Miep Gies

She never considered herself a hero. Would that we could all be so heroic.

(CNN) -- Miep Gies, who ensured the diary of Anne Frank did not fall into the hands of Nazis after the teen's arrest, has died. She was 100.

(NPR) Miep Gies, the office secretary who defied the Nazi occupiers to hide Anne Frank and her family for two years and saved the teenager's diary, has died, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam said Tuesday. She was 100. [link to audio]

[Photo Anne Frank House/AP via NPR] 

Iggy Approaches

The annual Ig Nobel Awards are less than two weeks away. Time for the hype to begin!

Visit Improbable.com for more an introduction video and http://improbable.com/ig/2009/. Be sure to click through to the video from WCVB-TV.

Mark my words, this research is a sure winner!

Here's some more fun from Improbable.com: Für Elise:

Education is Not a Placebo (My 15 Seconds of Fame)

I'm going to be FAMOUS for all of about 15 seconds. On my drive home Thursday evening I heard the following commentary on NPR's Marketplace program

Education works as a placebo effect

TYLER COWEN: There's lots of evidence that placebos work in medicine; people get well simply because they think they're supposed to.

But we're learning that placebos apply to a lot of other areas and that includes higher education. Schooling works in large part because it makes people feel they've been transformed. Think about it: college graduates earn a lot more than non-graduates, but studying Walt Whitman rarely gets people a job. In reality, the students are jumping through lots of hoops and acquiring a new self-identity.

The educators and the administrators stage a kind of "theater" to convince students that they now belong to an elite group of higher earners. If students believe this story, many of them will then live it.

Dr. Cohen goes about the cost of prestige and status, but I pretty knew how I wanted to respond at this point. After dinner I found the Marketplace site, checked the commenting guidelines and left this comment:

I acknowledge what Dr. Cowen says about the value of confidence and self identity, but higher education is anything but a placebo. Learning itself is a critical skill which is gained through study, and that study might be biology, business, physics, physiology, zoology, or any number of other areas, including Walt Whitman. In a pinch, maybe even economics will do.
A college degree does not mean a student has mastered a subject, rather it is an indication that the student is teachable, and capable of jumping through the higher hoops of their profession.

I figured there was a good chance of this getting selected to be read on the air - because my comment was about the only one under the 150 word limit. I was right too, because I got an email from Alison Gilbert asking if I would record an edited version for broadcast on the letters segment:

Higher Education is anything but a placebo. Learning itself is a critical skill which is gained through study. That study might be biology, business, physics, physiology, zoology – even Walt Whitman. A college degree does not mean a student has mastered a subject, rather it is an indication that the student is teachable and capable of jumping through the higher hoops of their profession.

So there you have, my 15 seconds of fame broadcast for all to hear on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 9th. Tune in your radio or listen in online.

And for the record, I agree with Dr. Cohen that confidence and self image are an important part of education, and that the costs of education are getting out-of-hand. However, education is not a placebo; you just can't fake that.

[UPDATE] Here is a link to the September 8th Letter segment and text.

Stephen Colbert gets a Haircut

Stephen Colbert is in Iraq entertaining the troops this week, and he is sporting a new haircut. CNN reports that we can see the tonsorial update for ourselves tonight.

More video will no doubt be available at Colbert Nation.

Viva Flatland

Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbot, was my first math book. I probably had math textbooks in school before this, but Flatland is the book I remember. Flatland mattered, because it caught my imagination.
My Dad showed me this book, and walked me through the concepts of understanding dimensions. I learned to that a creature in a two-dimensional Flatland would find it difficult to grasp the concept of a third "up and down" dimension completely outside of their experience. This gave me a new insight on how our own 3-D world might seem similarly "flat" to a creature that lives and perceives in 4 or more dimensions. The concept of higher dimensions, which was and is beyond my experience, suddenly made sense, and these were fascinating thoughts for my pre-teen mind.

My Dad taught me a lot of cool stuff. He was a Physicist by training, and a Computer Scientist from the time when the field was just inventing itself. There were always science books around the house, not to mention science fiction. Also magazines; The latest issues of Science, Scientific American, and Analog could usually be found on his desk. These provided a constant supply of real and fanciful ideas for a young mind. My dad always thought of himself as a scientist. He always tried to keep up with the latest innovations and discoveries in science and technology. He never stopped trying to learn, and perhaps the greatest thing he ever taught me was that I should never stop trying to learn either.

When I started writing this post a few days ago, it was just supposed to be about Flatland, and my rediscovery of an old book that had a big influence on me. Thing change though, and so have the direction of my thoughts over the past few days. My father, my teacher, my mentor, passed away peacefully last night, his body finally giving in to illness and deterioration brought on by progressive dementia. I thought I was prepared for this, but knowledge that death is coming doesn't quite prepare you for its arrival. Though his slow decline has been painful to see, I am grateful he could be with us for so long, and that the disease took him as quickly as it did; Amazingly quickly compared to what I understand to be the normal course of dementia, which is a testament to how well he was able to adapt and compensate for as long as he did.

Things change, and the student becomes the teacher. One of my reasons for this blog is to pass on some of that fascination with science that my Dad instilled in me. Also, to pass along (some might say "inflict") some of his sense of humor as well, which I also seem to have inherited.

Things change. People pass on. I miss you Dad. God bless.

In Loving Memory: Douglas Earl Eastwood (1924-2009).
UPDATE: A memorial blog for stories and comments can be found at http://deememorial.blogspot.com/.

[Hat tip to God Plays Dice for leading me to E-Books Directory and 4DLab, where is found this PDF edition of Flatland. Hence the source of the illustrations.]

To Your Scattered Bodies Go

One of my favorite authors when I was growing up was Phillip Jose Farmer. I just learned that he passed away two days ago. Featured here are the covers of some of his books, most in the versions I owned and read, and read, and read. Maybe the saddest part of growing up is losing touch with some of the things that made growing up interesting, and Farmer's books were quite good at that. His books had a prominent place on my bedroom shelf for many years.

Good Luck, Mr Farmer. I'm pretty sure the Ethicals will pick you out for special treatment. Don't forget your grail!

January 26, 1918 - February 25, 2009. R.I.P

[Hat Tip 2 IO9]

No More Number Six

Patrick McGoohan has passed away. More at IO9.

The Prisoner is one of my all-time favorite TV shows, and there has never been anything else like it. If McGoohan were a football player (either kind) his jersey would almost certainly be retired in honor, never to be used again. Therefore, I humbly suggest the number 6 be retired from all future use. Really. Once we get over not having 6-packs (oops) 5+1-packs it will hardly be any bother at all.


Ack! Richardo Montalban too! So much for that Star Trek 19 script I was working on.

Merry Christmas from DTA!

It's a tomato ... sort of ... if you use your imagination ... and squint.

Merry Christmas everyone. I am pondering a post on the reciprocity of snow removal, but it just didn't happen today. Perhaps tomorrow, or maybe I'll take a few days off.

One Word: Vote

VOTE!

Studs Turkle (1912-2008)

Studs Turkel died today. We just lost a great one.

from Plainfield Today
from Bloomberg News

McCain and Palin visit Waukesha

John McCain and Sarah Palin are at the Center Court Sports Complex today at Noon. I wonder if they will play racquetball?

JSonline writes:

Waukesha: McCain and Palin will appear at the Center Court Sports Complex, 815 Northview Road. The event begins at noon. Doors open at 9:30 a.m., but all advance tickets have been distributed.

Is it just me, or do both the Presidential candidates look tired? This is not surprising given the requirements of the campaign, but it appears to be hitting McCain especially hard (also not surprising, given his age). While I don't intend to vote for McCain, I would like to see him to stay healthy and active in politics for a long time. McCain is a voice of reason in the Republican party - someone a lot of Democrats could vote for in other circumstances - and I think he still has much he can contribute.

A nice game of racquetball might be just the break he needs.

[Image: Big Time Attic or http://www.bigtimeattic.com/]