Although I often get called to report for jury duty, this week was the first time I have been selected to serve. Usually they are not interested in me; search Jury Duty on this site for possible reasons. This time I was selected even though I wore a button that said Wage Peace next to the button that said Juror and had indicated on a questionnaire that I could not promise to follow the judge’s instructions. My thinking on this issue is that I would have to follow my conscience first, if there were a conflict between conscience and the law. I am pleased that I was found suitable for jury duty. Things might have been different in a murder trial, because I cannot support capital punishment. It is appropriate to remove from society people who are a danger to others, but I wish to leave open the possibility of rehabilitation. The trial lasted four days, and to learn about the trial itself, read… (more…)
April 10, 2010
April 9, 2010
Why I love/hate Wright’s Fallingwater
It’s a fascinating structure, folks fawn over it, but there is a dark side.
April 5, 2010
Whither higher education?
I’ve spend the last three hours reading education articles in the NYTimes, Chronicle of Higher Education, and related links. Let me relate this to my own institution. We are tuition driven, and without sufficient paying students, Villanova as you know it would not exist. Villanova has some excellent humanities programs. If you can afford them, and you love learning, they are wonderful and worth every penny. If you have limited funds and (more…)
April 3, 2010
Easter Anniversary of MLKing’s speech at Riverside Church, NYC.
On April 4 1967 at Riverside Church, MLKing delivered Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. This was a moment of great moral courage. History now honors the man but not the message (something similar to Christianity going on here?). The speech was not just about Vietnam, but called for changes to insure a world with true peace and justice for all BEYOND Vietnam. Exactly one year later, he was killed. I have no doubt that the majority of Americans, although shocked at his death, were also relieved. At that time many Americans felt the need for a black American hero (to counter all the white ones), a black who was non-violent (to counter societal fears), but did not want to hear what he said would be required for a world with peace and justice. Denial of his message seems to be as true today as then. Happy Easter.
March 20, 2010
Historians’ fact sheet about atomic bombing of Japan.
At the time of the public exhibit of the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima), a substantial number of respected historians sent a letter to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution objecting to the bias inherent in the exhibit. Their letter is one of the best statements of some historical facts (see their reference list) that support that there was no military rationale for using atomic weapons on Japan. Please read the letter (click the Comment) and evaluate the situation for yourself, in light of this informaton.
March 18, 2010
Was Andrew Carnegie, philanthropist, a “nice” man?
Was Andrew Carnegie, philanthropist, a “nice” man? He had some progressive views, gave away much of his enormous fortune, was very bright and hard working, and died a rich man. The crucial fact is that he was responsible for putting Henry Frick in charge of his Carnegie Steel, and Frick was definitely NOT a “nice” man. But Carnegie knew what he was doing, because now the appalling business practices that profited Carnegie Steel could be attributed to his underling, while he could be seen to soften some of the worst edicts of his Chairman. This approach may favor the financial bottom line, but the ethical bottom line is quite another story. Andrew Carnegie was NOT the “nice” man that he either pretended or imagined himself to be, but a sanctimonious hypocrite of perhaps the worst kind.
March 17, 2010
Student suicides in academe (NYTimes 3/17/10))
My published comment (#253) in response to this article on an apparent spate of suicides at Cornell is attached as a Comment. Many of the other comments related to the rigor of academic programs and the time that faculty spend with students. My response to this is as follows:
No one is super-human; we all face limits on our time and abilities. Research requires a lot of faculty time, and where universities particularly reward research, there will be reduced time for personal contact with the typical student. When you hear otherwise, you are hearing self-serving hype. This is partially resolved by insuring that researchers have few and small classes, but this generates financial issues if your institution is primarily tuition supported.
There is a wide range of academic challenge among various programs at any institution. Generally, the degree of academic rigor corresponds to who has the power and also whether the discipline has a clearly defined and measurable corpus. If you are faculty in a program with measurable content and more than enough students, you can afford rigor. If you have very few students and you keep with rigor, you will soon have almost no students, and soon no courses and no job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/education/17cornell.html?th&emc=th
March 11, 2010
Mother Nature never sleeps.
The first week of March we spent a few days at Lake Nockamixon State Park while Villanova was on break. Hiking through the wintry snow was a lot of fun, particularly considering that this time we had rented a little cabin With Heat. We were the only ones there. We are amateur mycologists, and I was amazed to find a group of very fresh jelly-like mushrooms growing on a log almost buried in snow. Mushrooms can sprout and thrive at all times of the year, even in snowy winter. What a tribute to how Mother Nature never truly sleeps, but each species has its own time. How much fun, and how encouraging, to experience this on a wintry hike!
February 11, 2010
Backpacking in the Blizzard of 2010
It was a winter wonderland on our backpacking overnight camp in the woods in the middle of the Blizzard of 2010. Beautiful snow. (more…)
February 10, 2010
New York Cabs Gouged Riders Out of Millions (NYTimes)
The New York Times reported how thousands of passengers in NYC cabs were charged at double the legal rate for their area. Many drivers are honest, but there is no question that this fraud was well known both by cab drivers and the regulatory agency. Click Comment for my comment and selected comments by other NYTime’s readers. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/nyregion/13taxi.html?th&emc=th