by our best understanding at the present moment.  And as we've established, understanding evolves.  Paradoxically, this is what differentiates science from myths, superstitions, religions, and folk traditions, which rely on a leap of faith unsupported by evidence.  Repeated examination, questioning, testing, and confirmation allow us to believe with confidence that gravity, evolution, and microbes exist.  Until someone disproves their existence.

IMPROVING BRAIN FUNCTION

As I've grown older, I notice that I sometimes have to struggle to recall a name, or a particular word.  Sometimes at home I'll walk from one room to the next, then forget what I was going to do there.  A decline in the brain's memory function is something that most of us experience.  But it need not be inevitable.  A report in the journal Neuroscience finds that "Education [alone] won't save your brain.  PhDs are as likely as high school dropouts to experience memory loss with old age.  Don't count on your job, either.  Those with a complex or demanding career may enjoy a limited advantage, but those benefits quickly dwindle after retirement.

"Engagement is the secret to success.  Those who are socially, mentally, and physically stimulated reliably show better cognitive performance with a brain that appears younger than its years .... Older people also continue to accumulate knowledge and to use what they know effectively, often to very old ages."

So there is hope for us all.  Engagement, stimulation.  I read voraciously, do crossword puzzles, play chess and Scrabble, and compose daily blog posts.  However, I'm not as socially engaged as many people, nor do I get as much exercise as I would like.  My goals are thus clear.

Here's something else to think about.  Brandon Keim in Wired Science writes that "To judge a risk more clearly, it may help to consider it in a foreign language.  A series of experiments on more than 300 people from the U.S. and Korea found that thinking in a second language reduced deep-seated, misleading biases that unduly influence how risks and benefits are perceived .... Psychologists say human reasoning is shaped by two distinct modes of thought, one that's systematic, analytical and cognition-intensive, and another that's fast, unconscious and emotionally charged .... it's plausible that communicating in a learned language forces people to be deliberate, reducing th role of potentially unreliable instinct.  Research also shows that immediate emotional reactions to emotively charged words are muted in non-native languages, further hinting at deliberation."

This ties in neatly with the first report, since learning and using a second (or third, or fourth) language stimulates our cognitive abilites.  Those people I know who are bilingual or trilingual tend to be more influenced by reason, and less by instinct.  Intuition is still valuable, I believe, but only if it is informed by fact and by diverse experience ~ the more, the better.

Here is a link to a website called Luminosity, which claims to "improve your brain health and performance" with a training program to enhance memory and attention.  I have not yet tried it, so I cannot attest to its effectiveness.  But it seems to me that we have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Adios por ahora, y buena suerte.

PUTTING CIVILITY TO THE TEST

The other day I wrote a post on logical fallacies, noting that if more people applied logical reasoning and mutual respect when entering into debates over political, economic, or religious issues, we would be more likely to arrive at a middle ground where workable solutions can be devised.  In today's polarized, rigid climate, that middle ground can be elusive.

Here is a perfect example of a volatile issue which tends to push people into opposing, black-or-white opinions ~ wilderness.  Half a century ago when I was growing up in northern Montana, the debate over wilderness had not coalesced. My rural boyhood included many Boy Scout camping trips into the nearby Rocky Mountains, and many family visits to Glacier National Park.  For anyone to suggest back then that wilderness has limited value, would have been inconceivable.  I felt completely at home in the natural world, and held the wildlife which lived there in high regard.  There is no more healing, more nurturing place.

It wasn't until I grew up that I became aware of the pressures being exerted upon wilderness from many vested interests ~ the mining, agriculture, grazing and timber industries, along with human expansion into former wilderness areas, along with our contamination of the air, water, and land with pesticides, noxious gases, industrial and human waste.  The picture became more grim with each passing year.

Thankfully I wasn't the only one who loved and wished to protect wilderness.  Conservation and environmental groups formed, with tactics ranging from working within the system to effect protection, to working outside the system to obstruct "development".  (This same duality existed in the civil rights and women's movements, and I'm convinced that both approaches are necessary.)  In recent decades, as human population has continued its inexorable expansion, the battle lines have become distinct and vocal, sometimes violent.  As species have been pushed to extinction and entire ecosystems have disappeared, even non-conservationists have begun to wonder what we've done to our garden planet ~ especially now that predictions of anthropogenic global warming and climate change are clearly coming true.

I recently discovered a video in which each side in the wilderness controversy eloquently presents its case.  In Wilderness:  the Great Debate, those who see wilderness as a treasure to be preserved square off with those who see wilderness as a resource to be exploited.  It is a highly informative journey.  As you might predict, I am foursquare on the side of preservation.  On the other hand, I grew up steeped in the land use ethos of the West, so I can understand the point of view of those who fear outsiders' intervention into their lives.  (What many locals fail to recognize or admit is that wilderness does not belong to whomever lives closest ~ it belongs to everyone, including those who may never in their lives experience it.  More to the point, wilderness and wildlife have a right to exist for their own sake.)

We need more voices of moderation to bridge the gap.  Each camp feels that right (or more precisely, righteousness) is on its side.  But often valuable information is simply missing from the debate ~ information which could lead both points of view to realize that they share more commonality than differences.  For example, the shrinking timber industry longs for the good old days of clearcutting, unfettered access to old-growth forest, and the support of the agencies which are supposed to regulate forest activity.  But half a century ago, the lumber produced was being used for home construction within the U.S.  These days, much of that lumber is being loaded onto ships and sent to other nations.  We are, in effect, giving away our wilderness to people who live halfway around the globe.

Granted, we live in a global economy.  That is simply reality.  But when it comes to wilderness and wildlife (whether in the U.S., or in Botswana, or in Costa Rica), once it's gone, recovery takes many decades ~ assuming that the native flora and fauna survive in sufficient numbers to re-establish themselves.  So wilderness is a special case, and requires careful handling and thoughtful discussion.  The film link is a good start, but only a start.  And time is running out.

REMOVING THE DAMS

From Wikipedia ~ "Dam removal is the process of removing out-dated, dangerous, or ecologically damaging dams from river systems.  There are thousands of out-dated dams in the United States that were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as many more recent ones that have caused such great ecological damage that they are proposed for removal.  Catastrophic dam failures .... remind people of the dangers dams can present.

"Many of the dams in the eastern US were built for water diversion, agriculture, factory watermills, and other purposes that are no longer useful.  Because of the age of these dams, over time the risk for catastrophic failure increases.  In addition, many of these dams block anadromous fish runs, such as Atlantic salmon, and prevent important sediments from reaching estuaries.

"Many dams in the western US were built for agricultural water diversion in the arid country, with hydroelectric power generation being a significant side benefit .... Dams in the Pacific Northwest and California block passage for anadromous fish species such as Pacific Salmon and Steelhead .... In the Desert Southwest, dams can change the nature of the river ecosystem.  In the particular case of the Glen Canyon Dam, the originally warm, sediment-filled, muddy water instead turns cold and clear through the Grand Canyon, which has significant impacts on the downstream ecosystems .... So much water is taken out of the Colorado River for agriculture, urban use, and evaporation behind the dams, that the river no longer flows into the Gulf of California.

"While the need for clean, alternative energy sources is important, with so many considerations involved, sometimes it makes sense to evaluate whether the benefits of dams outweigh the costs of safety concerns, ecosystem functions, and management expenses."

In response to ecological, safety, and economic concerns, a number of dam removal projects have been completed in the United States, among them two dams on the Elwha River (see embedded video) in Washington state.  Additionally, along with many smaller dams, several large dams are under consideration for removal, including (significantly) Glen Canyon Dam.  GCD has been a touchstone in the environmental movement since it was completed in 1966.  Tracts have been written and public protests staged, urging its removal.  The Southwestern writer Edward Abbey was among the most vocal of the dam's opponents.  Over the years he made numerous suggestions, only half tongue-in-cheek, for eco-sabotaging the Dam.  Again according to Wikipedia, "The 710 ft (220 m) Glen Canyon Dam (see image above, click to enlarge) has been proposed for removal because of the negative effects it ha on the water quality and riparian habitat of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National park.  In addition, the reservoir impounded behind it, Lake Powell, has filled all of the canyons for up to 100 miles (160 km) above the dam.  This lake, while providing recreational opportunities, has eliminated .... habitat for endangered Colorado River fish species.  If it were to be removed, it would dwarf any dam removal project in history."

There are those voices who will ask "What about all that hydroelectricity?  What about irrigation water for agriculture?"  To which I would suggest that it is precisely our assumption that we can interfere with natural conditions which has created so many disasters in the first place.  And not just disasters which impact nature.  Think about the Mississippi River levee system constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  The intent was flood control, but intent has not equated with effect.  Flooding, like wildfires, is a natural process in which river channels are scoured of sediment, which is carried laterally to enrich soil in the watershed, and also downstream to form fertile estuaries and natural barrier islands.  When they stand, levees channel an unnatural volume of water into a restricted space during flood season (runoff from spring snow melt upstream), increasing the risk of levee failure downstream.  Communities which have grown behind the ephemeral protection of the levees are suddenly at great risk of being flooded out when the levees fail.  And the sediment which would normally have been deposited annually at the Mississippi estuary on the Gulf of Mexico, is carried out to sea by the force of the restricted water.  As a result the estuary's wildlife habitat (and the storm erosion protection it afforded to inland areas) is shrinking year by year, reclaimed by the sea.

Nor is flood risk limited to spring runoff.  The failure of Mississippi River levees during Hurricane Katrina was a core cause of the catastrophic flooding which wiped out entire neighborhoods in New Orleans in 2005.

The point is, when we consider placement of a home, a farm, or a city, it only makes sense to take into account local conditions.  Building homes on a floodplain, even in areas which may flood once every 500 years, is foolish.  Equally foolish is trying to farm or ranch in arid regions, unless the water table is close enough to the surface to provide sufficient well water for survival.  It's called thinking ahead, something we humans do far too little.  I'm encouraged that on at least a few fronts like dam removal, more rational minds are making an effort to repair the inestimable damage we've caused to the natural world, and to ourselves.

THE PROBLEM WITH SITTING UP

At work about six years ago, I incurred a herniated disc (see cross-section image above, click to enlarge ~ a normal disc, shaded in blue, is at left, a herniated disk at right).  I was a professional driver at the time (one of a long and colorful string of jobs I've held over the years).  One of the company's vehicles had a defective driver's seat, with a poorly-padded transverse metal bar meeting the lumber region of my spine.  Over time, two repetitive motions (spinal compaction from road bumps, and concussion from the metal bar) resulted in a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of the intravertebral disc at L3-L4, allowing the soft, central portion of the disc to protrude past the ring's protection and press against the nerves in the spinal cord.  The result is debilitating pain.

My pain doc tried a number of therapies ~ epidural injection, TENS therapy, facet injections, along with assorted low-grade prescription pain medications.  None was effective in eliminating the pain, or even reducing it for more than an hour or two.  A psychological evaluation concluded that I was a stable candidate for opioid meds, but ultimately I decided I didn't want any treatment which carried the risk of addiction.

Ironically, the injury isn't physically severe enough to warrant surgery to fuse the two vertebrae adjacent to the herniation ~ an operation with only a 50/50 success rate anyway.  Long story short, the injury (in conjunction with a couple of other work-related injuries) forced me to take early retirement on disability.  This has meant learning to live on minimal income, but more importantly it has meant learning to live with 24/7 pain.  I do daily physical therapy (PT) to strengthen the muscles adjacent to each injury plus my core muscles .... as well as to keep my body as supple as possible.  The only pain meds I take are an elevated dose of ibuprofen as needed, plus, as a result of qualifying for a medical marijuana card, a measured dose of marijuana tincture at night to help me sleep (there's no high or other side effect with tincture, just pain relief).

I face chronic pain for the rest of my life.  PT is a life saver.  But the bottom line is that I cannot remain in one position ~ standing, sitting, or lying down ~ for very long without the pain forcing me to shift positions.  Nor can I engage in an activity which approximates the posture or the movements in which I was first injured.  Long drives leave me in agony.  Kayaking, bicycling, motorcycling, long hikes, all the recreation on which I once thrived, are no longer possible.  Doing simple housework can be a strain.  Even sitting at the computer for long periods becomes untenable, and I'm forced to take frequent breaks.

Today's post is necessarily brief, because my back is in unusual pain.  Tomorrow should be better.  I definitely don't like dwelling on my infirmities, but I thought the absence of my usual substantive post deserved an explanation.  Tune in again.

DODGY LOGIC

To paraphrase a passage from Firesign Theater, in these days of troubled times, when you can't tell the ACs from the DCs .... wouldn't it be great if everyone had a linguistic tool to see through phony positions, ephemeral evidence, and self-serving snow jobs?  Well, we do ~ it's called logic, by which I mean more than common sense.  Formally, logic is the philosophical study of valid reasoning .... it examines the general forms which arguments may take, which forms are valid, and which are fallacies.

I once took a logic course in college, and it was a challenge.  In some instances it was useful to construct a flow of symbols resembling a mathematical equation, in order to decide whether one or more fallacies were present.  The material learned is extremely helpful when trying to decipher and counter statements made by opportunistic politicians, religious fundamentalists, or anyone else trying to recruit you to their point of view.  If they can do so by appealing to logic, great.  If they must resort to fallacy, not so much.

Thankfully, most of us don't have to spend an entire semester in a logic class to learn a few fundamentals.  The Wikipedia entry here provides a few basics.  Even more intuitive is a website  called Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies.  On the home page, simply roll your cursor over any of 24 icons, and beneath a definition of that logical fallacy will appear.  For a more thorough explanation with examples, click on the icon.

Here are a few fallacy example teasers ~

• Appeal to emotion ~ manipulating an emotional response in place of a valid or compelling argument
• Ad hominem ~ attacking your opponent's character or personal traits instead of engaging with their argument
• Personal incredulity ~ saying that because one finds something difficult to understand, it's therefore not true
• Loaded question ~ asking a question that has an assumption built into it so that it can't be answered without appearing guilty
•  Ambiguity ~ using double meanings or ambiguity of language to mislead or misrepresent the truth
• Appeal to authority ~ using the opinion or position of an authority figure in place of an actual argument
• Black-or-white ~ two alternative states are presented as the only possibilities, when in fact more possibilities exist
• Begging the question ~ a circular argument in which the conclusion is included in the premise
• Anecdotal ~ using personal experience or an isolated example instead of a valid argument, especially to dismiss statistics

That's just a sampling.  Learning to recognize logical fallacies is one of the fundamental skills in any complex society, yet few of us do so.  We may sense that something is flawed in a statement, but can't quite put our finger on what the flaw is.  We may even mistakenly believe that certain fallacies are valid, when they are not. Understanding fallacies and being able to point them out are necessary skills in any discussion over a misunderstood or controversial topic.  Naturally, any correction should be done firmly but politely.  Civil discourse has become increasingly rare in the public arena, especially in politics, where parties and positions have become polarized and unyielding.  This divisiveness is a topic for another time, soon.

EARTH DAY 2012

Happy Earth Day 2012 !   Go plant a tree, take a walk, notice the plants, birds, and animals wherever you live, breathe deeply .... and remember how ephemeral life is.  Cheers.  Click on the above image for a better view of Home.

A NEW WORM

In 2011, Mark Bowden published a book called Worm, in which he described the discovery of the Conficker computer worm, which at its peak infected seven million government, business, and home computers in 200 countries.  Through the dedication of a number of university and government computer programmers, Conficker was eventually neutralized, and its creator was identified and held to account.  The book is an excellent read, not only because it defines the computer terminology it uses, but also because the narrative flows like a detective story.  Which it is.  (The image above illustrates the spread of the Conficker worm, showing which computers are most vulnerable ~ click to enlarge.)


Earlier this week, my friend Bill, himself a lifelong programmer, alerted me to the existence of a new threat.  According to an ABC News report, the malware was created by "international hackers [who] ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world.  In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users.  But that system is to be shut down.


"The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, dcwg.org, that will inform them whether they're infected and explain how to fix the problem.  After July 9, infected users won't be able to connect to the Internet.  Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems."


As happened with the Conficker worm, the DNS Changer's creators have been identified and apprehended.  But their malware is still out there.  I visited the security website here, and their diagnostic tool quickly informed me that my computer is infestation-free.  The visit is quick and free, and I highly recommend that all readers check it out, and pass the resource on to everyone you know.  Clearly, not everyone is among the 350,000 whose computer has been infected, but better safe than sorry.