We can talk about ideologies and perspectives, philosophy and theory but let’s see where the rubber meets the road.  This from Senator Jerry Tillman, chairman of two education committees.

“Yes, there’s going to be unmet needs. Yes, it would be nice to have that $800 million or $1 billion. But it would also be nice to keep our word … We believe that billion-plus-dollars we’re going to let the taxpayers keep is going to spur the economy,” he said.

Okay.  So what do we have here?  At issue is a 1 cent temporary sales tax set to expire in July.  Some say extend it, providing about a billion dollars for educational needs.  Others say that extension would be tantamount to a new tax and the Republicans that swept into office paraphrased ‘read my lips, no new taxes.’  The latter stands on the moral ground of ‘thou shalt not lie.  This is a promise and our word is good.’  This, as well as the$230 million in tax cuts, is supposed enable North Carolinians to create new jobs thereby saving our economy.

At what cost?  A 9% reduction in K-12 and a whopping 15% cut in the public university system.   This is where I have a problem.  I have heard a lot about pork and luxuries and special interests.  Fine, there could be some tightening of the budget.  After all, there are expenses (109K) and there are expenses  ($3M). The lines may blur when getting close to the bone but I think we pretty much understand the difference between a need and a luxury.  What our house representative is talking about is not luxury.  He clearly specified that needs (as opposed to extracurricular activities, trophies or pizza parties) will not be met.  And who does public education serve?  Children.

So what is it called when a child’s needs are not met in a caregiving setting?  Child abuse in the form of neglect.

According to federal guidelines, neglect is the failure of a parent, guardian, or other caregiver to provide for a child’s basic needs.  “Neglect may be…educational (e.g., failure to educate a child or attend to special education needs).”

But who would be culpable here?  Read the child abuse policies. It mentions parents, guardians and caregivers.  Are schools caregivers?  Does the government have a role as a caregiver?  Hey, they write the stuff so I’m guessing they are exempt.  So ultimately, if parents send their children to public school (that free and appropriate education thingy) and the public has been informed by our representatives that the education provided there will not meet the children’s needs then it is the parent/guardian/caregiver that is culpable.  Wouldn’t that make all parents of children receiving the guaranteed service of inadequate public education guilty of abuse?

Let’s just hope all those new jobs that are created require no academic skills.

( from a maternity/ woman centered T-shirt)

Happy Mother’s Day!

So the concern?  It is still academia and although I am on the administrative side, check this out.

Now of course, this isn’t a social networking site, it has a veneer of anonymity, a sparse few actually read it (and I appreciate all three of you!) and it’s always positive.  Right?  Epistemological solopsism at its best! (Or balderdash at its worst?)

When the kids made their first foray onto MySpace they first  needed to understand that what they put out there stays out there.  The second?  Intent doesn’t matter.  The moment it is cyber anyone can spin it.  This is one of the real pitfalls of written language if intended for communication.  How do you convey body language?  Tone?   Caring?  Delight?  Support?  Positivity?  How to choose words so they are received in the light of joy?  Openness?  Acceptance?

Answer.  I can’t.  My intent may be joy; the reader’s reception, informed by their perspective or upbringing or temperament or a recent case of gas, determines their interpretation of those words.  I may intend humor, the reader perceive sarcasm.  Ultimately, in the macro world, I may piss somebody off and end up in the unemployment line based on a personal writing that is construed to be disruptive to the workplace.

I may want to write about a (purely hypothetical) conversation with a(n alleged) young passionate scholar who (hypothetically) burst out with a statement about (possible)  funding for STEM education as the precursor to (something like, don’t quote me) emergence of the singularity in a ‘geek rapture.’  But I won’t (or I just did) because it’s confusing and not fun.  If I were to write such a thing, at some point, someone might accuse me of bullying and not only would I be unemployed, I could end up in prison for hate crimes against people smarter than me.

But then an echo of my own words bounces up to consciousness, the words I use as a preface when a professor or a student comes up to me with a situation that seems or is unfair.  In the rare cases when a win-win structure has exploded and then escalated and a relationship  implodes spiraling past a win-lose to turn into a cut your losses or it’ll be lose-lose…The words.

“If I were Queen of the Forest.”  For some reason, 0ur physics guys particularly like that.

And I remember yesterday, at the physics graduate celebration, sitting in a sparsely populated room (because physics departments are just like that) with a secretary, the department chair and one professor.  Hoping someone will show up.  And miracle, three students do show up, one just from commencement, pleased, cheshire cat happy making a bee line past me to the department chair so they can meet as equals, or at least one step closer to equals.  And he is so happy, this young guy and full of his plans as he tells the chair how he has been accepted in this great new school and he just has to make an appointment with some lady, and he refers to me by name, and how he hasn’t met her but somehow he has to make time to work out his registration but he just hasn’t figured out how he is going to get an appointment with her.  And the chair smiles.  Have you ever seen an accomplished physicist smile?  These are the men and women who devote their lives to discovering, explicating and demonstrating how everything in the material world works.  How every element and particle connects.  How there is order in chaos and chaos in order and it is completely logical, rational and understandable.  These are the people who say ‘there are only three things to know.  Simple.  Everything else is just nuance.’

So once the young man takes a breath, the chair says something like this.

“When you walk into a room, you should observe everything in the room.  This is a conscious act.  People tend to perceive only what they expect to perceive.  Perception is determined by expectation.  This was demonstrated at Harvard when during a play that the audience was familiar with, an actor dressed in a gorilla suit walked across the back of the stage.  Afterward the audience was polled and a large percentage did not notice the gorilla.  Sir, please turn around.  You must meet the woman in the gorilla suit.”

In fact, I was wearing a rather conservative dove gray suit and red silk blouse, but I suspect that in that department, I will now be known as Queen Kong.

He gave a stab at it.

Course, that left me with a little problem.  I’m not a physics guy.  What do I know?  Oh, I know a bunch of people who are.  Last Monday after a meeting with one of my graduate assistants I told him about the challenge.

He smirked.

To be fair, this is a really nice guy so I chalk up the smarmy to cultural difference.  I know he doesn’t mean to be smug and superior.

“There’s no way,” he said.  “This is very high stuff.”

“Humor me,” I told him, then printed the picture and explanation.  I didn’t hear back from him all week.

Yesterday I ran into the professor teaching the class.  Might as well go to the source.

“Professor, do you have a minute?  Could you do me a quick favor?”

Just so you know, this is my favorite person on faculty.  He is incredibly smart, his work is elegant and useful and he is approachable and open.  Think of him as an anti-Sheldon.

The opposite of this

“Of course,” he says with this great Moscow inflected English.

“You know I have this wonderful brilliant genius nephew, right?” I told him.

Professor Anti-Sheldon looked indulgent.

“Yes, of course.  The computer guy,” he answered.

I explained the challenge to him and my inability to verify his answer.  Professor Anti-Sheldon was kind enough not to smirk.  On the outside.

“Let’s see what this genius nephew has to say, yes?”

I showed the professor the picture then scrolled down to the explanation.  Professor Anti-Sheldon glanced at the explanation, scrolled through it, gave it at least two seconds attention.

“Hmm,” he said.  “You have a problem here.”

“Was he close?” I asked.

“Well this is not the problem, you see.  This is the problem.  On the left side of board is the class notes and your nephew, he has grasped the situation and explained it correctly.  This is good.  But on the right side of the board, you see.  This is not the class notes.  These are notes the students used for a different question, you see.  So he explains this as well.  And then this, he relates the left hand side of the board to the right hand side of the board, ehhh, this is a fair explanation.”

“Cool. So what’s the problem?” I asked.

“In all fairness, you owe him two Pi Pies, of course.”

Any Excuse for a Party

For the really straightforward, this chocolate and whip cream confection…

Binary Pi Pie

As a nod to physics.

Peach Blueberry String Theory Pi Pie

For the right brained gourmet free radicals.

sPInach Pie

Nick,  If you can explain what’s on the white board I will make you whatever kind of PI you like.

Today an Arizona Congresswoman was either assassinated or grievously injured while attending a public event.  According to NPR, Congresswoman Giffords (D, AZ) was shot point blank in the head.  Almost a dozen people were injured by the gunman (note, that’s one freedom to tote a gun lovin’ nut job) with up to 6 killed (note, dead).

So already, some folks are claiming that since she was a conservative Democrat, this mass murder must have been orchestrated by the liberal left in order to make Republicans look bad for some schizoid logic.  (I am not citing that one because the thinking is so twisted that it doesn’t deserve recognition.)  It is more likely that the gunman, a young man at the edge of mental unbalance was influenced by growing up during the wave of increasing vitriolic violent public discourse and societal paranoia that has marred the last ten years of our country’s political machinations.  An example is this graphic from  the website for the only political action committee authorized by the ex-governor of Alaska.  This has recently been scrubbed from the political action committee site but has made the rounds through the fourth estate and blogosphere for nearly a year.

The United States as a Legitimate Shooting Range Target

Now you may think this is kind of iffy.  After all, the late congresswoman’s name or image does not appear in this graphic.  There is nothing in this particular graphic to suggest a connection with any organization.  Well, here is the full version of the poster.

Named and signed. Warrant for Death Squads?

Note, this poster was designed to illustrate people targeted because they voted for health insurance reform.  You know, that little effort to support connecting people with medical coverage.  Because we want our citizens to live healthier and more productive lives.

That is, unless you are on the list of She Who Still Will Not Be Named.

Flatulent Inflatables

This morning a tentative ringing of the front door bell allowed me to meet a rather nervous young man.  I peeked to make sure this was no irate Jehovah’s Witness or other denizen Bible thumping spokesperson of community standards.  There was a newish looking F-250 king cab  in the driveway with a purposefully casual-looking woman in the front seat.  The man dithered on the front porch for a moment then asked permission to take pictures.  Allowance granted, he turned to the truck and gave a discreet thumbs up.  I could see the flash of a smile coming from the passenger seat.  She was out of the truck before he made it back to the driveway.  He fetched a small bundle of child from the back seat as the woman checked angles.

Chris just pointed out another admirer in the driveway.  Helen’s work is steadily  gaining public attention.