JetBlue plane makes emergency landing in Bermuda (Reuters)
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Dec. 30, 2009 (Reuters) -- A JetBlue Airways Corp passenger jet on a flight from Aruba to Boston made an emergency landing in Bermuda on Tuesday after the crew reported smoke in the cockpit, a local newspaper said on Wednesday, quoting fire service and airline officials. ... > read full story
Iran’s police chief warns opposition (Reuters)
TEHRAN, Dec. 30, 2009 (Reuters) -- Iran's police chief on Wednesday warned supporters of opposition leader Mihossein Mousavi only to expect harsh treatment if they participate in illegal rallies, three days after eight protesters were killed in protests. ... > read full story
36th Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit Reading
The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church
131 E. 10th St. New York NY 10003
212-674-0910 | info@poetryproject.org
36th Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit Reading
Friday January 1, 2010
2 p.m.
Poets and performers this year include Ammiel Alcalay, Bruce Andrews & Sally Silvers, Penny Arcade, Arthur’s Landing, Ari Banias, Jim Behrle, Charles Bernstein, Anselm Berrigan, Edmund Berrigan, Ana Bozicevic, Donna Brook, Michael Brownstein, Franklin Bruno, Tyler Burba, Peter Bushyeager, Reuben Butchart, Callers, Steve Cannon, Yoshiko Chuma, Church Of Betty, Michael Cirelli, Todd Colby, John Coletti, CAConrad, Cori Copp, Brenda Coultas, Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle, Mónica de la Torre, Mina Pam Dick, Steve Dalachinsky, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Maggie Dubris, Douglas Dunn, Marcella Durand, Steve Earle, Will Edmiston, Joe Elliot, Christine Elmo, Laura Elrick, Maggie Estep, Avram Fefer, Jess Fiorini, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Foamola, David Freeman, Ed Friedman, Greg Fuchs, Joanna Fuhrman, Cliff Fyman, Kelly Ginger, Pepi Ginsberg, John Giorno, Philip Glass, John Godfrey, Toby Goodshank, Nada Gordon & Gary Sullivan, Stephanie Gray, Tim Griffin, Miguel Gutierrez, John S. Hall, Diana Hamilton, Janet Hamill, Robert Hershon, Tony Hoffman, Eddie Hopely, Lisa Jarnot, Paolo Javier, Patricia Spears Jones, Pierre Joris, Adeena Karasick, Erica Kaufman, Lenny Kaye, John Kelly, Aaron Kiely, David Kirschenbaum, Bill Kushner & Merle Lister, Susan Landers, Joan Larkin, Dorothea Lasky, Denizé Lauture, Joel Lewis, Brendan Lorber, Michael Lydon, Kim Lyons, Dan Machlin & Serena Jost, Filip Marinovich, Chris Martin, Gillian McCain, Legs McNeil, Tracey McTague, Taylor Mead, Jonas Mekas, Sharon Mesmer, David Mills, Rebecca Moore, Tracie Morris, Will Morris, Eileen Myles, Jess Mynes, Elinor Nauen, Murat Nemat-Nejat, Jim Neu, Geoffrey Olsen, Dael Orlandersmith, Richard O’Russa, Yuko Otomo, Gary Parrish, Simon Pettet, Nicole Peyrafitte & Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Kristin Prevallet, Brett Price, Arlo Quint, Elizabeth Reddin, Evelyn Reilly, Citizen Reno, Renato Rosaldo, Bob Rosenthal, Douglas Rothschild, Tom Savage, Michael Scharf, David Shapiro, Frank Sherlock, Elliott Sharp, Nathaniel Siegel, Christopher Stackhouse, Stacy Szymaszek, Anne Tardos, Susie Timmons, Edwin Torres, Rodrigo Toscano, Tony Towle, David Vogen, Nicole Wallace, Lewis Warsh, Phyllis Wat, Karen Weiser, Simone White, Emily XYZ, Don Yorty, Rachel Zolf, Magdalena Zurawski & more t.b.a.
This event will be held in the Sanctuary. General admission , Students & Seniors , Members
Gaza Freedom March Blocked in Cairo
This post by Max Ajl via adbusters; more info can be found here and here.
Swiss Free Gaza Action on December 27
The Gaza Freedom March (GFM) was conceived as a massive nonviolent mobilization to end the suffocating siege of the Gaza strip. It was to have seen 1,400 internationals from over 40 countries, including France, the United States, England, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela, the Philippines and Japan, marching with 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza. The GFM organizing committee had extensive talks with the Egyptian government to facilitate the marchers’ entry. Just days before marchers were due to arrive, however, the Egyptian government refused the GFM permission to enter Gaza.
Cairo, Egypt
Egyptian riot police surround 300 furious French solidarity activists who are camping, literally camping, in front of the French embassy in Cairo. Plainclothesmen and blue-garbed security forces encircle 600 American and international protesters in front of the United Nations building in downtown Cairo. By yesterday, we were all supposed to be in el-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, en route to Gaza. The buses of the Gaza Freedom March were supposed to be packed with passengers and humanitarian aid, not sitting in their depots in Cairo. Today, we were supposed to be meeting with Palestinian civil society, gathering in solidarity with them, commemorating last year’s winter massacre.
Instead, we spent yesterday afternoon penned behind steel riot barriers in Cairo, hundreds of kilometers from Gaza. The Egyptian government has refused to let us board buses and head to the Rafah crossing. They’ve revoked our permits to gather, and nearly instantaneously surround smaller groupings. Pretty far to go to prevent a nonviolent demonstration from marching to Gaza to shatter the Israeli siege.
But we’re pushing back. Hedy Epstein, a Jewish anti-Zionist Holocaust survivor, declared a hunger strike at the UN encampment. Eleven others are continuing the hunger strike. The French EuroPalestine contingent has announced that they will not leave the sidewalk in front of the French embassy until they have secured buses for the voyage to Gaza. As Olivia Zemor, a spokeswoman, puts it, “we are waiting for the buses, we are staying in front of the French embassy, even if it’s not comfortable, it’s much more comfortable than Gaza.” The Egyptian government has threatened to lock them in a high-school until their flights depart. The larger cadres of the Gaza Freedom March – the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Great Britain, Japan and the Philippines – have left the United Nations’ grounds. United Nations officials don’t have the power to ensure safe-passage to Gaza. Egypt is being pushed to do its bit to maintain the Israeli imprisonment. We’re pushing back. Push with us.
Max Ajl blogs at www.maxajl.com, and coordinates media coverage for the Gaza Freedom March.
Soufriere Hills causing flight cancellations on Puerto Rico [Eruptions]
Soufriere Hills on Montserrat in an undated image from the Royal Navy.
Just wanted to pass along this bit of news: the current eruptions at Soufriere Hills on Montserrat are prompting cancellations of over 40 flights today from Puerto Rico. This is due to the ash plumes from the current dome eruptions - the NASA Earth Observatory posted images of the recent activity showing the large, grey plume drifting to the west. What is impressive is that Puerto Rico is over 250 miles / 400 km to the west of Montserrat, so this ash must be significant enough to prompt these flight cancellations. The ash appears to be causing poor visibility at 10,000 feet / 3 km - along with being a threat to cause engine failure. Officials from Puerto Rico say regular flights will likely return tomorrow.
When is a science/religion dispute about more than science and religion? [The Questionable Authority]
Jason Rosenhouse asks us if we think there's anything wrong with the following sentence, taken from Thomas Dixon's book Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction:
Historians have shown that the Galileo affair, remembered by some as a clash between science and religion, was primarily about the enduring political question of who was authorized to produce and disseminate knowledge.
Personally, I'm not actually sure that there's much wrong with that statement at all - at most, I'd question the use of the word "primarily". Jason, however, disagrees a bit more strenuously:
Why was Pope Urban VIII so threatened by Galileo's ideas? Why didn't the church simply laugh at Galileo, and tell him condescendingly to go keep playing with his telescope while the grown-ups talked about more serious things? The reason was that the Pope's authority was based entirely on the idea that he stood in a privileged relation to God, uniquely able to interpret scripture. If someone like Galileo could use science to challenge his claims, then the entire basis for the church's power would be seriously weakened. Ironically, DIxon himself explains this very clearly in the sentence immediately following the one above:
In the world of Counter-Reformation Rome, in the midst of the Thirty Years War, which continued to pit the Protestant and Catholic powers of Europe against each other, Galileo's claim to be able to settle questions about competing sources of knowledge through his own individual reading and reasoning seemed the height of presumption and a direct threat to the authority of the Church.
If that is not the description of a conflict between science and religion then I do not know what is.
That is, in fact, a good description of a conflict between science and religion, and I'd have to agree that Dixon's characterization of the event as one that's primarily political really doesn't do justice to the episode. At the same time, though, I'm almost as inclined to question any attempt to characterize the event as being primarily a science/religion conflict.
When you get right down to it, the Galileo affair was almost irreducibly complex. The very real conflict between science and religion over who gets to declare what the physical world was certainly a major factor, but it was only one of many. The political context - particularly as it involved challenges to the secular power of the church - was also important. So were the many longstanding interpersonal conflicts between the participants. So were the religious and political disputes involving various factions within the church. I'm not sure you can point to any one of those factors as being clearly the most important one involved.
While I'm at least partially in agreement with Jason over the problem with Dixon's view of the Galileo affair, I'm entirely on Dixon's side when it comes to the more modern ID/creationism issue. Here's Jason's perspective:
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Tuesday Tidbits: Mayon and Redoubt Updates [Eruptions]
Not much new to report today, so I'll just add some notes to the two volcanoes in the news right now: Mayon and Redoubt.
Mt. Redoubt in Alaska, taken on September 23, 2009. Image courtesy of AVO/USGS, taken by Game McGimsey.
Mayon:
The volcano continues to show signs that a major eruption is in the works, but nothing new occurred over the last 24 hours. 2 km / ~5,000 foot ash plumes were produced from the new dome/flow complex, causing a potential aviation hazard, and the lava flows continued to be erupted. In evacuation news, animals are now being evacuated from the hazard zone around the volcano as well. However, life in the evacuation camps for people is leading to some deaths from illness. However, for now, there is still little idea exactly when (and if) Mayon will have the "big one".
Redoubt:
The other news yesterday was the potential return of activity at Redoubt in Alaska. The alert status was raised to Yellow by AVO after a series of small earthquakes at the new summit dome. It is unclear what exactly the earthquakes mean, but AVO scientists say that they look similar to earthquake patterns observed during the spring 2009 eruptions - which is sign enough to raise the alert level. However, the seismicity appears to be decreasing through time, so it is unclear whether any eruption will occur - but AVO isn't overly concerned that something big might happen soon.
Video and Slides from AGU Panel: Re-Starting the Conversation on Climate Change [Framing Science]
Slides and synchronized video of the presentations from the AGU panel "Re-Starting the Conversation on Climate Change: The Media, Dialogue, and Public Engagement Workshop" are now online. Below I link to each of the presentations highlighting key themes or conclusions and the minute mark in the video.
Mass Media and the Cultural Politics of Climate Change
Max Boykoff, Ph.D.
University of Colorado-Boulder
Mass media serve vital roles in the communication processes between science, policy-makers and the public. This presentation reviews contextual factors as well as journalistic pressures and norms that contribute to how issues, events and information become climate 'news'. A particular focus will be on how these factors have contributed to misperceptions, misleading debates, and divergent understandings that undermine efforts at policy action.
--At 16 min 30 sec, Max discusses his research tracking patterns of news attention to climate change, showing that 2007 represented a historic spike in attention but the last part of 2009 may likely exceed this spike, at least if measured quarterly rather than annually.
--At 7 min, Max discusses his analysis of how the news media have characterized dimensions of the climate change debate. I found this part of his discussion particularly interesting. In measuring bias in news coverage of any topic, media researchers need as a comparison a relative objective standard, a standard set usually when there is strong amounts of convergence in expert views on a subject.
--Drawing on a typology proposed by fmr. NY Times journalist Andrew Revkin, Max describes how on climate change, finding an objective standard by which to evaluate news coverage is much easier for narrower scientific questions such as "CO2 contributes to temperature rise" or that "human activities contribute to climate change." However, relative to policy questions such as the success of Kyoto or the merits of proposed cap and trade legislation, defining and measuring news bias is much more difficult.
--At 23 min, 40 seconds, Max reviews his research tracking bias in news coverage of the causes or factors contributing to climate change. While his analysis of the U.S. press finds that "false balance" in reporting of aspects of climate science appeared through 2004, his evaluation of coverage in 2005 and 2006 finds that this tendency towards false balance had mostly disappeared from U.S. newspaper coverage.
--At 32 min, 20 sec Max closes the presentation with several recommendations on how scientists and their organizations can improve their interactions with the news media.
How Framing Matters to Wider Public Participation on Climate Change
Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D.
American University, Washington, DC
This presentation discusses research analyzing the extent to which new frames of reference and narratives can generate wider public interest and participation on climate change. The results of qualitative interviews and surveys are reviewed, focusing on public reactions to various policy proposals and messages. The research is designed to provide scientists, policy experts, government agencies, journalists, and other stakeholders with practical guidance on how best to increase public understanding of the implications of climate change.
--In the first part of the presentation I review the relevance of framing research to public engagement on science-related policy issues such as climate change. As I emphasize at the very beginning, this research is intended not to be used for advocacy purposes or to lobby for a specific policy outcome. Instead the research can and should be used by science institutions, universities, and news organizations to communicate significance and personal relevance in a way that expands the audience for an issue, increases multiple forms of learning, promotes dialogue and trust, expands the scope of policy options discussed, and ultimately empowers the public to participate in collective decisions at the local, national, and international level. [For more, see these articles.]
--At 13 min, I describe how the frames of reference presented via different media combine with individuals' own personal conversations (usually with like-minded others) to shape their interpretations of policy debates. This sociological process is especially apparent in how consumers use liberal- and conservative-slanted news and commentary found at cable news or in the blogosphere.
As news and blog readers, even scientists are susceptible to this media influence. In fact, as I note, given the ideological and partisan leaning of scientists documented in the recent Pew-AAAS survey, this ideological orientation likely shapes many scientists views of political controversies and policy debates (see also this recent study). The reliably liberal outlook provided by prominent science commentators and bloggers only likely magnifies this tendency to rely on ideology as a cognitive short-cut in forming policy preferences and in assigning blame for inaction.
--At 32 min 40 sec, I discuss current research in collaboration with Ed Maibach and several graduate students that examines the potential to expand public engagement on climate change by emphasizing the public health dimensions of the issue. Our preliminary analysis finds that when mitigation-related policies are presented in combination with their likely personal and community health benefits, broad sections of Americans respond positively to these suggestions. It's likely that we have spent too much time and attention on communicating about climate change as an environmental threat and not enough resources on discussing the public health significance of the problem along with the co-benefits to public health that are likely to occur via a range of policy actions, especially at the local level. [Note there is a typo in one of the slides that I correct during the Q&A. Hint, it's related to meat consumption.]
Worldwide Views on Climate Change: An International Citizen Deliberation on Climate Policy
Gwendolyn Blue, Ph.D.
University of Calgary, Canada
The UN Framework Program on Climate Change is holding its next round of discussions to update the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen in December, 2009. These climate change policy discusions have always involved government representatives and organized groups such as industry alliances and non-government organizations. For the first time, an international effort to hear what citizens around the world have to say on the policy questions was organized by the Danish Board of Technology, involving the participation of 38 countries, each with 100 citizen participants. This presentation describes both the process of mounting such an effort and the outcomes from the participating countries, with particular attention to differences between developed and developing countries. The challenges for global governance will also be discussed.
--Gwen opens her presentation by discussing the public engagement model relative to science policy debates and how it differs significantly from traditional approaches to science communication (see also these recent articles for more). Gwen defines public engagement as "a diverse set of activities where non-experts become involved in agenda-setting, decision-making, policy forming, and knowledge production processes regarding science."
--At 20 min, Gwen describes how this public engagement model informed the Worldwide Views on Climate Change initiative. Sponsored by the Danish Technology Board, the initiative featured deliberative forums in 38 countries involving an approximately representative sample of 100 lay citizens at each forum. The goal of the initiative was to bring together non-experts to discuss and deliberate with non-like minded others the many dimensions of the climate change problem and then to issue and vote on favored policy directions and actions. Importantly, as Gwen notes, the forum did not feature expert presentations or even an "expert in the room." Participants were provided background materials to read in advance and reference materials were also on hand at the forum.
--At 27 min 30 sec, Gwen shows a 15 minute documentary of the deliberative forum that was held at the University of Calgary and that involved 100 lay citizens from across Canada. This documentary effectively brings to life the nature and activities involved at a deliberative forum and I think readers will immediately recognize that universities and national organizations need to think seriously about allocating resources to sponsor these types of forums in cities and areas across the U.S. and other countries.
--At 46 min, Gwen closes her presentation by discussing how public engagement initiatives are an important innovation for increasing citizen participation and civic voice across levels of governance, ranging from the local to the national to the international. In fact, as Gwen notes, these new initiatives are greatly needed in an era where lay citizens and stakeholders are calling for increased accountability and responsiveness on the part of policymakers, scientists, and science institutions.
--At 67 min, during the Q&A, I raise the issue of how to fund deliberative forums at the local level. Gwen estimates the cost of the Calgary forum at 0,000, a function in part of the travel costs of flying lay citizens to the city from across the country. Local forums involving local citizens are likely to be less costly.
--In the discussion, I proposed an idea I have been pitching for the past year to raise resources for greater local level engagement. My proposal is that major research universities pool the public impacts money from NSF and other agency grants to then be centralized and selectively invested at the university level in different forms of public engagement initiatives. The planning, design, and evaluation of these initiatives would be coordinated by a university team of experts in public engagement, including faculty in the sciences, communication, education, and policy.
--Also part of the committee might be local stakeholders such as the local public media station (often university affiliated), the local newspaper, the local museums or science centers, the local library system, the local school system, local faith and minority community leaders, along with representatives from smaller colleges or universities in the area including junior colleges. Pooled public impacts money, planned and directed by an expert committee, could then be channeled into regularly occurring, state of the art public forums such as the one held in Calgary. Other investments would be in the local media infrastructure, subsidizing for example the public media stations' broadcast and online coverage of issues such as climate change while also providing training in schools and libraries for citizens on how to use and take advantage of these localized science media resources.
Treating tinnitus with an individually tailored piece of music [Not Exactly Rocket Science]
Many of us have just spent the Christmas season with a persistent and irritating ringing noise in our ears. But now that the relatives have gone home for the year, it's worth remembering that a large proportion of the population suffers from a more persistent ringing sensation - tinnitus. It happens in the absence of noise, it's one of the most common symptoms of hearing disorders, and it's loud enough to affect the quality of life of around 1-3% of the population.
There have been many suggested treatments but none of them have become firmly established and most simply try to help people manage or cope with their symptom. Now, Hidehiko Okamoto from Westfalian Wilhelms University has developed a simple, cheap and enjoyable way of reducing the severity of the ringing sound. The treatment has showed some promise in early trials and even better, it is personally tailored to individual patients.
The method is simple. Find out the main frequency of the ringing sound that the patient hears - this becomes the target. Ask the patient to select their favourite piece of music and digitally cut out the frequencies one octave on either side of this target. Get the patient to listen to this "notched" piece of music every day. Lather, rinse and repeat for a year.
Okamoto tried this technique in a small double-blind trial of 23 people, eight of whom were randomly selected to receive the right treatment. Another eight listened to a piece of music that had a random set of frequencies cut out of it, while seven were just monitored. The treatment seemed to work. After a year, the treatment group felt that their ringing sensation was around 30% quieter, while the other two groups showed no improvements.
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2009 Enlightener & Obscurantist Awards [Aardvarchaeology]
The Swedish Skeptic Society's annual awards for 2009 were announced yesterday.
Professor emeritus of ecological zoology Staffan Ulfstrand receives the Enlightener of the Year award,
"... for his engrossing and pedagogical books about evolution [such as Savannah Lives: Animal Life and the Human Evolution of Africa] and his many pop-sci talks, particularly during the double Darwin jubilee of 2009. Staffan Ulfstrand frequently appears on nature shows, in Q&A columns and in debates about biology and behaviour. He has also frequently explained evolution in a pedagogical manner when it has been misinterpreted and misunderstood."
Enlightener Ulfstrand receives a cash prize of SEK 25 000 (00, €2400).
Doctor Annika Dahlqvist, a former general practitioner who appears obsessed with Low Carbs High Fat, receives the Obscurantist of the Year anti-award,
"... for making particularly unsupported statements during the year about the link between diet and sickness. She has warned against swine flu vaccination and instead recommended a changed diet, without any scientific support at all. If her advice had been heeded, then the flu would have taken more lives.Annika Dahlqvist has also published strange claims about links between diet and cancer. According to her, people who follow a diet rich in fat do not get cancer, which is not only ignorant but also lays blame on cancer sufferers. She sees industrial interests behind the healthcare authorities' recommendations. She claims that the 'establishment's' dietary advice causes cancer and that mammography is therefore useless."
Update same afternoon: The Swedish Skeptics usually get quite a lot of national press coverage of our annual awards, but it seems that giving the anti-award to Annika Dahlqvist is getting us even more air time and print than usual. The tabloids like dieting and they like maverick doctors. Dahlqvist combines both traits, and so she's been a lot in the tabloids over the past two years or so, bearing the epithet "The Doctor of Fat". She also has a lot of altie fans reading her books and her blog. And now our anti-award is the main story on Expressen's broadsheet and the alties are going nuts in the Swedish Skeptics' executive-board in-box.
More coverage at Aftonbladet, Dagens Medicin, Radio Västernorrland, Sundsvalls Tidning, Sveriges Television.
[More blog entries about scepticism, skepticism, alternativemedicine, Sweden; skepticism, skepsis, folkbildning, alternativmedicin.]