Another Three and One Half Hour Commute

iTunes U to the rescue...



Six inches of snow here in Minneapolis this afternoon made the driving positively glacial.  Fortunately I had plenty of podcasts to keep me company while I whiled away the hours. 

I've been working my way through Professor Terrence Deacon's very nice undergrad course in anthropology posted on iTunes U by UC Berkeley.  Thanks to the 2x button on my iPhone I listened to three lectures in about two hours.

Then I caught up with the rogues at Skeptic's Guide to the Universe.  They were almost as excited about the status of Voyager 1 as I am.

And I listened to a nice panel discussion hosted by Kylie Sturgess of the Token Skeptic podcast.  This episode was a recording of a panel discussion held at Dragon*Con this past September.  This Skeptrack topic was women, feminism, science, and skepticism.

Now it's time to shovel the driveway.

The Grandmother of all Seasonal Holidays

Winter Solstice occurs Tuesday the 21st at 23:38 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)...

photo from Wikimedia Commons

Winter Solstice is the moment the earth's axial tilt (23 degrees 26 minutes) points the furthest away from the Sun. Observed and celebrated since prehistoric times (as the ancient pagan or modern Wiccan holiday Yule, for example), in the northern hemisphere it marks the shortest day and longest night of the year and the official start of winter (thanks, we might not have noticed otherwise).  The Sun will rise and set as far south as it will for another year. There will be no Sunrise north of the Arctic Circle. These effects are reversed in the southern hemisphere. In recorded history Winter Solstice has been an auspicious holiday for many religions , most notably the Christian holiday Christmas, which has celebrated December 25th as the day of their savior's birth since the 4th century.

The Bravest Person in the Room

Was Ginger Littleton, the Panama City school board member who tried to fight back...

This week's hostage drama at the Bay City School Board meeting on Tuesday evening was illustrative in many ways - most of them bad.  There were examples of profound denial, lack of situational awareness, failure to take control of the scene, persons taking inappropriate action, the consequences of inaction, and one case of courageous action.

Clay Duke, the gun-wielding hostage-taker was clearly disordered.  He had a history of violence, criminality, and mental health issues.  His back story will no doubt be done to death, in lurid and ill-considered detail, by a sensation-seeking media in the days and weeks to come.  Perhaps we'll even learn why he still possessed firearms. 

When the board and attendees of the meeting noticed that Duke had a gun there were several reactions.  Some immediately fled the room.  Some immediately "ducked and covered" - within sight of the gunman!  Some remained in their seats, as though awaiting further instructions.  When told by Duke to leave, those remaining stood up, collected their things, lined up, and left the room without so much as a backward glance.

Security Officer Mike Jones, retired cop and former school board member, entered the room early in the incident and asked Duke, "Is that a real gun?"  He left the room "to get more ammo," he explained later.  Jones returned as Clay began shooting and engaged him with pistol fire.  Depending on which story we read, Clay was struck once in the leg or three times in the back.  Clay fell to the floor and shot himself in the head.

Superintendent Bill Husfelt complied with Duke's instructions, excusing the audience and the female members of the Board.  He attempted to negotiate with Clay.  He attempted to trade his life for the release of the others.  He admitted he had signed the paperwork terminating Clay's wife without knowing her, the details of her case, or even what he was signing.  When Duke pointed his gun at Husfelt the superintendent resorted to begging and pleading not to be shot.  When Duke fired two shots Husfelt clutched at his chest and fell from his chair.  He had not been hit, but he collapsed.  Husfelt credits God with saving his life - not Mike Jones.  He apparently does not credit his God with putting him in harm's way in the first place.

One school board member joined in the arguing, pleading, and begging.  He also fell sideways from his chair when the bullets began to fly, looking very much like he'd been shot.  Four other male members of the school board sat in stunned silence throughout the entire incident.

But the most interesting moment in the video - seen only in the long version - is when Ginger Littleton, a school board member who had been granted safe passage by Clay, sneaked back into the room behind him and attempted to knock the gun from his hand with a blow from her large purse.  Her attempt failed.  She was knocked to the floor by Clay, who swore at her, but again let her leave unharmed.  If the male school board members had joined her attack Clay might have been disarmed.  If only she'd had pistol in that purse this crisis might have ended before it got rolling...

Even if you are unarmed there are several ways to deal with an armed hostage taker; you can run, you can summon help, you can hide, you can bar the door, and when all else fails you can fight back, with your bare hands - or your purse - if necessary.  But if you spend your last moments begging for your life you most likely passed up these better options and gave all the decisions to your killer.

A selfless act taken at risk to oneself in service of others is bravery in my book.  Nice try, Ginger!

Voyager 1 Another Step Closer to Interstellar Space

After traveling through our solar system for 33 years the Voyager 1 spacecraft is now passing through the "heliosheath."

The heliosheath is a region surrounding our solar system where the pressure of the solar wind from our Sun is equal to that from interstellar space.  Voyager 1 is currently 10.6 billion miles from our Sun (on Earth we're only 93 million miles from the Sun) and is traveling at 38,000 mph (yeah, that's a little over 10 miles a second).  Light from the Sun takes ten hours to reach Voyager 1.  Launched in 1977, both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are still returning useful scientific information to Earth.  The plutonium-powered radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) will supply enough electricity to operate the instruments and transmitters for another decade or so.  Both carry a copy of the famous golden record containing the sounds of Earth, encoded images, and pictograms, just in case either craft is encountered by others in the interstellar void.  Can't do anything but watch, but this stuff is pretty cool.

UPDATE: 20 June 2011, the news is always surprising at the edge of the solar system.

On Pink Microscopes

Token Skeptic Kylie Sturgess posted a very nice essay on women and science education.

I've asked her if she's posted the text anywhere I can link to it for you.  Until then you can download it from iTunes or as an mp3 here.