Freeing Up the Airwaves

I just received this link through the list-serve at my radio station. As radio djs we are all quite interested in any moves that are made regarding indecency and obscenity laws promoted by the FCC. We like to know what we may or may not get in trouble for. I sure don’t want to end up getting my station in trouble for uttering something that I’m not supposed to, like Bono for instance. Additionally, although considering some words or phrases obscene or indecent seems reasonable, it seems ridiculous and out-dated for others. For instance, the phrase “piss and vinegar” can get you in trouble because piss pertains to urine and urine is considered vulgar because it is a bodily fluid. I know many would like to maintain the US in a 1950’s conservative way of life, and the FCC is helping to try to do just that. However, the reality is that the times, they are a’changin’, and what may have been indecent before may be commonplace in today’s world.

The article makes some really interesting points about the future of indecency in the US as technology advances. We have been brought into a new age of free information via the internet that opens up a whole new can of worms for the Supreme Court to deal with. Will the Supreme Court side with the FCC and continue to limit the content that adults are allowed to receive, or will it take this new age of information and the competition that things like cable and the internet have brought to the once hallowed purveyors of information, the broadcast networks? The networks are fighting for their freedom to compete in the market that they once used to own. And, who knows which way the Court will go these days?

Mudita

What kind of world are we living in? The term schadenfreuden (basically means to take pleasure in others misfortune) has gained popularity in recent months, and I think it says a lot about our culture.

This past weekend the word came up in conversation with friends, and I wondered whether the Germans have a word with the opposite meaning, to take pleasure in others good fortune. After a thorough web search, my friends and I came up empty handed for the German antonym. However, we did find a Buddhist word with the meaning we were searching for, mudita. Simple, yet unknown to many. I’d like to see this word spread. Wouldn’t it be nice if the nightly news had a mudita segment everyday, if only to show that the world isn’t all bad. To counter-act the negative with some positive, so that we feel at least a little more balanced. I know it would be nice to take pleasure at the good that others are doing and experiencing a little more often.

mmm… mudita.

So, There’s Some More Bad News…

I was busy reading my friend Amy’s blog this morning, and was as bothered as she about the huge amount of downright bad news. Then I checked boingboing only to find another example.

In yet another subversive turn, evidence recently surfaced that a major telecommunications company has been shunting internet traffic to the NSA. According to an article in Wired News a 22-year employee of AT&T came forward with 140 pages of documents supporting his claim that AT&T created secret rooms in their switching stations that sent internet traffic to the government. The Eelctronic Fronteir Foundation has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of AT&T customers. AT&T is currently trying to have the evidence silenced, claiming that it contains proprietary information:

The lawyers argued that unsealing the documents “would cause AT&T great harm and potentially jeopardize AT&T’s network, making it vulnerable to hackers, and worse.”

Yea, right… they’ve been caught doingsomething wrong, and they’re afraid that the government (whose program of spying they’ve been supporting) will leave them high and dry to take the fall. Pres. Bush certainly doesn’t need anymore negative press. the White House press release will say something to the effect of, “We are shocked and appalled that such a trusted purveyor of public communication technologies was complicit in actions not condoned by this government. Should the allegations prove true, we will make certain that they are subject to the harshest penalties of the law.” Or, something to that effect. Alternatively, magically, the critical documents will disappear (or simply not allowed as evidence), and the EFF will have no case against AT&T. What we need is more evidence that can’t be sealed. Anyone?

Your Anus…

Ehrm… I mean URanus has a rare blue ring. I swear, as old as I am, and the older I get, I never get tired of that joke. Beavis and Butthead must live in my brain.

My other favorite spacey image for the week is the bird’s eye view that the ISS astronauts had of the solar eclipse… talk about eerie.

The Virtual Playground

This is the coolest web tool/library that I have seen in ages. An assistant professor of Geology at UC Davis, Ryosuke Motani, and his colleagues have created this 3-D library of fossils on the web. I’ve only played with it a little, but the tool lets you drag and rotate scanned and computerized images of fossils to get views of them from any angle. The library contains fossils from several different taxa, and will grow as new fossils are added. This is the kind of thing I could play with all day, and learn a thing or two to boot.

Bones and Bits

Researchers have found a transition species that has the traits of a fish and bone structure that would enable it to support itself on land. Read here for more info. Fascinating.

The most interesting possibility is that there may be more such organisms in that area of Canada still to be found. There is so much below our feet, and we are only just beginning to understand the breadth of the variety we may yet find.

Every Boy’s Dream…

Oh, dear… this had me laughing the minute I turned on my computer this morning. I can totally see my husband doing this… next time we go out for pizza. And, you probably thought it would be something related to porn.

Ahhh, Life…

A study out in Science today uses the new field of bioinformatics to determine how organisms went from anaerobic to having metabolic processes dependent on oxygen. The intricate tale that they weave describes the steps that must have been necessary, yet were so unlikely to occur at times. You see, we live in a caustic environment. Oxygen is incredibly reactive, and although we and most life on Earth depend on it, it is a corrosive bath in which we have fought through time to be able to survive.

There are many steps as yet undetermined, but the authors, Raymond and Segre, found through their analyses that there has to have been a distinct procession of chemical steps that pushed life to higher metabolic complexity. When life began on earth, it was dominated by anaerobic organisms that were able to capitalize on the reductive molecules available at the time. However, they lacked the metabolic pathways to be able to oxidize the large supply of H2O. So, it wasn’t until the evolution of photosynthesis that organisms began to take advantage of electron-donating water, releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. The shift to oxygen then moved evolution more rapidly as organisms had to create new ways of protecting themselves from the ravages of such a reactive compound. At the same time the atmosphere and oceans were filling with oxygen released as a metabolic by-product of the growing populations of photosynthesizing organisms. The anaerobes became relegated to pockets within the environment as oxygen became more and more plentiful. Oxygen soon supplanted other reactive chemicals that organisms had relied upon for so long, and forced organisms to find ways to use organic materials in order to reduce oxygen to water. This led to the development of respiration, which uses both aerobic and anaerobic processes to create energy. Respiration created new problems for cellular organisms to deal with, requiring even more creative metabolic solutions, and thus spurred evolution to advance once again. Since then the fight to live dependant upong oxygen has given rise to eukaryotic, multi-cellular, organisms – the plants and then the animals.

All the diversity we see around us has come from the fight to survive in one way or another. Whether it be to out-smart oxygen or a cunning predator, life is always full of incredible solutions. And, it is able to respond quickly to environmental challenges, leading ever onward on its unknown path.

I haven’t figured out how to embed images in my posts yet (is moveable type really as complicated as it seems? or is it just that they have a crap help section?), so here is the link to the graphic relation of these processes. You may not be able to see it if you are not subscribed to Science.)

What is with the South?

Ok, so I understand that there is this concept of states rights; that each state is able to make whatever laws they see fit as long as they generally don’t go against the Bill of Rights or federal constitution. I get this. But, I don’t get the laws that legislators think they should be making.

Take for instance the outlawing of sex toys in Mississippi – it is illegal to own, operate, or sell devices for the purpose of sexual genital arousal. Now, I know that not everyone uses, has used, or ever wants to use sex toys, but why take that right away from all people? How many people have been killed by sex toys? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I’m sure it’s not that many. Why not make some laws about things that really matter instead of pushing a moral agenda that not everyone shares. Heck, you outlaw sex toys and people are just going to go somewhere else for their sexual gratification.

Mississippi isn’t alone either. Alabama, Georgia, and Texas all have laws restricting sex toys. Nashville legislators have proposed a similar, yet slightly more enlightened law. You see, these legilsators aren’t stifling the hunt for knowledge. They plan to let the academics keep their sex toys as long as they are subjects of study. Hmmm… sounds like a much more interesting and engaging dissertation topic.

I read a comment on someone’s blog that states have the right to legislate morality, however that right ends when it becomes unconstitutional. I just wish that the Circuit and Supreme courts would uphold the constitution rather than the moral agendas of a few. How many more years until our country publicly recognizes the fact that adults should be able to make decisions about their own sexuality without the state butting in. People say that this is a free country. Compared to other countries maybe, but taken on its own, I don’t know how true that statement is.

Color me Impressed

This weekend I attended the Sacramento Regional Science Fair. This was my second year at the fair. Last year I was a judge and this year I went as a member of the press. I have to say that I was once again so completely impressed by the young scientists showing off their acheivments that it was all I could talk about for the past two days.

I showed up Saturday morning at Cal Expo, microphone and recorder in hand and spent the better part of the day intreviewing the students with presentations that struck me as interesting and insightful. I wish that I had had more time and battery life. My recorder gave out before I did unfortunately.

In the senior division, the students were consistently well-spoken , and had very well organized posters. The projects ranged from immunology to medicine to computer science. Above all though I was impressed by the knowledge that the students had for their subject matter. They hadn’t simply been told what to do, and memorized what some adult had told them. They had learned and integrated knowledge about their topic, and very often come up with original ideas as a result.

the ability to think for oneself is essential for success. And, in a time where we are looking at statistics that tell us how far behind the rest of the world we are falling in science and math, it is reassuring to have spoken with the future of our country’s scientific workforce. These kids are really smart, hard-working, and fully capable of maintaining the US’s position as a technological leader.

The students came from very different schools, cultures, and economic backgrounds, but the one trait that they all had in common was support. They had supportive teachers and parents who pushed them to do more than what is simply required to graduate. They had people standing behind them willing to help them find mentors in the research community, to drive them to internships, to help them learn how to use computer programs for data analysis, talk to them about their research projects and ideas, to help them lbelieve in themselves.

I have a couple of hours of audio recording to go through before finishing my final story on the fair. I look forward to listening to my interviews again, and maybe even learning a thing or two from the experiences that were shared with me.