Monthly Archives: October 2013

October 21, 2013 · 21:39

Comet ISON Is Coming!

You may have heard that we’re going to get “THE COMET OF THE CENTURY!” (again) this year. I’m not saying that it’s not going to happen — believe me, there’s nothing I would like to see more than a spectacular comet that’s visible to the naked eye for a month, even in the city, with a tail stretching all the way across the sky. But as someone who’s been an amateur astronomer for over forty years, I have a healthy appreciation for just how unpredictable and variable comets can be. ISON may be huge and spectacular, but the odds are that it will be great for amateur astronomers, but only so-so for anyone without at least binoculars.

We get this hype about every ten years, it seems. Kohoutek was supposed to be a spectacular “Christmas Comet” in 1973, but was barely a naked eye object. Does anyone remember Comet Hale-Bopp except as the excuse used by a San Diego suicide cult? (We actually saw Hale-Bopp pretty well, taking a trip out of LA into the mountains to get to a dark sky site.) A lot of the hype seems to be more from the press than from the astronomy community, but that really doesn’t mean anything to the public that just interprets it as “the scientists are crying wolf again”.

ISON started getting hype over a year ago when it was discovered in late September, 2012. At that time it was still a long, long way out from the sun and two factors increased the probability that it might be a bright comet. First, it was likely to be a big chunk of ice instead of a little one since the bigger they are, the further out they are when they get discovered. (The little ones reflect less sunlight, are harder to see, and don’t get spotted until they’re closer.) Secondly, calculations of its orbit indicated that it would get close to the sun and its orbit would make it favorable for viewing from Earth while it was close to the sun.

But there are a ton of variables. It might be more rock than ice underneath an icy shell, and it wouldn’t get bright at all. It might be almost all ice, light and fluffy, and when it got close to the sun it would simply fall apart and evaporate completely. It might just not behave the way we would hope for any one of a hundred different variables that we can’t even determine. Our experience is actually touching and sampling comets is a little bit thin. (Wouldn’t it be great to fix that?)

But we can hope. And we can be prepared. If we get lucky, Comet ISON could be good, great, or stunning.

First, there are a ton of spots on the web that will give you sky charts and information on where to look. My favorite right now is the ISON Atlas website. It has multiple charts and diagrams for every month. (Desktop software for this sort of thing is getting pretty amazing.) But you can also find charts and tracking information at the web sites for Sky & Telescope magazine, Astronomy magazine, or Space.com. Right now, ISON is in the morning sky just before dawn, very near to the planet Mars, in the constellation Leo.

Now that you know where to look, do what you can to get a dark sky. If you can get out away from the lights of the city, fantastic, the further the better. Also, try to pick a night where there’s little or no illumination from the moon. A full moon’s light will wash out all but the brightest stars, so your view of the comet will suffer significantly. You can check a calendar of moon phases here. You can also find sites on the web that have lots of notes on notable observing events, such as when ISON will be very near the M95-M96-M105 trio of galaxies in Leo this Saturday, October 26th.

Looking at the timeline, ISON may be brightening to naked eye visibility in the first week or so of November. (Dark skies!) Getting closer and closer to the sun (and we hope getting brighter and brighter), ISON will be at perihelion (closest approach to the sun) on November 28th at approximately 6PM on the US east coast, 3PM here in Los Angeles. We, of course, won’t be able to see that (since the sun is stupid freakin’ bright) but we have several sun-observing spacecraft that will track it all the way in. And then look for it to come around the other side.

ISON wouldn’t be the first comet to just vanish and never come out on the other side. Nor would it be the first to come out as a dimly visible and rapidly fading cloud of much smaller comet fragments. However, recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories indicate that so far ISON is holding together well and is well within the expected range for size and brightness, even if it is so far a little bit toward the lower end of the expected range in brightness.

comet-ison-photo-670This October 8th picture by Adam Block of the University of Arizona was taken using a 32-inch telescope on Mount Lemmon. (This is not how it looks to the naked eye right now — it’s a long exposure with a big telescope and some really good CCD equipment to suck in a lot of photons. Your eyes are a bit less capable.)

If ISON comes around the sun intact and if it brightens as we hope it will, it should be an excellent object to observe in the evening skies of the Northern Hemisphere in December. (Catch all of those bold and italicized “ifs”?) The comet will be up near the north celestial pole so it should be visible almost all night, in both the evening and morning skies.

Will it be “brighter than the full moon”? Nope, no way. That’s uninformed media hype only.

Will it have colors, even the kind of colors seen above? Nope, not to the naked eye. You may see pictures of it that show some color, but again, they’ll be long exposures with fancy cameras that catch a lot more photons than your eyes. Many photons + long exposures = dim colors (maybe). Few photons + eyeballs only = black and white and faint and dim. Blame the way your eyes were designed. Great for having a wide dynamic range so that you can see the lions in full daylight and also motion in the dim moonlight, lousy for naked eye astronomy.

Will it have a tail visible to the naked eye that stretches halfway across the sky? A qualified “maybe” — if ISON develops well, if you’re at a dark sky site, and if you understand that to the naked eye it’s not going to be a bright and glowing tail, but more like a wispy smoke trail. The tail also won’t be moving or “waving” like a flag fluttering in the breeze, no matter how much it looks like that in the Michael Bay movies. (Hey, he did “Pearl Harbor“??!! Now it all makes sense!!) A time-lapse series of photos over days and weeks might show some of that kind of activity, but you’ll see something that will look like a faint, wide jet contrail illuminated by dim moonlight.

Can you take pictures of it? Sure, even with a simple setup (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) of just a DSLR on a decent tripod you should be able to get nice pictures. Just remember to use manual focus set at infinity, open the lens up as much as possible, and manually bracket a whole series of exposures from about 1/100 second up to 30 seconds (or as much as your camera will allow). Take multiple bracketed sets like that. TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES – digital is cheap! The brighter ISON gets, the less you’ll need any kind of telephoto lens and the more you’ll need a wide angle lens. If the tail is stretching halfway across the sky, you’ll want to catch all of it.

Keep an eye on the news, check the sources mentioned above, and maybe pencil in some free nights that first week in December (when the moon is almost new and the comet is at its brightest) just in case. If you take an advance look at how to get to some dark sky spot out away from the city, so much the better. And keep an eye here, I’m sure I’ll be trying to get some pictures and observations soon, if the late night coastal fog stays away.

Comet ISON is coming! (We hope.)

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space

October 20, 2013 · 21:48

Random Blatherationings for October 20th

How ranty and silly and stupid can we be with a headache tonight? Let’s see. (If you’ve forgotten the rules, they’re here.) Tonight’s three random seed words are “wine”, “trick”, and “limit”.

Wine – OK, first of all, putting this into Google generates an estimated 620,000,000 results. That’s just a bit nuts, no? Anyway, more randomization to cut it down to a more manageable number leads us to the web site for the Napa Valley Wine Train. We’ve never been on this one specifically, but we went on something similar that heads off out of one of the Seattle suburbs a few years ago. It was a fun experience as I remember it, and I don’t doubt that the Napa Valley train is also fun.

What I haven’t ever quite “gotten” is the snooty connoisseur view of wine. I guess it’s like trying to explain rainbows to a blind person. We’ll be generous and allow that the folks who can tell an ’85 Whatchamallit from an ’83 Thingamading blindfolded by smell only just have some superpower that I don’t. On the other hand, it might just be that the emperor has no clothes and the whole wine snootiness thing is bullshit.

Which is not to say that I don’t like wine. A glass here and there, once a month or so at most, works fine for me, as long as it tastes OK. I don’t care about “fruity”, “full-bodied”, “nutty”, “aromatic”, or any of the other thousands and thousands of adjectives that get bandied about. I just like it to not taste like turpentine and give me a bit of a buzz. (As long as I’m not driving. NEVER have a drink and then drive!)

Trick – Aside from the simple dictionary definitions, movie titles, and music albums, apparently filmmakers like the word “trick” in their names. I see “Trick Dog Films“, “Cat Trick Films“, “Trick Pony Films“, and “Dark Trick Films”. This last one has me the most curious, since it doesn’t seem to have a web site (hell, even a simple dude like me has three of them!), just a Facebook page (with almost no traffic), yet seems to be talked about now and then by almost every trade publication in Hollywood.

When I think of Hollywood and tricks, I think of The Magic Castle. It’s a bit hard to get into (you can only get an invite if you’re with a member, and you only get to be a member if you can qualify as a performing magician) but if you ever get the chance, TAKE IT! We’ve been there two or three times (one of Ronnie’s former co-workers is a member) and it’s spectacular. We’ve seen a few of the stage shows there, but the best I’ve ever seen is in one of the close-up magic rooms, where there are only ten or fifteen seats and you’re within arm’s reach of the magician. Even when I saw these tricks that close, I was baffled. An incredible treat!

Limit – Lots of links (millions and millions) to articles about the “debt limit”, many about the mathematical term “limit” used in calculus, but my favorite is the speed limit. I’m a really good driver and have the record to prove it – not a single ticket or moving violation or accident that I caused in over forty years of driving. I’ve gotten two or three parking tickets for expired meters or parking in a marked zone – but no moving violations or tickets for speeding, running a red light or stop sign, reckless driving, drunk driving (see above), texting while driving (ditto!), or any of that. I’ve been rear-ended by someone else three times, each time while I was stopped in traffic or at a red light – but the closest that I’ve ever come to causing an accident was putting a dent in the Long-Suffering Girlfriend’s car in a parking lot at some point before she became the Long-Suffering Wife. (The kids were in the car and laughed their asses off, and still give me grief over this incident, so I have to include it here.)

But the speed limit? One of my pet peeves is people who drive at it in the fast lane. On the Los Angeles freeways, nothing screws up traffic more than some clown doing exactly 65 MPH in the fast lane on a wide open, traffic free freeway, while everyone else is trying to 70, 75, 80…

Even worse, on the I-5 between LA and San Francisco, for over 300 miles it’s two lanes in each direction with tons and tons of traffic. The right lane is full of trucks, doing 55 MPH (or less on hills). In the left lane are the folks in cars who just want to get from place to place. With 300 miles of straight, dry, flat, and BORING in front of us, we just want to make tracks. These folks are usually doing about 80-85 MPH, despite the 70 MPH speed limit. At least, until they get behind the yahoo doing 69.99 MPH because it’s the law.

Who died and put these folks in charge? Who deputized them? Do they not realize the incredible hazard that they represent as one car after another has to try to find a space between the trucks to pull over into the slow lane, gun it, and slip past them? Even the CHP says that they need to move over, and I’ve heard (it might be an urban rumor) that the CHP can and will ticket someone doing this for reckless driving.

I’m not saying that you need to be driving at 90 MPH, 95, 100+! That would be even more dangerous and stupid. But the 65 and 70 MPH speed limits are politically based, not engineering based. (Jerry Ford’s 55 MPH speed limit was even more so – I’m with Sammy Hagar on this one! Especially if I get to wear that jumpsuit…)

As a side note, when I ranted about these guys on Facebook a couple months ago, my brother pointed out that my dad would have been one of those guys, and probably actually WAS one of them. That’s true, he probably would have been. But that’s one point where he and I would have to agree to disagree. Vehemently. Honking and flashing my lights in his rear view mirror.

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Filed under Random Blatherationings

October 19, 2013 · 22:49

Eyes On The Prize

This year, this month, this week — they have all seen more than enough examples of how bad things can get when we refuse to work together, when we focus on our differences and our hatreds.

The government shutdown. Syria. Sexism, harassment, and discrimination in science, business, writing, fandom, and just about every facet of our lives. Maryville & Steubenville.

Let’s pause for a minute and remember what we can do as a people, as a country, as a planet, when we stop being petty, bickering, assholes long enough to communicate and work together.

iss2_sts114_small©-NASA

We built this! For over eleven years, there have been multiple human beings living in space every single day, sometimes as many as thirteen of them at once! They’re doing unprecedented science in microgravity in medicine, materials science, biology, human physiology, and dozens of other fields. And they’re learning how to do the closed-system environmental engineering that can take us further out, to Mars and beyond.

curiosity-177-sol©-NASA/JPL

We built this! We landed a nuclear-powered, laser-shooting, mobile laboratory the size of a freakin’ car on Mars by using a combination heat shield, parachute, and rocket-powered sky crane, and it’s been there driving around and working for over a year with more years ahead of it. (And Opportunity, which landed on Mars on January 24, 2004, is still working there almost ten years later!)

Saturn (Phil Plait)©-Phil Plait

We built this! We have had a robot spacecraft orbiting Saturn since July 1, 2004, taking thousand and thousand of pictures like this one. It’s going strong after over nine years, with another three or four years still ahead of it. It has discovered amazing things on Saturn and on many of Saturn’s moons. Lakes of methane on Titan! Incredible complexity in Saturn’s ring system! Massive thermal vents and plumes flying off into space from the south pole of Encelidus! (You can get the full-sized, high-resolution version of this picture here.)

hubble©-NASA

We built this! There are those who will point to how the Hubble Space Telescope was built with a major flaw – I will point to how that flaw was corrected using a plan developed by thousands of experts on the ground and executed to perfection by spacewalking astronauts under circumstances that were never dreamed of when Hubble was designed. And then we went and upgraded it on orbit again twice and extended its capabilities and vision and lifetime by decades!

space shuttle launch©-NASA

We built this! The Space Shuttle was the most complex flying machine ever conceived. That fact that we took three perfectly functional and capable spacecraft and put them in museums without a replacement ready to go is nothing short of criminal. But the accomplishments of the Space Shuttle fleet (launching satellites, capturing & repairing satellites, a platform for experiments and laboratory missions, a platform for radar mapping of the Earth, docking with Mir, building the ISS, launching and repairing Hubble, and so much more) will not be surpassed soon.

voyager jupiter©-NASA/JPL

We built this! Voyagers I and II, the first human vessels sent beyond the solar system and into interstellar space, but only after giving us our first close-up looks at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

apollo-15©-NASA

We built this! Forty-four years ago, humans walked on the moon. If that doesn’t just really & truly rock your world, you’re not paying attention.

My point is that we have the proven ability to walk like giants when we choose to.

Compare our everyday world to the everyday world of our grandparents. I’m not sure any of my grandparents ever in their life traveled more than fifty miles from where they were born. Today we go to Asia or Europe or Africa for a vacation, or take coast-to-coast road trips without a second thought. Our grandparents were born in a time when most homes didn’t have phones, electricity, or even indoor plumbing. Today we have grade school kids who carry around phones and computers that would be considered black magic by those same grandparents. (Of course, we use them for cat videos and Angry Birds, but that’s a different rant.) The comparisons go on and on and on.

We get to make a choice every day on how we want to spend the limited hours and limited breaths we have in this life. Fundamentally, it all boils down to a binary choice.

Do we want to destroy, hinder, obstruct, and hate?

Or do we want to build, enable, cooperate, and communicate?

C’mon folk, let’s start making better choices!

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Filed under Death Of Common Sense, Space

October 18, 2013 · 21:32

Micro Flash Fiction & Soothing, Calming Pictures

This week Chuck Wendig has been in Australia, so his Flash Fiction Challenge was short and sweet. Write a three-sentence horror story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Mine was posted on his site this morning and it’s gotten some decent feedback, which I appreciate. It is:

The call from her daughter was brief, just a panicked “Mom, he’s” and a truncated scream as the line went dead. The authorities searched for three torturous months, every long day more desperate than the last. A year later she began returning home via UPS, one gift-wrapped organ at a time.

With that, since it seems we’ve all had a rough week between this crisis and that crisis and the couple of crises that I haven’t even mentioned, let’s calm ourselves, look at the pretty flowers, and get ready to have a fun, relaxing weekend.

2009-04-15 Rio Samba Rose small OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA 2009-04-20 Purple & White Flowers small

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Filed under Flowers, Photography, Science Fiction, Writing

October 17, 2013 · 15:04

Unfocused Or Diverse?

Over the last couple of weeks, between the political mess and the Scientific American mess, I’ve been reading a lot of blogs written by other people. One thing that has come from this is something for me to think about.

One of the things that Mariette DiChristina of Scientific American said in her initial tweet about the DN Lee affair was that the article in question was removed because, “The post was not appropriate for this area.” In reading many other blogs from scientists, economists, political pundits, and space/rocket folks, I found that many of them are restricted to the subject matter covered by the author’s area of expertise. Finally, as more and more people have “liked” and commented on my blog and I’ve started reading their blogs in turn, I’ve seen many that have a limited subject matter.

Nothing wrong with that at all. There aren’t any rules here, after all. Every blog is the thing that its creator makes it be. I most certainly haven’t looked at even a small fraction of the blogs out there. But if what I’ve seen is typical of the whole (an assumption which can be debated in the comments below if you wish), the average blog is narrowly focused.

There are notable exceptions, obviously. The two that leap to mind immediately for me are John Scalzi’s “Whatever” and Chuck Wendig’s “Terribleminds“. Given that these are the first two blogs that I started reading on a daily basis, perhaps it’s not a coincidence that “We Love The Stars Too Fondly” also covers a diverse range of subject matter. Or maybe “WLTSTF” is just what it is because that’s what I have to write, and I was drawn to “Whatever” and “Terribleminds” because they’re similar in style to what I wanted to create. Cause and effect could be interchangeable here.

Either way, it is what it is.

I’m sure I have some folks following “We Love The Stars Too Fondly” because of the photography and they just tune out when I publish fiction or political rants. I’m sure some folks want the space and astronomy stuff and couldn’t care less when I put up travel photographs. (Adding additional permutations here is left as an exercise to the student.) The Long-Suffering Wife and my kids are stuck reading it all.

The reason that I’ve been thinking about this since reading so many science-related blogs is that I’m wondering if it’s a good thing or a bad thing to be all over the map like that. The authors of narrowly focused blogs, by nature of limiting their field of view, seem able to speak more passionately and more knowledgeably about their narrow field. On the other hand, I sometimes feel like I’m a butterfly floating from subject to subject, day to day, never really getting too deeply into anything. The classic example of “a mile wide and an inch deep”.

After thinking about it a day or two (and having the question plaguing my brain for an hour or so last night in the middle of the night) I think that I’m comfortable with that.

In my professional career I fit in best in a position and a company where there was a strong “jack of all trades” component to my daily routine. (It might be best if I can find another position with more of that.) That’s where my interests are personally and how I pursue things in the world.

My favorite music comes from all genres, from classical to rock to punk to country. My reading tends to be varied as well, although I do read proportionately more science fiction and fantasy than mysteries, classics, non-fiction, or biographies. My favorite movies come from all kinds of genres. A lightweight, modern day, Renaissance man of sorts.

“We Love The Stars Too Fondly” is an expression of my interests and passions. Upon review, the short version of “my interests and passions” equates to “a mile wide and an inch deep”.

I hope everyone reading this enjoys the ride — or at least can just ignore the things that they couldn’t care less about in order to get to the things that we share a passion for.

I and “We Love The Stars Too Fondly” are not “unfocused”.

We’re “diverse”.

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Filed under Writing

October 16, 2013 · 18:47

It’s A Long Way To Irvine

About seventy-two miles each way, to be exact. At rush hour, through the teeth of the 101/405 interchange and up over the hill through the Sepulveda Pass construction zone. My first thought was that the “fun” value for the experience could definitely use some improvements. At least I had some good tunes to sooth my brain. (“Return Of The King” soundtrack. Tasty!)

The writer’s group made it all worth while. I think this may be a very good thing, as long as the commute doesn’t get too onerous.

But it does make for a long day, with lots of other stuff to get caught up on once I get home. And I should eat, I guess. As well as keeping an eye on the government to make sure they don’t do something even more stupid. Or, at the least, know about it when they do. (Eternal optimism can be a real pain in the ass some times.)

So have a before & after pair of pictures:

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Filed under Flowers, Photography, Politics, Writing

October 15, 2013 · 21:46

Busy Again

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand all of a sudden it’s feeling crazy busy for a few days.

I’m rapidly getting much more involved with my local Commemorative Air Force wing, about which you will no doubt hear much in the future.

IMG_7207_smallThe CAF logo on the tail of our B-29, “Fifi”, when she visited Camarillo in March, 2013.

Also, tonight was the first night of this semester’s “Conversational Spanish II”. Only one night a week, six weeks, no tests, no credits, but a good way to at least get exposed to some fundamentals and be able to ask where the bathroom is and, more importantly, probably understand the answer. Plus, it’s a special treat to take the class with The Long-Suffering Wife. We’re a cute couple. (A couple of what, we don’t know! Thanks, I’ll be here all week. Tip your waitress. Try the veal.)

Tomorrow I’m visiting a writer’s group which I may be invited to join for their weekly meetings. That would be a great opportunity, although it’s a good two hours drive (in Irvine) each way. But it could get me out of the house and off the streets in addition to getting some valuable personal feedback on my writing, as well as some insight into the processes that others use. It will be great! Assume y’all will be hearing more about that.

Now I have to get back to work.

Plus I have my “normal” daily writing to get to. Oh, yeah, and that whole job search thing. That’s kinda important too.

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Filed under Flying, Job Hunt, Photography, Writing

October 14, 2013 · 22:13

Quick Updates re: Scientific American Kerfuffle

Just in case anyone is following this blog in order to keep up to date:

From earlier today, Isis the Scientist has a third article on the situation. (She posted the first article that brought Dr Lee’s article deletion to light, as well as a follow up article on Saturday.) Some of the points she brings up have been addressed by events later today (see next) and her tone is angry and caustic, but I think she still has some valid points to make regarding how women and POC are marginalized.

Biology-Online.org has terminated their relationship with their employee who initiated this whole chain of events with his inappropriate comments. Science, politics, banking, plumbing, babysitting – it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, that kind of language and treatment of a customer-client-associate is unprofessional and unforgivable.

Scientific American this afternoon re-posted the original article by DNLee which had been deleted on Friday afternoon. This is a very good thing.

Finally, another Scientific American blogger, Scott Huler, has a well written and insightful article about why certain things were done the way they were by Scientific American, as well as how these things turn into a mess quickly with today’s need for instant answers. (Lawyers! Bloggers!)

It’s progress, and I’m glad to see it.

 

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Filed under Death Of Common Sense, Moral Outrage

October 14, 2013 · 11:47

Odds & Sods For Monday, October 14th

Item The First: The raccoons have (I hope) been evicted! Last week’s windstorm caused some minor damage on the roof. While making those repairs, I checked out the “hidey-hole” that the raccoons have been using for an occasional home for the last year or so. I hadn’t heard them in a couple of days so maybe they were off causing problems at someone else’s house. On close inspection, the hidey-hole was found to be vacant, so I nailed up some screening over the opening again. (Don’t worry, I checked, double checked, and triple checked. There aren’t any raccoons or raccoon babies in there to be trapped and starving to death.)

photo 2 smallThey can still eat our oranges and dates and run around on the roof and in our trees, but they can’t live under our roof.

Assuming they’re not clever and/or strong enough to simply pry the screen off…

Item The Second: On my mother’s side, I come from a family of practical jokers. Nothing malicious mind you, just enough to keep you on your toes every now and then. (Other stories, other days.) On the other hand, The Long-Suffering Wife doesn’t much cotton to that sort of nonsense.

We recently had need to buy a new washer and dryer set and it got delivered and set up while The Long-Suffering Wife was out of town. It occurred to me that this was an ideal setup for a most wonderful prank! Since we had gotten machines with lots of new bells and whistles, I needed to sneak into the laundry room before she could after every load was finished in the dryer. If I fold everything and then put it stacked neatly back into the machine, maybe I could convince her that this was a new automatic setting on the fancy, schmancy dryer!

photo 1 smallDiscretion (and a desire to not sleep on the proverbial couch) was the better part of valor, so I did not pull this trick on my lovely wife. I did tell her about it, but while I was giggling and enjoying the story, she was not amused, so I guess I had made the correct choice. This weekend, having let her in on the joke, I did go in and do it for one load, but got only a, “Cute, dear!”

Proof that I’m easily amused. But we knew that.

Item The Third: Following up on my posts from Saturday and Sunday, Biology-Online.org has responded to Dr. Lee with an apology. It appears to be earnest and sincere. Good for them!

In addition, as a subscriber to Scientific American I receive a slew of their email newsletters, such as “Scientific American Daily Digest”, “Scientific American Basic Science”, “Scientific American Space & Physics”, and “Scientific American Weekly Review”. I find these extremely useful and valuable for keeping me up to date on what’s going on in the sciences, as wells as providing easy links to the full length stories. Since many of the Scientific American blogs are included in the stories featured in these newsletters, I was wondering if anything regarding this weekend’s events would be mentioned there.

I wa pleased to see that his morning’s newsletter includes a link to yesterday’s blog post from Mariette DiChristina. Transparency, openness, and communication are all really good things.

Item The Fourth: With yesterday’s win over the Hated Raiders of Oakland, my beloved KC Chiefs are now one of just two undefeated NFL teams at 6-0. This is a source of considerable joy and happiness in our household, so for that I would like to thank the entire KC Chiefs organization. In these trying times, it may be simple escapism, but it’s not meaningless. As for the future, our next three games are against teams that are at or below .500, then we have our bye week. Dare we hope that we can go into that ninth game against Denver (the other team currently 6-0) at 9-0, quite possibly facing another 9-0 team?

One game at a time. But it’s great being a Chiefs fan this year.

Item The Fifth: Since the last couple of weeks seem to have had a lot of stress, let’s start the new week with some role models for breathing, relaxing, prioritizing, and keeping things in the proper perspective.

photo 4 smallJesse, asleep under my desk.

photo 3 smallJoey, asleep in her sunny bay window next to my desk.

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Filed under Cats, Critters, Dogs, KC Chiefs, Moral Outrage, Odds & Sods, Photography, Sports

October 13, 2013 · 20:51

Scientific American’s Damage Control

Scientific American has issued a lengthy response to the events which I wrote about yesterday. I’m not very satisfied with it, but it does indicate pretty clearly that Scientific American understands that they have a problem. There are commitments to further reporting on “the issues that are faced by women in science and women of color in science.”  That is commendable and should be encouraged to the fullest extent possible.

On the other hand, the majority of the article seems to be devoted to what I call “CYA” verbiage. Dr. Lee’s original post was deleted because the editors were concerned about potential legal issues. Dr. Lee’s article “alleged a personal experience” and on short notice the editors were unable to “verify the facts of the blog post”. They couldn’t communicate with Dr. Lee in advance of deleting her article because it was Friday before a long weekend. (Cell phones? Email? Text messages? Skype? Land lines?) The initial Twitter response to the controversy was handled poorly because of dying batteries on someone’s cell phone. (Really? I can recommend some really great external battery products that I’ve used for years, no rocket science involved.)

They “regret”. They “recognize”. They “commit”. They “are investigating”. We, on the other hand, have “concerns, misunderstandings, and ill feelings”.

Notice what’s missing here. Nowhere does Ms. DiChristina ever even come close to admitting that she and/or the other Scientific American editors were wrong when it comes to the big picture. There were procedural problems and mistakes made that made them look bad – but they’re not admitting they were wrong.

In addition, nowhere is there anything that even comes close to being an apology to Dr. Lee. Again, there are regrets about the way that it was handled (it made them look bad), but there’s no apology. Apparently there’s nothing to apologize for — at least in their minds.

I came away from reading the article feeling like I had just been lectured by a sanctimonious Republican CongressCritter. There’s a condescending, “you just don’t understand” tone to the response that isn’t doing anything to make me feel better about Scientific American.

I “recognize” that I’m not buying it. I “regret” that I don’t have any trust or respect for Scientific American at the moment.

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Filed under Freakin' Idiots!, Moral Outrage