we will continue to evolve in the traditional way, through inexorable selection pressures exerted by the natural environment. the isolation necessary to allow the impact of any environmental changes to be selected for in the population will now be on the planetary scale, enabled by colonization of distant space. the third possibility is that we will evolve in an entirely new way, guided not by unconscious natural forces but by our own conscious design decisions. in this neo - evolution we would use genetic engineering to eliminate diseases like diabetes, protect against strokes and reduce the risks of cancer. we would be compressing a natural process which takes hundreds of thousands of years into single generations, making evolutionarily advantageous adjustments ourselves. from an economic perspective, cheating is a simple cost - benefit analysis, where the probability of being caught and the severity of punishment must be weighed against how much stands to be gained from cheating. behavioural economist dan ariely has conducted experimental studies to test whether there are predictable thresholds for this balance, and how they can be influenced. in one study, ariely gave participants twenty maths problems with only five minutes to solve them. at the end of the time period, ariely paid each participant one dollar for each correctly answered question ; on average people solved four questions and so received four dollars. ariely tempted some members of the study to cheat, by asking them to shred their paper, keep the pieces and tell him how many questions they answered correctly. now the average number of questions solved went up to seven ; and it wasn ' t because a few people cheated a lot, but rather that everyone cheated a little. hypothesizing that we each have a “ personal fudge factor ”, a point at which we can still feel good about ourselves despite having cheated, ariely ran another experiment to examine how malleable this standard was. before tempting participants to cheat, ariely asked them to recall either ten books they read at school or to recall the ten commandments. those who had tried to recall the commandments – and nobody in the sample managed to get them all – did not cheat at all when given the opportunity, even those that could hardly remember any of the commandments. when self - declared atheists were asked to swear on the bible before being tempted to cheat in the task, they did not cheat at all. cheating was also completely eradicated by asking students to sign a statement to the effect that they understood that the survey falls under the “ mit honor code ”, despite mit having no such code. in an additional


task, they did not cheat at all. cheating was also completely eradicated by asking students to sign a statement to the effect that they understood that the survey falls under the “ mit honor code ”, despite mit having no such code. in an additional variant of the same experiment, ariely tried to increase the fudge - factor and to encourage cheating. a third of particpants were told to hand back their results paper to the experimenters, a third were told to shred it and ask for x number of dollars for x completed questions, and a third were told to shred their results and ask for x tokens. for this last group, tokens were handed out, and the participants would walk a few paces to the side and exchange their tokens for dollars. this short disconnect between cash and token encouraged cheating rates to double in this last group. putting these results in a social context, ariely ran yet another variant of the experiment, to see how people would react when they saw examples of other people cheating in their group. subjects were given envelopes filled with money, and at the end of the experiment they were told to pay back money for the questions that they did not complete. an actor was planted in the group, without the knowledge of the other participants. after thirty seconds the actor stood up and announced that he had finished all of the questions. he was told that the experiment was completed for him, and that he could go home ( i. e. keeping the contents of the envelope ). depending on whether he was wearing a shirt identifying him as from the same university as the rest of the students in the test or not, cheating went either up or down respectively. carnegie mellon students would cheat more if he was identified as a carnegie mellon student, whilst cheating would decrease if he was identified by a university of pittsburgh shirt. ariely ' s results show that the probability of getting caught doesn ' t influence the rate of cheating so much as the norms for cheating influence behaviour : if people in your own group cheat, you are more likely to cheat as well. if a person from outside of your group cheats, the personal fudge factor increases, and the likelihood of cheating drops, just as it did with the ten commandments experiment, reminding people of their own morality. the stock market combines a worrying cocktail of features from these experiments. it deals with ' tokens ', stocks and derivatives and not ' real ' money. stocks are many steps removed from real money, and for long portions of time. this


morality. the stock market combines a worrying cocktail of features from these experiments. it deals with ' tokens ', stocks and derivatives and not ' real ' money. stocks are many steps removed from real money, and for long portions of time. this encourages cheating. any enclaves of cheating will be reinforced by people mirroring the behaviours of those around them, and this is precisely what happened in the enron scandal. here is a syllogism that is deeply embedded in western society. welfare is maximized by maximizing individual freedom. individual freedom is maximized by maximizing choice. welfare increases with more choice. supermarkets are an embodiment of this belief. they are symbols of affluence and empowerment conferred through their superabundance of choice. the range of products they offer is dizzying. so disorientingly so, in fact, that too many options have paralyzing effects, making it very difficult to choose at all – a fact that completely undermines the belief that maximizing choice has unqualified beneficial effects. if we finally do manage to make a decision and overcome this paralytic effect, too much choice diminishes the satisfaction that can be gained compared with choices made between fewer options. this is because if the choice you make leaves you feeling dissatisfied in any way it is easy to simulate the myriad of other choices that could have been better. these imagined alternatives, conjured from the myriad real alternatives, can induce regret which dilutes the satisfaction from your choice, even if it was a good one. the wider the range of options, the easier it becomes to regret even the smallest disappointment in your decision. a wider range of choice also makes it easier to imagine the attractive features of the alternatives that have been rejected, once more diminishing the sense of satisfaction with the chosen alternative. this phenomenon is known as the opportunity cost, the sacrificial loss of other opportunities when a choice is made : choosing to do one thing is choosing not to do many other things. many of these other choices will have attractive features which will make whatever you have chosen less attractive, no matter how good it really is. the maximization of choice leads to an escalation of expectations, where the best that can ever be hoped for is that a decision meets expectations. in a world of extremely limited choice, pleasant surprises are possible. in a world of unlimited choice, perfection becomes the expectation : you could always have made a better choice. when there is only one choice on offer, the


that a decision meets expectations. in a world of extremely limited choice, pleasant surprises are possible. in a world of unlimited choice, perfection becomes the expectation : you could always have made a better choice. when there is only one choice on offer, the responsibility for the outcome of that ' choice ' is outside of your control, and so any disappointment resulting from that decision can safely be blamed on external factors. but when you have to choose between hundreds of options it becomes much easier to blame oneself if anything is less than perfect. it is perhaps no coincidence that as choice has proliferated and standards have risen in the past few generations, so has the incidence of clinical depression and suicide. what this means is that there is a critical level of choice. some societies have too much, others patently too little. at the point at which there is too much choice in a critical proportion of our lives, our welfare is no longer improved. too much choice is paralytic and dissatisfying, and too little is impoverishing. we don ' t want perfect freedom and nor do we want the absence of it ; somewhere there is an optimal threshold, and affluent, materialist societies have probably already passed it. our uniquely large pre - frontal cortex enables us to simulate experiences, allowing us to compare potential futures and make judgements based on these simulations. the difficulty in deciding which of several simulations we prefer arises because we are surprisingly poor at analyzing what makes us happy. seemingly obvious questions such as ' would you prefer to become paraplegic or win the lottery? ' are obscured by the extraordinary fact that one year after each event, both groups report being equally happy with their lives. a preference for one alternative over another can be measured in its ability to confer happiness, and, contrary to all of our impulses, there can be no rational preference in this example when considered over a sufficiently long time - period, as there is no reported qualitative difference between the two levels of happiness after a single year. this is a result of the impact bias, the tendency of our emotional simulator to overestimate the intensity of future emotional states, making you believe that the difference in two outcomes is greater than it really is. in short, things that we would unthinkingly consider important, like getting a promotion or not, passing an exam, or not or gaining or losing a romantic partner, frequently have far less impact, of a much lower intensity and a much lower duration than we expect them to have. indeed, in an astonishing study published


getting a promotion or not, passing an exam, or not or gaining or losing a romantic partner, frequently have far less impact, of a much lower intensity and a much lower duration than we expect them to have. indeed, in an astonishing study published in 1996, it was found that even major life traumas had no effect on subjective well - being ( with very few exceptions ) if they had not occurred in the past three months 1. the reason for this remarkable ability is that our views of the world change to make us feel better about whatever environment we find ourselves in over a period of time. everything is relative, and we make happiness where we would otherwise believe there to be none. to truncate a well - known quotation from milton, “ the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell ”. daniel gilbert, professor of psychology at harvard, calls this ' synthesizing happiness '. synthetic happiness differs from ' natural ' happiness in that natural happiness is what we feel when we get what we wanted, and synthetic happiness is what we ( eventually ) feel when we don ' t get what we wanted. the mistake we make is believing that synthetic happiness is inferior to natural happiness. this mistake is perpetuated by a society driven by an economic system which relies on people believing that getting what you want makes you happier than not getting what you want ever could. we can resist this falsehood by remembering that we possess within ourselves the ability to synthesize the commodity that we always pursue, and that we consistently overrate the emotional differences between two choices. - 1. suh, eunkook, ed diener, and frank fujita. " events and subjective well - being : only recent events matter. " journal of personality and social psychology 70. 5 ( 1996 ) : 1091 - 102. print. optical illusions are a visual proof of a built - in irrationality in the way we reason. in some illusions we can be shown two lines of equal lengths and yet perceive one to be longer than the other. even when we see visual proof that the lines are in fact of equal length, it ' s impossible to overcome the sense that the lines are different – it ' s as if we cannot learn to override our intuitions. in the case of optical illusions, our intuition is fooled in a repeatable, predictable fashion, and there is not much we can do about it without modifying the illusion itself, either by measuring it or by obscuring some part of it. dan ariel


the case of optical illusions, our intuition is fooled in a repeatable, predictable fashion, and there is not much we can do about it without modifying the illusion itself, either by measuring it or by obscuring some part of it. dan ariely, a behavioural psychologist currently teaching at duke university, reminds us that optical illusions are a big deal. vision is one of the best things that we do – we are evolutionarily designed to be good at it, and a large part of our brain is dedicated to being good at it, larger than is dedicated to anything else. the fact that we make such consistent mistakes, and are repeatedly fooled by optical illusions should be troubling. if we make mistakes in vision, what kind of mistakes will we make in those things that we have no evolutionary reason to be any good at? in new and elaborate environments like financial markets, we don ' t have a specialized part of the brain to help us, and we don ' t have a convenient visual illustration with which to easily demonstrate the mistakes we make. is our sense of our decision making abilities ever consistently compromised? ariely suggests that we are victims of decision making illusions in much the same way we are victims of optical illusions. when answering a survey, for instance, we feel like we are making our own decisions, but many of those decisions in fact lie with the person who designed the form. this is strikingly shown by the disparity in the percentage of people in different european countries who indicated that they would be interested in donating their organs after death, as illustrated by a 2004 paper by eric johnson and daniel goldstein. consent rates in france, belgium, hungary, poland, portugal, france and austria were over 99 %, whilst the uk, germany and denmark all had rates of below 20 %. this huge difference didn ' t arise due to strong cultural differences, but through a simple difference in the way the question on the form was presented. in countries with a low consent rate, the question was as an opt - in choice, as in ' check the box if you wish to participate in the organ donor programme '. people didn ' t check the box, leaving the form in its ' default ' state. those presented with the inverse question, an explicit opt - out rather than explicit opt - in, also left the box unchecked. both groups tended to accept whatever the form tacitly suggested the default position was. the two types of forms created strongly separated groups of consenting donors and non - consenting donors across


algebraic reasoning in grades two through five : effects of teacher practices, characteristics and professional development algebra is a gatekeeper ( moses & cobb, 2001 ). long before students enter an algebra i course in the high school, the foundations for algebra are being developed in elementary school through algebraic reasoning. research ( rowan, chiang, and miller, 1997 ) confirms a direct correlation ( r =. 03, p =. 05 ) between teachers ' content knowledge and student achievement in the learning and understanding of mathematics. the need for teachers to be well equipped to develop students ' algebraic reason is apparent ( lambdin, 1999, ma, 2000 ). ^ this study explores how teachers ' practices, characteristics, and professional development relate to student achievement and ; thereby, gain greater understanding and awareness of the role algebraic reasoning performs in teaching and learning at the elementary school level. the following two research questions directed this study : ( 1 ) to what extent and in what manner can variation in student achievement on problems involving algebraic reasoning be explained by teacher practices, characteristics and professional development? ( 2 ) what teaching practices focused on algebraic reasoning have the greatest impact on student achievement? ^ this study utilized a mixed method research design that examined classroom practices of grades 2 - 6 elementary teachers, n = 62, and their n = 1550 students in 17 urban and suburban schools in rhode island. data were gathered through a participant questionnaire utilizing a 1 - 5 point likert - scale survey instrument developed by the researcher. following the collection of the data, focus groups, n = 18, were conducted with volunteer participants. the qualitative data obtained from the focus groups were analyzed by generating themes and patterns to describe the findings. descriptive statistics ( frequencies, percents, and means ) were computed for each variable. multiple regression analysis was use to determine the magnitude of the relationship between teaching practices and professional development related to student achievement. ^ the findings of the study revealed the variables, teaching practices and professional development, used to calculate multiple regression ( r =. 055, p =. 70 ) were not found to be significantly related. in addition, current professional development on algebraic reasoning is not meeting the needs of the teachers and the connections between teacher knowledge / practices and algebra content require strengthening. the findings emanated from the focus groups and from the open ended questions on the questionnaire suggested teachers are not equipped to teach algebraic reasoning. these findings have recently been collaborated in the national math panel advisory panel ( 2008 ) report. recommendation are made as well as suggestions for additional future research specific to professional development and algebraic reasoning


by david houle, special to cnn editor ’ s note : david houle is a futurist and author of the blog evolution shift. he is the author of “ the shift age ”, " shift ed : a call to action for transforming k - 12 education " and " entering the shift age. " he has been a contributor to oprah. com. houle is futurist - in - residence at the ringling college of art + design in sarasota, florida. ( cnn ) - when people find out that i am a futurist, they ask me what that means. in speaking and writing, i act as a catalyst to get people, the market and the world to think about the future, then facilitate a conversation about it. there ’ s one area that ’ s desperately in need of that conversation : education. in the next decade, there will be more transformation at all levels of education than in any 10 -, 20 -, or perhaps 50 - year period in history. generational forces at play will accelerate these changes. the aging baby boomers - who i call the “ bridge generation, ” as they have bridged education from the middle of the 20th century to now - are retiring in ever increasing numbers. they have held on to the legacy thinking about education, remembering how they were taught. their retirement opens up the discussion about transformation. at the same time, we have the rising digital natives as the students of tomorrow. this generation, born since 1997, is the first that was likely to grow up with a computer in the house, high - speed internet, parents with cell phones and often a touch screen app phone as their first phone. they are the first generation of the 21th century with no memory of the 20th. they are the first generation born into the information - overloaded world ; for them, that ’ s simply the way it is. the digital natives are different than prior generations and need new models for education. let ’ s take a quick look for all levels of education to see what some major transformations will be : a child born in 2009 is one of the younger digital natives. in upper - middle class households, they are the first children for whom all content can be found on screens. they are using touch screen and other interactive computing devices starting as early as 2, and therefore walk into the first day of preschool or nursery school with a level of digital skills. this will spark greater use of digital devices and interactive learning at this first level of education. classrooms will increasingly have interactive


computing devices starting as early as 2, and therefore walk into the first day of preschool or nursery school with a level of digital skills. this will spark greater use of digital devices and interactive learning at this first level of education. classrooms will increasingly have interactive touch screen devices. neuroscience is in a golden age. we have discovered more about the working of the brain and for the sake of this level of education the development of a child ’ s brain in the past 20 years than in all time prior. it will become clear that, to the degree that we can bring this knowledge into pre - k education, we can more fully develop the minds and learning of young children. the elevation and integration of digital interactivity is soaring in k - 12 education. school districts are setting up cloud computing to provide always - available information for always - connected education communities. schools that used to make students turn off cellular devices during the school day are allowing them to remain on and become an integral part of the classroom education. if all of the world ’ s knowledge and information are just a few keystrokes away, why make the classroom the only unconnected place students experience? self - directed learning - the interaction of the student with learning courses on a computer - will accelerate education and provide more students with the opportunity to learn at a challenging pace. connectivity will bring the world ever more into the classroom and will allow for the grammar school and the high school to be more involved in the local community and the larger global community. higher education is approaching bubble status. the costs have risen rapidly, beyond the ability of most families to pay. debt is being taken on at unprecedented levels and in an economic climate that is not providing the high - paying jobs necessary for that debt to be retired. at the same time, employers complain of a skills gap : the inability to hire employees with the skills needed to perform these new technologically demanding jobs. given these challenges, i can see three major changes coming to higher education during the next decade : first, there will be a dual level of degree granted. the traditional path, costing more than $ 100, 000 with four years of being on campus, will continue. the nontraditional one, perhaps initially a certificate rather than degree program, will cost perhaps $ 10, 000 to $ 20, 000 and will rely on the taking of video and online courses and the passing of exams. this will allow the student a financially viable choice, the university with a new revenue stream and the employer with a comparative choice for hiring. it will also open up higher education


i ’ ve been looking for a good, easy to read document outlining the latest climate science research and putting it in context for copenhagen and i think i ’ ve found it. today in sydney, the climate change research centre, a unit of the university of new south wales, released the copenhagen diagnosis. it ’ s free to download or view online in a nice rich text format so credit to the centre for making it accessible in multiple attractive formats. but most praise has to be reserved for the 26 contributing authors who have laid out the science to make it easy to understand for a layman like myself. chapters cover aspects of climate science including “ the atmosphere ”, “ permafrost and hydrates ” and “ global sea level ”. throughout are scattered common questions about climate change and answers designed to clear up confusion. an example : “ are we just in a natural warming phase, recovering from the ‘ little ice age? ‘. the document, once pictures and the reference section is including is a slim 50 pages. if you want something to get yourself up to speed on the science ahead of copenhagen this could well be the document to download. its even better if you have a colleague willing to run across the road and get it bound for you as i have! the executive summary of the copenhagen diagnosis, which i ’ ve excerpted below gives the basics you need to know if even 50 pages is too much to handle as we head into the highly - stressful ( for everyone other than academics ) end of year period. the diplomats and politicians soon to board flights to denmark could do worse than slip a copy of the copenhagen diagnosis into their cabin luggage. the most significant recent climate change findings are : surging greenhouse gas emissions : global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2008 were nearly 40 % higher than those in 1990. even if global emission rates are stabilized at present - day levels, just 20 more years of emissions would give a 25 % probability that warming exceeds 2°c, even with zero emissions after 2030. every year of delayed action increases the chances of exceeding 2°c warming. recent global temperatures demonstrate human - induced warming : over the past 25 years temperatures have increased at a rate of 0. 19°c per decade, in very good agreement with predictions based on greenhouse gas increases. even over the past ten years, despite a decrease in solar forcing, the trend continues to be one of warming. natural, short - term fluctuations are occurring as usual, but there have been no significant changes in the underlying warming trend. acceleration of melting


- why are these threats possible? because computers are little more than tools. the term " computer " is very descriptive despite all of the abstraction that we attempt to layer on top of them ; it is a device that " computes ", plain and simple. whether, at any given nanosecond, it is computing the color of a pixel in a ui, the address of data in its memory, etc, it is no more or less than an incredibly fast binary calculator hooked up to a lot of peripheral components that provide inputs to and outputs from the basic programming the cpu is currently churning its way through. given that, the question of " why " has a simple answer ; tools can be used for good or ill. hammers can pound nails or skulls. saws can cut wood or flesh. and computers can sequence dna to find the cure for cancer, or steal your bank account information. - why doesn ' t the computer just do the things it is supposed to? it does. it does exactly what it is told to do by the program that it is currently executing. the problem is that the program the computer is currently executing isn ' t necessarily something you told it to execute explicitly by the stroke of a key or the click of a mouse. for a very long time now, we ' ve used multiple layers of software ( and hardware ) to allow for modularity ; any computer can have any hardware plugged into it, and run any program to work with it ( at least that ' s the theory ). more recently we have invented layers to allow a computer to juggle many programs at once. these layers of abstraction such as the os, virtual machines, daemons ( services ), etc, which hide what the computer is really doing on any given clock, can be manipulated by an attacker to run software without your conscious knowledge. - why do some people write malware, instead of programs with a constructive purpose beyond doing damage and violating the law?... some men aren ' t looking for anything logical, like money. they can ' t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. some men just want to watch the world burn. - alfred pennyworth, the dark knight for most " black hats ", the mayhem they cause is fun, it ' s entertaining, the same way you or i would enjoy a video game in a completely sandboxed environment. they, however, are doing things in the real world. same layer of digital separation between you and the consequences of your actions,


it ' s entertaining, the same way you or i would enjoy a video game in a completely sandboxed environment. they, however, are doing things in the real world. same layer of digital separation between you and the consequences of your actions, with the added thrill of knowing it ' s real. - does computer insecurity exist because of the nature of computers? to a point, yes. computers are powerful, but they are extremely dumb. they require humans to do their thinking for them, to design them in a way that is difficult to subvert, to program them in a way that is difficult to subvert, and to use them in a way that is difficult to subvert. the inherent difficulty of this is similar to the inherent difficulty ( maybe the impossibility ) of designing a " completely foolproof system " : a common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. - douglas adams in both cases, you ' re very simply trying to pre - emptively outsmart someone willing to spend a lot of time and effort finding a way to misuse what you ' re designing once the finished product has left your hands. you effectively have to come up with the same ideas that the other person would have, and incorporate mechanisms to defeat that line of thinking. the more complex the system is internally, the more of those ideas become possible, and the less likely you are to have thought of everything. the more you put in place to prevent misuse, the more complexity you add. it ' s a vicious cycle.


hugh pickens writes writes " until recently, geothermal power systems have exploited only resources where naturally occurring heat, water, and rock permeability are sufficient to allow energy extraction but now geothermal energy developers plan use a new technology called enhanced geothermal systems ( egs ) to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of the dormant newberrry volcano, located about 20 miles south of bend, oregon in an effort to use the earth ' s heat to generate power. " we know the heat is there, " says susan petty, president of altarock energy, inc. of seattle. " the big issue is can we circulate enough water through the system to make it economic. " since natural cracks and pores do not allow economic flow rates, the permeability of the volcanic rock can be enhanced with egs by pumping high - pressure cold water down an injection well into the rock, creating tiny fractures in the rock, a process known as hydroshearing. then cold water is pumped down production wells into the reservoir, and the steam is drawn out. natural geothermal resources only account for about 0. 3 percent of u. s. electricity production, but a 2007 massachusetts institute of technology report projected egs could bump that to 10 percent within 50 years, at prices competitive with fossil - fuels. " the important question we need to answer now, " says usgs geophysicist colin williams, " is how geothermal fits into the renewable energy picture, and how egs fits. how much it is going to cost, and how much is available. " "


- дигар истифода вашингтон колумбия, шаблон : иелоти washington is a state in the pacific northwest of the united states. the state is named after george washington, the first president of the united states. as of the 2000 census, the state population was approximately 5. 9 million and the state work force numbered about 3. 1 million. residents are called " washingtonians " ( emphasis on the third syllable, pronounced as tone ). it should not be confused with washington, d. c., the nation ' s capital city. to avoid confusion, the city is often called simply d. c. and the state is often called washington state. washington is bounded by the pacific ocean to the west ; oregon to the south ( the columbia river forming most of this border ) ; idaho to the east and british columbia, canada to the north. it is famous for scenery of breathtaking beauty and sharp contrasts. high mountains rise above evergreen forests and sparkling coastal waters. its coastal location and puget sound harbors give it a leading role in trade with alaska, canada, and the pacific rim. puget sound ' s many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the united states. washington is a land of contrasts. the deep forests of the olympic peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world and the only rainforests ( such as the hoh rain forest ) in the continental united states, but the flat semi - desert that lies east of the cascade range stretches for long distances without a single tree. snow - covered peaks tower above the foothills and lowlands around them. mount rainier, the highest mountain in the state, appears to " float " on the horizon southeast of seattle and tacoma on clear days. the eastern side of the state can be divided into two regions : the okanogan highlands and the columbia river basin. areas under the management of the national park service include : - ebey ' s landing national historical reserve near coupeville - fort vancouver national historic site at vancouver - klondike gold rush seattle unit national historical park in seattle - lake chelan national recreation area near stehekin - lake roosevelt national recreation area along the columbia river - lewis and clark national historic trail - mount rainier national park - nez perce national historical park - north cascades national park near marblemount - olympic national park at port angeles - ross lake national recreation area at new


here are two cartoons from jay hosler ( blog ), biologist and author / illustrator of the sandwalk adventures : an adventure in evolution told in five chapters and author of the forthcoming evolution : the story of life on earth ( cover art below ) : visual representation in science is the study of how images can inform an understanding of scientific practice and the production and dissemination of knowledge. there will be at least two worskshops on this topic in the next year ( here and here ). the description of one describes images as “ occupy [ ing ] a special place … for their power to encapsulate scientific knowledge, their capacity to communicate to various publics, and their flexibility in the production of meanings by the interaction of producers and users. ” for this month ’ s edition of the history of science blog carnival, the giant ’ s shoulders and it ’ s theme of visuals and representations in science, i thought i ’ d share some information about darwin and evolution in cartoons and caricatures. jonathan smith looked at visual representation within darwin ’ s various books in his 2006 book charles darwin and victorian visual culture ( cambridge studies in nineteenth - century literature and culture ) ( you can read the first chapter as a pdf ). one could look at darwin portraiture and photography, maybe janet browne has, and how specific images have been used to push a particular way of looking at darwin. the darwin year saw many books looking at darwin and his impact on art. constance clark ’ s 2001 article in the journal of american history, “ evolution for john doe : pictures, the public, and the scopes trial debate, ” is about the “ role of visual images of evolutionary ideas published during the [ scopes ] debate. ” and heather brink - roby ’ s article “ natural representation : diagram and text in darwin ’ s ‘ on the origin of species, ” in victorian studies, looks at how darwin used diagram and text “ not simply to argue for, but also as evidence of, his theory. ” also, analyses of the march of progress imagery of evolution and other representations ( like trees of life ) would fit into visual representations ( see here and here, and of course gould ’ s wonderful life : the burgess shale and the nature of history, specifically chapter 1, “ iconography of an expectation ” ). where do political cartoons and caricatures fit into this? surely, such images were avenues of knowledge for the public, and how a cartoon represented darwin or evolution ( anti - evolution, pro - evolution, etc. ) had an impact


” ). where do political cartoons and caricatures fit into this? surely, such images were avenues of knowledge for the public, and how a cartoon represented darwin or evolution ( anti - evolution, pro - evolution, etc. ) had an impact on the viewer, and evolution was used as a means to comment on society and culture or whatever was in the news. i know of at least two historians of science who have published on the topic : browne, janet. “ darwin in caricature : a study in the popularisation and dissemination of evolution. ” proceedings of the american philosophical society 145 : 4 ( december 2001 ) : 496 - 509. ( also, see my post 19th - century caricature prints with tyndall, darwin caricatures at the primate diaries, and darwin caricatures at genomicron ) davis, edward b. “ fundamentalist cartoons, modern pamphlets, and the religious image of science in the scopes era. ” in religion and the culture of print in modern america, edited by charles lloyd cohen and paul s. boyer, 175 - 98. madison : university of wisconsin press, 2008. davis presented at the history of science society meeting in 2009 on “ demonizing evolution, ” sharing some of the fundamentalist cartoons. since google books won ’ t let me see the cartoons in the article, i ’ m not sure if those in his talk are the same as those in his article, but i will share a few from his talk : these cartoons in the era of the scopes trial present evolution as : dangerous to one ’ s faith ( learning about and accepting evolution will creep into one ’ s religious life ), “ modern ” education is cheating on god and the bible ; evolution is anti - religion ; evolution is sacred and religious itself ; the theory of evolution is collapsing, full of speculation and not fact - based. much of these claims are still used today, by many creationists and intelligent design proponents who spend more time trying to discredit evolution than convincing us that their view is scientific. such cartoons and anti - evolution pamphlets, according to davis, “ provide new insights into the intense debate about the meaning of science and the nature of religion that took place among american protestants in the 1920s. from popular publications such as these, we see just how the fundamentalists and the modernists both attempted to influence public opnion about the religious image of science in the decade of the scopes trial ” ( 193 ). there is a wonderful resource for political cartoons that do the opposite of


see just how the fundamentalists and the modernists both attempted to influence public opnion about the religious image of science in the decade of the scopes trial ” ( 193 ). there is a wonderful resource for political cartoons that do the opposite of demonizing evolution. historian of science joe cain has brought to our attention the ephemeral journal evolution : a journal of nature, which ran from 1927 through 1938, 21 issue in all, and he provides a publication history for it in a 2003 article for archives of natural history. evolution was “ a monthly platform for pro - evolutionist perspectives and as a device for rebutting anti - evolutionists. it also aimed to bolster the resolve of teachers caught in the centre of curriculum debates. ” its purpose was laid out in the first issue : ” this magazine will help bridge that gap by furnishing a forum in which science itself can speak in popular language without fear of the restraints with which fundamentalists are seeking to shackle them. ” among the articles within evolution were scores of political cartoons. cain has made all the issues available ( also available through the biodiversity heritage library ) and a page with some of the cartoons. here are a few : unfortunately, evolution was not a great success ( hence, only 21 issues ). by its 12th issue, the journal touted its 5, 000 subscribers, and provided a list of how many by state. interestingly, it had the most subscribers in new york city ( 675 ), california ( 551 ), new york state ( 494 ), illinois ( 486 ), and ohio ( 299 ). a few others in the 100 - 200 range ( including pennsylvania ), and the rest under 100, including all states in the south. i will also point out another website, put togteher by mark aldrich, called cartooning evolution, 1861 - 1925, broken up into darwin and evolution, evolution as social comment, victorian science, fundamentalist publications, the scopes trial : northern newspapers, the scopes trial : national magazines, and the scopes trial : southern newspapers. here ’ s a sampling, but be sure to check out the website itself, there are many more. enjoy : in my previous post i shared a link to ncse ’ s images of an intelligent design vs. evolution from the banana - toting, darwin - bashing creationist ray comfort. here ’ s one of the images, showing a card from the game that uses this quote : “ scientists conced that their most cherished theories


intelligent design vs. evolution from the banana - toting, darwin - bashing creationist ray comfort. here ’ s one of the images, showing a card from the game that uses this quote : “ scientists conced that their most cherished theories are based on embarassingly few fossil fragments and that huge gaps exst in the fossil record. ” a citation is given, that ’ s a good step : time magazine, november 7, 1977. so, what is this quote in reference to? what ’ s the context. the quote comes from an article titled “ puzzling out man ’ s ascent ” ( all online, thanks rob igo, for the link ) and here is where it falls : these developments, probably more than any others, hastened the differentiation between man and earlier hominids. explains anthropologist charles kimberlin ( “ bob ” ) brain of the transvaal museum in pretoria, south africa : “ meat eating and hunting were important factors. if you remained a vegetarian, the necessity for culture was not nearly as great. ” richard leakey too believes that hunting helped to make emerging man a social creature. says he : “ the hominids that thrived best were those able to restrain their immediate impulses and manipulate the impulses of others into cooperative efforts. they were the vanguard of the human race. ” still, doubts about the sequence of man ’ s emergence remain. scientists concede that even their most cherished theories are based on embarrassingly few fossil fragments, and that huge gaps exist in the fossil record. anthropologists, ruefully says alan mann of the university of pennsylvania, “ are like the blind men looking at the elephant, each sampling only a small part of the total reality. ” his colleagues agree that the picture of man ’ s origins is far from complete. perhaps no one is trying harder to fill in the blanks than richard leakey. picking up where his father louis left off at his death in 1972, richard — with his lake turkana discoveries — has already moved to the forefront of modern anthropology. now he is reaching out to coordinate research throughout east africa and taking the lead in sorting and assembling the thousands of fragments of evidence that may someday reveal the secrets of man ’ s origins. oh, the article discusses human evolution, not evolution of life on earth generally. gee, ray, do you think you could have clarified that? and, it ’ s not like any work in paleoanthropology has occurred over the last three decades. beware, quote


by dr. paul o ’ reilly note : dr. o ’ reilly is a tutor at thomas aquinas college as well the vice president for development. the following text is the transcript of a lecture he presented on august 26, 2011, as part of the the st. vincent de paul lecture and concert series, endowed by barbara and paul henkels. it might seem strange that i should stand in front of you this evening to speak about catholic liberal education. it could be especially odd because i intend to consider whether there can be such a thing as catholic liberal education. why should that be an issue for us? is it not obvious that there is such a thing as catholic liberal education? surely thomas aquinas college gives testimony to its existence. our founding document, the blue book, is entitled a proposal for the fulfillment of catholic liberal education. just why would i waste your time asking about the possibility of something that so obviously exists? now i take it as obvious that there can be catholic carpenters and plumbers, there can be catholic tennis players and golfers, and there can be catholic poets and teachers. however, let us consider what it means to say that this man is a catholic plumber, or that this woman is a catholic tennis player. surely we must mean that the plumber happens to be catholic, or maybe better, the catholic happens to be a plumber, and it is coincidental that the catholic woman is a tennis player. there is not a particularly catholic way of installing a sink. the plumber could install it well or badly, but how would he install it in a catholic way? the catholic is called to be honest and forthright, but that does not mean it is inappropriate for the catholic tennis player to use the backhand during a game. isn ’ t it clear that the relationship between plumbing and catholicism, or tennis and the catholic faith, is coincidental? you might prefer to play tennis with a catholic, but that is, perhaps, because of the conscientious behavior displayed on the court. if we consider the parts of liberal education, especially the liberal arts themselves ( the quadrivium : geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy ; and the trivium : grammar, logic, and rhetoric ) does it really seem to be the case that if we add catholic to any one of the parts the nature of the discipline changes? that is, is there a catholic geometry? is there a peculiar geometrical truth that could be called catholic? or is there a particularly catholic way of proving


case that if we add catholic to any one of the parts the nature of the discipline changes? that is, is there a catholic geometry? is there a peculiar geometrical truth that could be called catholic? or is there a particularly catholic way of proving some geometrical proposition? as with the example of the plumber, isn ’ t it the case that catholicism does not make geometry into a different kind of activity? the term “ catholic geometrician ” names someone who just happens to be both a catholic and a geometer. it is not like the case of “ rational ” when added to animal. “ rational animal ” names a specific kind of animal, one that is not a brute. so “ rational ” does not just describe an animal that happens to be rational, “ rational animal ” actually defines a different kind of animal. but “ catholic geometer ” does not seem to do the same, for there is no kind of geometry that is particularly catholic. what we have just said about geometry also applies to arithmetic, and astronomy, to grammar and logic, and the remaining liberal arts. the basic point so far is that if the parts of liberal education are not called catholic properly, then how could the whole, composed of these parts, be called catholic in any other way than an education that happens to be acquired by catholics? however it should be pointed out that a liberal education is not just the education in the liberal arts. liberal education is the education that is sought for its own sake, and so it is suitable for the free man. as a consequence, this education is primarily speculative, that is, it is sought because it is good to know, and not because of some practical purpose. liberal education, then, would include philosophy and theology, in addition to the liberal arts. surely philosophy and theology can be specifically catholic. and if they are catholic then a catholic liberal education could simply be an education informed by philosophy and theology, both of which have a catholic character. this point has merit. there is a considerable difference between geometry, for example, and philosophy. geometry is about points, lines, figures, and magnitudes generally. these kinds of objects are not specifically catholic, so is it a surprise that that there is not a properly catholic geometry? philosophy, on the other hand, considers the nature of man, the universe, and all sorts of things that have direct bearing on the catholic faith. the philosopher might well consider whether there is evidence that god exists ; he might wonder what constitutes freedom of the will. he should consider if it is


, and sustain him in times of difficulty, but it does not appear to be appropriate to call philosophy catholic. if this is the case, then the fact that a liberal education includes philosophy is not sufficient to call that education properly catholic. maybe it is obvious that theology, one part of a truly liberal education, would be defined by catholicism. perhaps one could argue that theology is the most important part of a liberal education. it studies the most important object — god himself — and perhaps the other parts of a liberal education are insignificant before the knowledge of the divine majesty. here we might find a reason for calling all of a liberal education catholic if theology is included as one of its parts. after all if the most important part of something has a certain character, then the whole can be described by that characteristic. much like you might call a man odd if he displays odd behavior. his hands and feet may not be odd, but you call the whole man odd because a significant part of him is odd. is this why we could call a liberal education catholic, because its most significant part, theology, is catholic? not so fast. consider how we study and discuss theology at thomas aquinas college. does it make a difference if a student is catholic or protestant, jewish, or a non - believer? in freshman theology students are encouraged to consider the evidence in the text of scripture itself, not to bring in the catechism. and in sophomore theology doesn ’ t the class depend on the argument that st. augustine makes, and the evidence he provides, not what this or that student believes? finally, in junior and senior theology, what is most remarkable is how argumentative, that is, how rational st. thomas ’ procedure is. as long as one concedes the principles that, no doubt, st. thomas believes, any student can follow the argument. so even if in itself theology is properly catholic, one can grasp the argument of the theologian without sharing his belief. so, the conclusion of all we have said so far is that catholic liberal education does not appear to be one kind of thing. it seems to be more like our previous example of a catholic plumber — a man who just happens to be catholic is also a plumber. so is this how we are to understand catholic liberal education : the education that people who happen to be catholic take part in? what if this is the case, what if all that can be said is that catholic liberal education is an education that catholics take part in, or one in which there are


become a humanist, not an educated man. that is, if you are content simply to appreciate different positions, you might be fun to talk to at a cocktail party, but you will not know anything. you would be familiar with who thinks what, but you would be unable to make judgments about the way things are. the second supposition that i will consider is, as i said, concerning the parts of an education and it is closely related to the previous supposition. if a student studies many disciplines without integration, that is, if he thinks about science apart from theology, or mathematics independently of philosophy, he will not have a unified view about what is. he could easily tend to a kind of skepticism, because whatever he knows in natural science is not brought to bear upon his understanding of ethics, for example. or what is understood as a theological doctrine, would not be thought of as a guide to thinking rightly in some other discipline. without an effort to resolve these differences, the mind is left on its own to wander according to its own inclinations and guesses. this is a problem for us at the college as well as for other academic institutions. in our own curriculum we study the great books throughout the program. in these books there is more disagreement than agreement. and the disagreements are often about first principles, and notions so basic, that it is impossible that the authors be reconciled except in the vaguest of ways. in fact, often an attempt to reconcile these contrary positions would do violence to the views of the authors themselves. so how should we deal with the basic disagreements that we find in our own program? in the face of contrary positions, and basic disagreements, the mind will be at sea. there are at least three ways to react to fundamental disagreements among the wise. 1 ) a good approach to the conflicting positions found in the great books is to realize that if the wise have disagreements, the matter must be difficult to know. that realization should prompt you to try harder to see where the truth is. 2 ) these contrary positions could cause you to despair of any genuine intellectual advance, so you become either a skeptic, or uninterested in the examined life. 3 ) perhaps the worst reaction to the differing positions that have been considered over the centuries is to make the positions themselves the object of study. in that case, the search is no longer for the truth ; instead the object of study becomes the opinions of men. it should be granted, then, that an education properly so called must have as


to make the positions themselves the object of study. in that case, the search is no longer for the truth ; instead the object of study becomes the opinions of men. it should be granted, then, that an education properly so called must have as its end to come to know what is true. and since there are many disciplines and many great minds studied in any educational program, there must be some order and resolution in the curriculum if the truth is to be received. now the principal way that the truth is to be made known is by an unfailing guide. that is one way in which catholic liberal education is education in the strictest sense. cardinal newman makes this point succinctly in the beginning of the book : the idea of a university. he points out that a university is a place to seek universal knowledge, and that “ it cannot fulfill its object duly … without the church ’ s assistance … the church is necessary for its integrity ” ( p. xxxvii, 1966 edition ). pope john paul ii quotes this same remark of cardinal newman in his apostolic constitution ex corde ecclesiae. the holy father then adds : “ it is the office ( officium ) of the catholic university to devote itself, without condition, to the cause of truth. ” he goes on to say that : “ the catholic university bears itself ( inclines ) towards every truth according as they are joined to the supreme truth, that is to god ” ( ex corde ecclesiae, # 4 ). so these preliminary remarks suggest a strategy for the rest of this lecture. if we are to understand how a liberal education can be catholic, we should first consider the end of education, that is truth, and then treat how the parts of truth are integrated. the words “ true ” or “ truth ” can be used in a number of different ways. perhaps the most common use of the term is when we say something such as : “ i think what you say is true. ” or, “ what you say is the truth. ” in this sense of the word, a claim has been made, in the form of a sentence, and one judges that what that sentence expresses conforms to the way things are. the thought expressed in the sentence, then, is true. also, a building can be described as being “ true ” to the architect ’ s original vision. this sense of “ true ” does not appear to refer to a statement. another sense of the word “ true ” is found when we speak of someone


also, a building can be described as being “ true ” to the architect ’ s original vision. this sense of “ true ” does not appear to refer to a statement. another sense of the word “ true ” is found when we speak of someone as a “ true ” friend, or a “ true ” patriot. this use of the word “ true ” also does not seem to refer to the truth of a statement. aristotle, speaking about the first and most obvious sense of true, says that “ falsity and truth are not in things … but in though ” ( metaphysics, vi, ch. 4, 1027b26 ). he goes on to make a qualification. not everything that is in the mind would be called truth : “ with regard to simple concepts and ‘ whats ’ falsity and truth do not exist even in thought. ” if i think about what a dog is, for example, to the extent that i am just doing that, i have yet to attain to the notion of truth. if i say, or think, “ dog, ” i have yet to make a claim about it. “ dog : true or false? ” that is an absurd question. so we begin by noting two things : 1 ) the true, in the first sense of the word, is not in things but it is in the mind ; 2 ) and the true is in the mind when some judgment is made, and normally that judgment is expressed in a sentence. this, according to our own experience of knowing, is the most obvious sense of truth. a third thing follows from what i have just said. although the true is in the mind, it is not the mind that principally causes the truth. if i make the statement that a centaur is a long - lived animal, that statement is false, for there is no such thing as a centaur. so although, in the most common use of the word “ truth, ” the truth is found in the mind and not in things, it is the reality of a thing that causes truth. another way of putting this is that a thing ’ s being is a cause of any true statement made about it. a statement is not true just because i make it ; man is not the measure of things. no, a statement is only true if what is said corresponds to some reality, some existing thing. as st. thomas puts it : “ … the being of a thing is the cause of the true estimation ( or judgment ) which the mind has about something.


a statement is only true if what is said corresponds to some reality, some existing thing. as st. thomas puts it : “ … the being of a thing is the cause of the true estimation ( or judgment ) which the mind has about something. for the true and the false are not in things, but in the mind … ” ( in metaphysicorum, ii, l. 2, # 298 ). from what we have just said, we can understand the traditional account of the true as a conformity, or adequation, of the mind to things. as st. thomas puts it : “ a thing is not called true except according as it is adequated ( or conformed ) to an intellect, whence secondarily ( per posterius ) the true is found in things, primarily ( per prius ) however it is found in the intellect ” ( de veritate, 1, a. 2 ). note, however, what st. thomas says here : although the true, in the primary sense, is found in the mind, a thing can be said to be true in a secondary sense if that thing conforms to an intellect. i think what this means is that if one considers the intellect one can see that it can know things simply for their own sake ; that is, one can have a kind of speculative knowledge, but also the intellect thinks about things that can be made. the architect obviously thinks about the design of a house. when that house is built, presuming it is built according to his plan, then the house can be said to conform to what he had in mind. the house then can be called true, because it conforms to what the architect had in his mind. a brief qualification about what i have just claimed : i do not intend to say that the practical intellect is the only measure of the things that it produces. so when it is claimed that the true is in the mind first, it does not mean that the human mind is the sole or primary measure of the truth. a thing can be called true to the intention of the maker and still be called false in another sense. counterfeit money is still not true currency even though it conforms to the mind of the counterfeiter. much like the way “ faux ” pearls are called false because they have a tendency to make you think they are something they are not, that is, they are false pearls because one could easily think they are real ones. this suggests to me that there are more senses of


“ faux ” pearls are called false because they have a tendency to make you think they are something they are not, that is, they are false pearls because one could easily think they are real ones. this suggests to me that there are more senses of the word “ true ” than the two that i have outlined, but i am going to limit my consideration to these two senses. so in addition to the primary sense of truth, there is this secondary sense that, as long as what is in the mind is some art or perfection, then there will be found in the mind of the maker a cause of the truth of the thing produced. having made this qualification, i want to concentrate on the way man ’ s mind is related to things in the two basic ways i have pointed out, and this gives rise to two fundamental meanings of “ truth. ” now there is a significant difference in the way that a thing is related to the speculative intellect and how something relates to the practical intellect. the practical intellect, or more particularly, the art in the mind of the architect, for example, is a measure of what it produces. that is, the musical piece, to take another example, is said to be true according as it conforms to the musical principles the composer has in mind. the speculative intellect is said to have the truth according as it conforms itself to things. that is, the true judgment is one which has its basis in the way things are. so, we can see that practical thinking measures, or determines, the thing that is produced ; whereas things are what measure or determine the true judgment of speculative thinking. for the practical intellect, the art in the mind of the composer, for example, causes the thing that it produces, and so the product is called true since the effect corresponds to the cause. but the speculative intellect only attains truth if its knowledge is caused by things, that is, the mind receives things as they are, not as it wants them to be, or imagines them, or has been accustomed to think of them. st. thomas gives a nice summary of the relation of the human intellect to things : the knowledge of the human intellect is in some way caused by things : hence what follows is that knowable things are the measure of human knowledge, since the intellect judges [ what is ] true by bearing on things, and not the converse [ that is, not by the intellect determining things ] ( s. c. g. i, 62, # 512 ) so the human mind, to the extent


the intellect judges [ what is ] true by bearing on things, and not the converse [ that is, not by the intellect determining things ] ( s. c. g. i, 62, # 512 ) so the human mind, to the extent that it attains or receives the truth, is determined or measured by things. when the human mind is a principle of something made, then that thing can be called true according as it conforms to the maker ’ s intention. here is how st. thomas puts it : [ a ] mong created things truth is found in things and in the mind ( intellectu ) … in the mind according as the understanding that it has conforms ( adaequatur ) to things ; in things [ truth is found ] according as they imitate the divine intellect, which is their measure, as art is the measure of all artifacts. the comparison between the artist and the creator is worth noting. the artifact that the artist produces is determined by the art that he has in his mind, his mind is not conformed to it, since it is what is in his mind that has given rise to his product. the mind of god is not measured, not determined, not caused by things. rather, the divine intellect determines things in a way like the art in the mind of the architect or composer determines the building or musical piece. earlier we noted that the building designed by the architect can be called true since it conforms to the plan that he had in mind. similarly, every natural thing conforms to the ideas in the mind of god. st. thomas puts it this way : the divine intellect by its own knowledge is the cause of things. hence it is necessary that his science is the measure of things : as art is the measure of artifacts. ( scg, i, 61, # 512 ) a consequence of this is that truth would not be caused in the mind of god by the things he has produced, but the converse, that those things would be said not only to be, but to be true, according as they conform to the divine intellect. st. thomas summarizes quite nicely the main distinctions i have been trying to make. the very notion of truth implies a conformity of a thing to an intellect. however the intellect is compared to things in a twofold way : as the measure of existing things, [ that is ] the intellect which causes things ; another intellect is measured by things, [ that is ] the intellect whose knowledge is caused by things. therefore there is not


compared to things in a twofold way : as the measure of existing things, [ that is ] the intellect which causes things ; another intellect is measured by things, [ that is ] the intellect whose knowledge is caused by things. therefore there is not truth in the divine intellect because it is conformed ( adequated ) to things, but because things are conformed to the divine intellect. ( commentary on st. john, l. 18, l. 11 ) the gospel of st. john allows us to speak more fully on this matter. for in that gospel the creation of heaven and earth is described in such a way as to make clear that all things owe their existence to god, that is, they exist and are the kind of things they are, because god said “ let them be. ” in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god. he was in the beginning with god ; all things were made through him, and without him was nothing made that was made. all things were made through the word. the word is the expression of the father. he is what proceeds from the father, as a concept from the father. god ’ s act of creation is described as due to the father bringing forth his word, and that word is that through which all things are made. as a consequence the being of all things is due to the divine intellect. clearly the truth in the divine intellect is not due to things, but all things are and are true because of the mind of god. furthermore, since the divine intellect produces its concept or word, by which all things are made, that word can be called the truth. for, as we have previously argued, the first meaning of truth is what is brought forth by the mind in conformity to what it thinks about. since the word is brought forth by the father, and is in perfect conformity to the father, the word is appropriately called the truth. st. thomas puts it this way : and so it is that the uncreated truth of the divine intellect is appropriated to the son, who is the conception itself of the divine intellect and the word of god. for truth follows a conception of the intellect. ( commentary on st. john, l. 18, l. 11 ) earlier in the commentary on the gospel of st. john, st thomas says : truth belongs properly ( per se ) to him ( christ ) because he is the word. for truth is nothing other than the conformity of a thing to the intellect,


earlier in the commentary on the gospel of st. john, st thomas says : truth belongs properly ( per se ) to him ( christ ) because he is the word. for truth is nothing other than the conformity of a thing to the intellect, and this comes about when the intellect conceives a thing as it is. therefore, the truth of our intellect belongs to our word, which is its conception. but although our word is true, it is not truth itself, since it is not through itself, but it is conformed to the thing conceived. now the truth of the divine intellect belongs to the word of god. but because the word of god is true of itself, since it is not measured by things, but things are true insofar as they come near to a likeness of him, and so it is that the word of god is truth itself. and because no one can know the truth unless he adheres to the truth, it is necessary that everyone who desires to know the truth adhere to this word. ( in john, l. 14, lec. 2 ) here we have a fundamental distinction. “ the word of god is true of itself, since it is not measured by things. ” so unlike the human mind which comes to the truth by conforming itself to things, god contains all truth because things conform to him. so how are we to reach the fullness of truth? by knowing god. a consequence of what we have said is that since god possesses the whole of truth, and every other truth depends on him and points to him. he alone is the teacher without qualification. as st. thomas explains, god is first and properly a teacher because he has doctrine from himself. ( just as god is first and properly a father because he is the begetter of another in virtue of himself, whereas all other fathers are so called because of the existence and power that they have received from god. ) any lesser truth directs the mind to the fullness of truths and, therefore, the knowledge of all truths is not fully had until they are seen in their relation to the source of truth. when jesus speaks about the truth he identifies it with himself, and he indicates that it is what makes us free. knowing the truth, which is found in god essentially, and the word personally, is what makes us free. and since the end of a liberal education is to know the truth, which enables one to live the life of a free man, it follows that the fullness of liberal education is found


that philosophy should be called knowledge of the truth, for the end of theoretical knowledge is truth ” ( metaphysics, ii, ch. 1, 993b19 ). with this meaning of the word “ philosophy, ” there would not be many philosophies, because there is either truth or falsehood. so it would not be necessary to ask is this philosophy catholic? for by definition the truth attained by the human mind, the philosophical truths, would not contradict the truth revealed by god through the church. as pope leo xiii puts it in aeterni patris : those, therefore, who to the study of philosophy unite obedience to the christian faith are philosophers indeed ; for the splendor of the divine truths, received into the mind, helps the understanding, and not only detracts in nowise from its dignity, but adds greatly to its nobility, keenness, and stability. ( p. 9 ) in another sense of the word “ philosophy, ” any natural effort to know the world around us can be called philosophy and be defined by its principles and methods. in this sense of “ philosophy, ” there are as many philosophies as there are distinct approaches to understanding the world, that is, distinct principles and methods of inquiry. the philosophy of descartes would differ then from that of aristotle. and to the extent that descartes appears to hold that the soul and body are distinct substances, and he seems to hold a curious view about what substance and accidents are, to that extent cartesian philosophy would not be a catholic philosophy, even though descartes was a catholic. in fides et ratio, john paul ii seems to use this sense of the word “ philosophy. ” he distinguishes philosophies by their principles and methods. however, that still makes the passage i quoted earlier curious : “ the church has no philosophy of her own nor does she canonize any one particular philosophy in preference to others. ” how are we to understand this passage in light of centuries of papal teaching extolling the philosophy of st. thomas? for example, pope pius xi : we consider that thomas should be called not only the angelic, but also the common or universal doctor of the church ; for the church has adopted his philosophy for her own, as innumerable documents of every kind attest. ( studiorum ducem # 11 ) the first thing to note about the quotation from fides et ratio is that john paul ii refers to a text from pius xii ’ s humani gene


as innumerable documents of every kind attest. ( studiorum ducem # 11 ) the first thing to note about the quotation from fides et ratio is that john paul ii refers to a text from pius xii ’ s humani generis. in that passage pius xii considers the church ’ s relationship to philosophy : “ [ t ] he church cannot be bound to any philosophical system which exists for a brief period of time … ” he then goes on to say that only those things composed from common consent of catholic doctors are not based on a weak foundation because they are “ supported by principles and notions deduced from a true knowledge of created things. ” clearly pius xii is warning the faithful about basing their judgments on philosophical fads, among which he includes “ idealism ” and “ existentialism, ” for these “ systems ” incline one to “ dogmatic relativism. ” it is important to note that john paul ii ’ s remarks, generally translated as : “ the church has no philosophy of her own nor does she canonize any one particular philosophy in preference to others ” is to be understood in terms of the text from pius xii that he refers us to. a sign of this is that later in the same encyclical he speaks about the “ incomparable value of the philosophy of st. thomas … [ and that ] the thought of the angelic doctor seems … the best way to recover the practice of a philosophy consonant with the demands of faith ” ( f + r # 57 ). one last point, if one looks to the latin text of fides et ratio, it becomes clear that the passage i have been quoting is very loosely translated, and, as a result, might give a false impression. as literally as i can put it, the passage should be rendered as follows : the church does not hold forth her very own philosophy, nor does she have preference for one to the detriment of others. what the holy father is saying, then, is that the church urges the faithful to seek for truth wherever it can be found. she is not bound to this or that philosophy, especially not to philosophies that are popular and so could be a fad. the church does not reject truth found in any particular philosophical school, but she also has a longstanding endorsement of the perennial philosophy found in st. thomas aquinas ’ teaching. so there is a catholic philosophy, a philosophy that is a handmaid to the truth revealed by god, and taught by his church. that


part of twisted. internet. protocol view source view in hierarchy implements interfaces : twisted. internet. interfaces. iconsumer | method | | write | | the producer will write data by calling this method. | | method | | registerproducer | | register to receive data from a producer. | | method | | unregisterproducer | | stop consuming data from a producer, without disconnecting. | inherited from adapter : | method | | _ _ init _ _ | | set my ' original ' attribute to be the object i am adapting. | | method | | _ _ conform _ _ | | i forward _ _ conform _ _ to self. original if it has it, otherwise i simply return none. | | method | | isuper | | forward isuper to self. original | register to receive data from a producer. this sets self to be a consumer for a producer. when this object runs out of data ( as when a send ( 2 ) call on a socket succeeds in moving the last data from a userspace buffer into a kernelspace buffer ), it will ask the producer to resumeproducing ( ). resumeproducing will be called once each time data pauseproducingwill be called whenever the write buffer fills up and resumeproducingwill only be called when it empties. | parameters | | producer | | ( type : |


classifying critical points so let ’ s say we ’ ve got a critical point of a multivariable function. that is, a point where the differential vanishes. we want something like the second derivative test that might tell us more about the behavior of the function near that point, and to identify ( some ) local maxima and minima. we ’ ll assume here that is twice continuously differentiable in some region around. the analogue of the second derivative for multivariable functions is the second differential. this function assigns to every point a bilinear function of two displacement vectors and, and it measures the rate at which the directional derivative in the direction of is changing as we move in the direction of. that is, if we choose coordinates on given by an orthonormal basis, we can write the second differential in terms of coordinates this matrix is often called the “ hessian ” of at the point. as i said above, this is a bilinear form. further, clairaut ’ s theorem tells us that it ’ s a symmetric form. then the spectral theorem tells us that we can find an orthonormal basis with respect to which the hessian is actually diagonal, and the diagonal entries are the eigenvalues of the matrix. so let ’ s go back and assume we ’ re working with such a basis. this means that our second partial derivatives are particularly simple. we find that for we have and for, the second partial derivative is an eigenvalue which we can assume ( without loss of generality ) are nondecreasing. that is,. now, if all of these eigenvalues are positive at a critical point, then the hessian is positive - definite. that is, given any direction we have. on the other hand, if all of the eigenvalues are negative, the hessian is negative definite ; given any direction we have. in the former case, we ’ ll find that has a local minimum in a neighborhood of, and in the latter case we ’ ll find that has a local maximum there. if some eigenvalues are negative and others are positive, then the function has a mixed behavior at we ’ ll call a “ saddle ” ( sketch the graph of near to see why ). and if any eigenvalues are zero, all sorts of weird things can happen, though at least if we can find one positive and one negative eigenvalue we know that the critical point can ’ t be a


to see why ). and if any eigenvalues are zero, all sorts of weird things can happen, though at least if we can find one positive and one negative eigenvalue we know that the critical point can ’ t be a local extremum. we remember that the determinant of a diagonal matrix is the product of its eigenvalues, so if the determinant of the hessian is nonzero then either we have a local maximum, we have a local minimum, or we have some form of well - behaved saddle. these behaviors we call “ generic ” critical points, since if we “ wiggle ” the function a bit ( while maintaining a critical point at ) the hessian determinant will stay nonzero. if the hessian determinant is zero, wiggling the function a little will make it nonzero, and so this sort of critical point is not generic. this is the sort of unstable situation analogous to a failure of the second derivative test. unfortunately, the analogy doesn ’ t extent, in that the sign of the hessian determinant isn ’ t instantly meaningful. in two dimensions a positive determinant means both eigenvalues have the same sign — denoting a local maximum or a local minimum — while a negative determinant denotes eigenvalues of different signs — denoting a saddle. this much is included in multivariable calculus courses, although usually without a clear explanation why it works. so, given a direction vector so that, then since is in, there will be some neighborhood of so that for all. in particular, there will be some range of so that. for any such point we can use taylor ’ s theorem with to tell us that for some. and from this we see that for every so that. a similar argument shows that if then for any near in the direction of. now if the hessian is positive - definite then every direction from gives us, and so every point near satisfies. if the hessian is negative - definite, then every point near satisfies. and if the hessian has both positive and negative eigenvalues then within any neighborhood we can find some directions in which and some in which.


pope lived during a period of intense and varied scientific activities — the development of the microscope, and newton ' s formulation of a theory explaining the gravitational basis of the universe, for example — which revealed a great deal about the nature of things : for pope, these discoveries seemed to provide scientific corroboration for a crucially important concept which he expressed in various ways, but which can be expressed as the fundamentally conservative notion that the physical universe itself, and man ' s place in it, are aspects of an orderly divine scheme of things which, though it is too vast for the merely human intellect to comprehend, is nevertheless both majestic and meaningful. pope ' s acceptance of this concept, and the ways in which he managed to incorporate it into his work, are revealing : contemporary scientific discoveries, that is, seemed to him to provide acceptable answers to questions which had previously been matters of religious faith or philosophical belief. with what questions does he seem to have concerned himself most? much more so than darker and more sceptical figures like swift or johnson ( who were in any case much more dubious about the validity of the very notion of scientific " progress " ) pope seems to have regarded contemporary scientific and technological advances — those, at any rate, which could be incorporated into his belief - system — as being somehow reassuring. incorporated in the victorian web july 2000


mit professor ’ s book digs into the eclectic, textually linked reading choices of people in medieval london. cambridge, mass. - - following the 1997 creation of the first laser to emit pulsed beams of atoms, mit researchers report in the may 16 online version of science that they have now made a continuous source of coherent atoms. this work paves the way for a laser that emits a continuous stream of atoms. mit physicists led by physics professor wolfgang ketterle ( who shared the 2001 nobel prize in physics ) created the first atom laser. a long - sought goal in physics, the atom laser emitted atoms, similar in concept to the way an optical laser emits light. " i am amazed at the rapid progress in the field, " ketterle said. " a continuous source of bose - einstein condensate is just one of many recent advances. " because the atom laser operates in an ultra - high vacuum, it may never be as ubiquitous as optical lasers. but, like its predecessor, the pulsed atom laser, a continuous - stream atom laser may someday be used for a variety of applications in fundamental physics. it could be used to directly deposit atoms onto computer chips, and improve the precision and accuracy of atomic clocks and gyroscopes. it could aid in precision measurements of fundamental constants, atom optics and interferometry. a continuous stream laser could do all of these things better than a pulsed atomic laser, said co - author ananth p. chikkatur, a physics graduate student at mit. " similar to the optical laser revolution, a continuous stream atom laser might be useful for more things than a pulsed laser, " he said. in addition to ketterle and chikkatur, authors include mit graduate students yong - il shin and aaron e. leanhardt ; david f. kielpinski, postdoctoral fellow in the mit research laboratory of electronics ( rle ) ; physics senior edem tsikata ; mit affiliate todd l. gustavson ; and david e. pritchard, cecil and ida green professor of physics and a member of the mit - harvard center for ultracold atoms and the rle. a new form of matter an important step toward the first atom laser was the creation of a new form of matter - the bose - einstein condensate ( bec ). bec forms at temperatures around one millionth of a degree kelvin, a million times colder than interstellar space. ketterle ' s group had developed novel cooling techniques that were key to


the bose - einstein condensate ( bec ). bec forms at temperatures around one millionth of a degree kelvin, a million times colder than interstellar space. ketterle ' s group had developed novel cooling techniques that were key to the observation of bec in 1995, first by a group at the university of colorado at boulder, then a few months later by ketterle at mit. it was for this achievement that researchers from both institutions were honored with the nobel prize last year. ketterle and his research team managed to merge a bunch of atoms into what he calls a single matter - wave, and then used fluctuating magnetic fields to shape the matter - wave into a beam much like a laser. to test the coherence of a bec, the researchers generated two separate matter - waves, made them overlap and photographed a so - called " interference pattern " that only can be created by coherent waves. the researchers then had proof that they had created the first atom laser. since 1995, all atom lasers and bec have been produced in a pulsed manner, emitting individual pulses of atoms several times per minute. until now, little progress has been made toward a continuous bec source. while it took about six months to create a continuous optical laser after the first pulsed optical laser was produced in 1960, the much more technically challenging continuous source of coherent atoms has taken seven years since ketterle and colleagues first observed bec in 1995. a new challenge creating a continuous bec source involved three steps : building a chamber where the condensate could be stored in an optical trap, moving the fresh condensate and merging the new condensate with the existing condensate stored in the optical trap. ( the same researchers first developed an optical trap for becs in 1998. ) the researchers built an apparatus containing two vacuum chambers : a production chamber where the condensate is produced and a " science chamber " around 30 centimeters away, where the condensate is stored. the condensate in the science chamber had to be protected from laser light, which was necessary to produce a fresh condensate, and also from hot atoms. this required great precision, because a single laser - cooled atom has enough energy to knock thousands of atoms out of the condensate. in addition, they used an optical trap as the reservoir trap, which is insensitive to the magnetic fields used for cooling atoms into a bec. the researchers also needed to figure out how to move the fresh condensate -


##nsate. in addition, they used an optical trap as the reservoir trap, which is insensitive to the magnetic fields used for cooling atoms into a bec. the researchers also needed to figure out how to move the fresh condensate - chilled to astronomically low temperatures - from the production chamber to the science chamber without heating them up. this was accomplished using optical tweezers - a focused laser light beam that traps the condensate. finally, to merge the new condensate with the existing condensate in the science chamber, they moved the new condensate in the tweezers into the science chamber by merging the condensates together. a bucket of atoms if the pulsed atom laser is like a faucet that drips, chikkatur says the new innovations create a sort of bucket that collects the drips without wasting or changing the condensate too dramatically by heating it. this way, a reservoir of condensate is always on hand to replenish an atom laser. the condensate pulses are like a dripping faucet, where the drops are analogous to the pulsed bec production. " we have now implemented a bucket ( our reservoir trap ), where we collect these drips to have continuous source of water ( bec ), " chikkatur said. " although we did not demonstrate this, if we poke a hole in this bucket, we will have a steady stream of water. this hole would be an outcoupling technique from which we can produce a continuous atom laser output. " the big achievement here is that we have invented the bucket, which can store atoms continuously and also makes sure that the drips of water do not cause a lot of splashing ( heating of becs ), " he said. the next step would be to improve the number of atoms in the source, perhaps by implementing a large - volume optical trap. another important step would be to demonstrate a phase - coherent condensate merger using a matter wave amplification technique pioneered by the mit group and a group in japan, he said. this work is funded by the national science foundation, the office of naval research, the army research office, the packard foundation and nasa.


forth lesson 0 why bother? forth is weird compared to most popular computer languages. until you learn how, it is hard to read because it is not based on the syntax of algebraic expressions. but it is worth learning because a running forth system gives you an extraordinary degree of low - level control over the system. unlike most other programming environments that put up walls to hide or block access to " unauthorized " things, forth makes it easy to get at anything, at any level from low to high. forth syntax here is syntactically - valid line of forth code : this is a test 123 456 don ' t try to guess what it does ; in fact it doesn ' t necessarily actually work, because some of the symbols might not be defined. but it is syntactically valid. it consists of 6 words, " this " " is " " a " " test " " 123 " " 456 ". words are separated by white space - spaces, tabs, and newlines. in most cases, spaces and newlines are the same. another syntactically valid line : asdf foo jello @ w # $ % ^, t / % $ 1a2qw2 gibbet that ' s 6 words. one of them is pretty strange, consisting mostly of punctuation, but it is a word nevertheless. any string of printing characters is a word, though most forth implementations limit valid word names to 31 or fewer characters. left to right execution the forth interpreter is very simple. it parses the next word ( i. e. it skips whitespace, then collects characters until it sees another whitespace character ) and executes it. that is it in a nutshell. so if you are trying to understand a forth program in detail, you have to look at each word in turn and work out what it does. that sounds simple, but it will trip you up if you insist on looking for algebra. just go left to right, one word at a time. with practice, you will learn enough of the forth vocabulary ( the meanings of standard words ) so that you can see what is going on at a glance, without having to puzzle out each individual word. it is just like learning to read - it is tedious until you get the basic vocabulary down, then it is easy. thus endeth the lesson.


enology - n. : a science that deals with wine and wine making the v & e department combines the sciences of viticulture and enology in a single research and teaching unit that encompasses all of the scientific disciplines that impact grape growing and winemaking. for over one hundred years the university of california has maintained an active and productive program in research and education in viticulture and enology. the continuing excellence of the department has enabled california growers and vintners to develop practices that have allowed the golden state to achieve its potential and become a premier wine - producing region. our students are innovators. we prepare our students to advance the art and science of grape growing and winemaking the department of viticulture & enology teaches students to think critically, based on an understanding of the sciences that are the foundation of grape growing and winemaking. our programs are based on a comprehensive preparation in mathematics and statistics, chemistry and biochemistry, microbiology and plant biology. the focus of our coursework is to provide our students the underlying principles so that they can understand current practices. our graduates learn from practicing winemakers, viticulturists, and apply their understanding to create their own styles and practices - the result is many of the finest wine...


| first detailed look at rna dicer | scientists have gotten their first detailed look at the molecular structure of an enzyme that nature has been using for eons to help silence unwanted genetic messages. a team of researchers with berkeley lab and the university of california, berkeley, used x - ray crystallography at als beamlines 8. 2. 1 and 8. 2. 2 to determine the crystal structure of dicer, an enzyme that plays a critical role in a process known as rna interference. the dicer enzyme is able to snip a double - stranded form of rna into segments that can attach themselves to genes and block their activity. with this crystal structure, the researchers learned that dicer serves as a molecular ruler, with a clamp at one end and a cleaver at the other end a set distance away, that produces rna fragments of an ideal size for gene - silencing. rna — ribonucleic acid — has long been known as a multipurpose biological workhorse, responsible for carrying dna ' s genetic messages out from the nucleus of a living cell and using those messages to make specific proteins in a cell ' s cytoplasm. in 1998, however, scientists discovered that rna can also block the synthesis of proteins from some of those genetic messages. this gene - silencing process is called rna interference and it starts when a double - stranded segment of rna ( dsrna ) encounters the enzyme dicer. dicer cleaves dsrna into smaller fragments called short interfering rnas ( sirnas ) and micrornas ( mirnas ). dicer then helps load these fragments into a large multiprotein complex called risc, for rna - induced silencing complex. risc can seek out and capture messenger rna ( mrna ) molecules ( the rna that encodes the message of a gene ) with a base sequence complementary to that of its sirna or mirna. this serves to either destroy the genetic message carried by the mrna outright or else block the subsequent synthesis of a protein. until now, it has not been known how dicer is able to recognize dsrna and cleave those molecules into products with lengths that are exactly what is needed to silence specific genes. the berkeley researchers were able to purify and crystallize a dicer enzyme from giardia intestinalis, a one - celled microscopic parasite that can infect the intestines of humans and animals. this dicer enzyme in giardia is identical to the core of a dicer enzyme


a dicer enzyme from giardia intestinalis, a one - celled microscopic parasite that can infect the intestines of humans and animals. this dicer enzyme in giardia is identical to the core of a dicer enzyme in higher eukaryotes, including humans, that cleaves dsrna into lengths of about 25 bases. in this work, the researchers describe a front view of the structure as looking like an axe. on the handle end there is a domain that is known to bind to small rna products, and on the blade end there is a domain that is able to cleave rna. between the clamp and the cleaver is a flat - surfaced region that carries a positive electrical charge. the researchers propose that this flat region binds to the negatively charged dsrna like biological velcro, enabling dicer to measure out and snip specified lengths of sirna. when you put the clamp, the flat area, and the cleaver together, you get a pretty good idea as to how dicer works. the research team is now using this structural model to design experiments that might reveal what triggers dicer into action. in addition, one size does not fit all for dicer : different forms of the dicer enzyme are known to produce different lengths of sirna, ranging from 21 to 30 base pairs in length or longer. having identified the flat - surfaced positively charged region in dicer as the " ruler " portion of the enzyme, the researchers speculate that it may be possible to alter the length of a long connector helix within this domain to change the lengths of the resulting sirna products. the researchers would like to see what happens when you take a natural dicer and change the length of its helix. research conducted by i. j. macrae and k. zhou ( university of california, berkeley, and howard hughes medical institute ) ; f. li, a. repic, a. n. brooks, and w. z. cande ( university of california, berkeley ) ; p. d. adams ( berkeley lab ) ; and j. a. doudna ( university of california, berkeley, howard hughes medical institute, and berkeley lab ). research funding : national institutes of health. operation of the als is supported by the u. s. department of energy, office of basic energy sciences. publication about this research : i. j. macrae, k. zhou, f. li, a. repic, a. n. brooks, w


[ author ' s note : although i am employed by the japanese american national museum, this article should not be construed as coming from the national museum. instead, this article is my personal opinion and should be taken as such. ] over the last month, i have posted articles about my grandfather and what happened to him during the second world war. much of my grandfather ’ s story was not unique. approximately 120, 000 japanese americans were illegally incarcerated during the war, their only crime was looking like the enemy. the majority of those incarcerated were american citizens. when most people refer to where the japanese american were held, they use the term : internment camp. but the term is not only inaccurate but also hides what they really were : concentration camps. before you get angry or offended, let me explain. according to the merrian webster dictionary, a concentration camp is “ a camp where persons ( as prisoners of war, political prisoners, or refugees ) are detained or confined. ” the definition of a concentration camp describes exactly what happened to the japanese americans during wwii, where they were political prisoners confined in a camp. one of the reasons people are reluctant to use the term is because they don ’ t want to imply what happened in the united states was similar to what happened to jews and others in europe. but i believe what happened in europe was not a concentration camp but much much worse. a more accurate term would be “ death camp, ” because the main purpose of the european camps was to torture and kill its prisoners. in the book, common ground : the japanese american national museum and the culture of collaborations, the museum curators addressed this debate : a “ concentration camp ” is a place where people are imprisoned not because of any crimes they committed, but simply because of who they are. although many groups have been singled out for such persecution throughout history, the term “ concentration camp ” was first used at the turn of the century in the spanish american and boer wars. during world war ii, america ’ s concentration camps were clearly distinguishable from nazi germany ’ s. nazi camps were places of torture, barbarous medical experiments and summary executions : some were extermination centers with gas chambers. six million jews were slaughtered in the holocaust. many others, including gypsies, poles, homosexuals and political dissidents were also victims of the nazi concentration camps. in recent years, concentration camps have existed in the former soviet union, cambodia and bosnia. despite differences, all had one thing in common : the people in power removed a