Notes - 11/4/11

1. "Mama Lucy", was not able to find quality education for her children in Northern Tanzania - and had to send them to a boarding school is neighboring Kenya . She decided that she didn't want any other Tanzanian mother to have to send their children away to school.

Mama Lucy and my wife Judy

The public education system in Tanzania was over burdened and underfunded and did not prepare students for the transition from instruction in Swahili to English that occurred as students went on to secondary school. When she was able to collect enough financial support to start her school in Arusha, she was recognized as an model grass roots organization leader, and she came to the attention of a young American couple ( Stacy and Sanjay ) who specialize in providing marketing support.

Classroom in Mama Lucy's school

With their internet skills they have been able to establish a wide reaching fund-raising campaign - and Mama Lucy's school has been able to expand - adding classrooms for grades 1-6 education, a school library building, a dormitory and kitchen.

Students gathered together in school courtyard

Now she is expanding to provide high school education as well - building a high school one grade at a time each year as funds become available. Mama is currently in the US on a fund raising venture. We became friends with her while we were in Arusha, summer of 2010. We had taken suit cases filled with books for her library.

School garden which grows vegetables for the school lunch program

This last week, we were able to have dinner with Mama Lucy, Stacy, Sanjay, and two visiting Tanzanian students. It was so interesting to learn of the progress she has made and the plans for the future. She is truly a remarkable person!

School Library - Mama Lucy's school

Mama Lucy thinks of her school as an ongoing miracle as she sees each new phase emerge. It has made life changing opportunities available for her students - and it has all come about because of small contributions from many people around the world.

Students learn computer skills in Mama Lucy's school

2. Seeing Mama Lucy made me think how marvelous we human being are - imagine how many faces each of us can recognize on sight. Stored within the neurons of our brains we can store image recognition - (How do you store image recognition in the electrochemical activity of neurons?!)

Face 1: My sister in law "Susan"

Have you ever had the experience of being in a distant location,seeing a face, and instantly recognizing this person even if you met them for only a short time years ago, then quickly reconstructing name,relationship, and details about this person...How many people do you suppose you recognize on sight - Several thousands? Perhaps more...

Face 2 and 3: My Son and Daughter in Law: "Peter and Marila"

To test the concept - go to a high school reunion - where you haven't seen the people for 30 - 40 - 50 years...

Face 5: My nephew : "CAB" - "Conroe"

Astonishing that memory of faces have been lurking in our neurons all these years without any conscious recollection of these folks...and yet one glance and you say "Jim" "Alice" ... "good to see you".

Faces 6 and 7: My nephews wife "Brenna" and my niece "Tracy"

I have heard it said that one reason older people sometimes have trouble remembering faces - is that we have so many faces to keep straight - its like a computer that has many files to examine.

Faces 8 and 9 ; My wife "Judy" and son "Andrew"

Besides, how many people named Mike or Mary do you know? It takes a lot of neural processing to come up with the correct name... But then again this might be a "cop out" for just plain forgetting. One thing for sure memory can be a "slippery fish" - one minute you can not recall - and then when you are no longer trying, the memory will come back completely. Go figure...

Something is badly out of kilter here

3. It's very difficult to estimate large crowds - Some say "a few thousands", some say over 10,000 people gathered Wednesday in a central Oakland California plaza to express frustration. Each person came for their own reason. Each person there had to first struggle with him or herself to make the decision to put their body in that crowd. Some came to express frustration with banks that were unresponsive to foreclosures of their homes. Some were outraged with insurance companies that were more bent on collecting money than in providing necessary medical care.

San Francisco Financial District

Some were college graduates starting life with massive debts that would require many years to repay. There were men and women, young and seniors, all the different ethics groups of the SF Bay area, their were teachers outraged at the lack of funding for California schools, Longshoremen and dock workers concerned for “big business” policies that would block union organizing, their were seniors who had lost their savings during the Wall street fiasco after they were told investments were safe when the companies knew otherwise.

San Francisco Water Front District

There were a few bent on promoting their personal agenda and some who just wanted to sew the seeds of disruption. A prime focus of the "Occupy" movement is to ensure that the rallies remain peaceful - large crowds of protesters were chanting “ Peaceful demonstration” “ This is a peaceful demonstration”. I feel frustrated when I see the press tar the demonstrators all with the same brush – the motivation of the individuals was way to complex to do that. It is an insult to the serious Americans involved who were there because they care deeply! They were exercising their right to peaceful assembly and redress of grievance against a system that has failed to be responsive to their legitimate concerns. I am concerned when I see a general strike harm small businesses that have no part in causing the problem - I think this is misdirected action. I still prefer taking more direct action like moving your money out of a big bank and placing it in a local credit union. That is specific and sends a real message.

I did not attend the march – but I have talked to several who were there (students, teachers, friends)… through the day they listened to speeches, had street theater presentations, heard music, and gathered at various points in the Oakland financial area… Everything proceeded in an orderly manner until late in the evening, when a small group of trouble makers unrelated to the "Occupy Movement" started damaging property –and when the police responded they fought back against the police… and arrests were justifiably made. The next day groups of the Occupy movement were back on the street to paint over graffiti, to aid in the clean up, and to help repair damage caused by the trouble makers. They didn't pay small businesses that had their business stopped for the day or pay for broken windows...

San Francisco residential area

4. I imagine you have heard the story that Whirlpool is the latest American company ready to move their operation off shore. About 1000 jobs will be lost. It is true! Giving large corporations tax cuts does not support job creation here. In past years, Whirlpool has paid a lower tax rate than average citizens and the profits of their company have gone to shareholders rather than to create jobs. Now they take their profits and establish an offshore factory! Their products will be shipped back to the US for us to buy and produce more profit for their pockets. For more on cooperate taxes and big businesses dont miss this article:

"Thirty major US corporations paid no federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010"http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67509.html

"Thirty large and profitable Fortune 500 corporations paid no federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010, according to a new study Thursday on corporate loopholes. In fact, the 30 companies enjoyed a negative effective income tax rate over the three-year period, even as they earned pre-tax profits of $160 billion, according to two think tanks, Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. A negative tax rate represents a tax benefit like a credit, not necessarily direct funds from the government."
And the Republicans want to reward these folks with lower taxes still?

Notes: 10/27/11

(Photos from our trip to Yosemite last week...)

1. For the "Occupy Movement' to have any lasting effect it needs to develop specific achievable goals - otherwise it is howling into the wind. Wall Street and Banks have been so focused on maximizing their own profits that the 99% feel abused, powerless, and "taken advantage of"... The government responses haven't helped to really solve the issues either.

Have you ever wondered why large corporate banks should be baled out with federal dollars; then instead of developing policies to rebuild America from the greatest recession since the great depression, they concentrate on policies that maximize their own profits?

El Capitan

They have held back on loans to small businesses and individuals, they continually raise new customer fees (Bank of America just announced a new 5$ fee for the use of Debit cards), they provide scandalous annual bonuses for their executives, and they engage in “robo-signing” of home mortgage defaults that have unnecessarily removed families from their homes. The collusion between giant corporate banks and wall street shows a pattern of self seeking and abject disregard for average Americans.

Sunlight-rock-shadow

There is a simple action that many Americans are planning to send a message to the corporate banks. Remove your money from the giant “mega-banks” like Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America and place it instead in local banks or into a local credit union. Both have proved themselves much more responsive to local individuals and businesses and they offer the same security as the giant banks.

Please read more about the movement by following the links at their Face book site. Click “LIKE” if you agree: http://www.facebook.com/Nov.Fifth

Half Dome - from Glacier Point

It was Lincoln who first called us a government “of the people – by the people – for the people…” Sad to say we have become a government “Of corporations – by corporations – for corporations…” If enough of us speak in unison we can say: “Enough is enough”!

Nevada falls ( Upper ) Vernal falls ( lower)

2. When late October comes to Yosemite Valley, the summer crowds have thinned way down. Plus this is the season of spectacular fall leaves - yellows, reds, and orange brown, combining with the dark greens of the pines . This year even the waterfalls were respectable because it was such a wet winter last year. For the first time Judy and I took our bicycles and explored miles of bike trails that cross the meadows, travel through the beautiful oak and pine forests, and along the base of the great granite cliffs.

Half dome and back country as seen from Glacier Point

Yosemite has been a point of reference in my life– a kind of constant since I first came to this place when I was 9 years old traveling with my family from Kansas. In each stage of my life I have returned - In my early teen years it was one of the places that my Uncle John taught me the joys of “rambling” – enjoying a hike not just to reach a destination – but to enjoy the process – to enjoy the rocks and flowers along the way – the birds and reptiles, the insects and lichen. He taught me well.

Judy and John and bicycles

As an older teen and into my 20s I discovered rock climbing – Yosemite valley was the greatest of all sites! – I never did the major climbs that Yosemite is famous for – but it was a favorite place for small climbs. The clean glaciated granite is so magnificent! Judy and I have returned often over the years. We have brought our sons Peter and Andrew here to pass on the traditions...

Twilight

Every time I visit I am amazed anew at the interplay of rock and water, of light and shadows, of the recurring cycle of life…The very beauty of the valley has also made summer visits increasingly crowded, with many others seeking nature and solitude. But fall and spring are now our favorite seasons to visit.

"Happy isles"

If we visit in the summer we tend to go to the "high country - Tuolumne Meadows which is over 8000 ft. in elevation. That is our "jump off" site for high Alpine hiking and the tranquility of high altitude terrain…

Milkweed seeds

There is a wonderful social dynamic in Yosemite Valley - people talk to people - you meet strangers on the trail as you catch your breath - you chat... in the restaurants people share spaces and talk about their day's adventures, there is a rustic lounge where people gather at night, around a big fire, to talk, read, or play games... Yosemite attracts people from the entire world - Europeans, Asians, Latin Americans... We spent a memorable evening with four persons from Madrid Spain - It was a fascinating conversation in Spanish and English (they were so kind in acceptance of my fractured Spanish!). Two of the group spoke English and helped me with translating ...

Autumn in Yosemite

I was pondering, as we rode our bicycles, how attitudes about natural places and systems are changing – I grew up among people who viewed nature as something to conquer - something to control or use.

Telephoto of a four point buck

As a biologist, I can only stand in awe at the incredible body systems found in every living organism –each plant or animal is a miracle to observe as it interacts with its environment – and as it adapts to seasons and changes – as it reproduces to form the next generation - as each species has adapted and changed over the eons of time.

Color color color

As we learn more about the limited nature of resources on earth and as the pressures of increasing world population and global climate changes are felt, many people on earth have come to realize that great natural systems and the organisms found there are limited. Life here is fragile – its not only organisms that need preservation but entire systems.

Glacerially shaped granite walls

3, I write this all propped up in a chair with pillows to support my left foot - Wednesday I had corrective surgery on my foot - the result of many miles of mountain trails over my life - there was scar tissue and "junk" to be removed from the joint - My surgeon was pleased with what he found and removed... so with good fortune I will have more good adventures with this foot in the future!

Yosemite falls in October

To see full set of Yosemite photos go to: ( For best viewing go to upper left corner :

click on "slideshow")

https://picasaweb.google.com/jzlatnik49/YosemiteFall2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCPiOk66RrPr-UQ#

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Notes: Week of 10/21

1. Photos this week show a variety of doors that Judy and I have encountered in our travels… What people passed through these doors? Where were they going? Where have they been? What do they talk about?

Northern Spain - Farm house

2.OCCUPY MOVEMENT: The most recent National Journal poll finds 59% of Americans either "completely agree or mostly agree" with the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the "occupy" movement, I urge you to read and understand why this movement has come about. Many Americans are frustrated with our unresponsive Congress, with financial interests run amok, with our industries maximizing profits by shipping operations ( and jobs ) offshore, by a government bought and sold through lobbyists, by 401k plans "sold" to us an the solution for retirement - and now its clear the excessive fees are extracted to give huge profits for Wall Street firms!.

Twenty First Century Gasoline Station

I am frustrated with a congress that has consistently responded to the requests of the "one percent" and paid little attention to the needs of the "99 percent". ( 81% of Americans currently disapprove of the actions of the current Congress.) I am frustrated with self serving state governments that enact new laws to block voters (of the opposite political party) from exercising their right to vote...particularily older voters, minorities, and young voters. This is not how a government of the people, by the people, for the people should function. The Occupy movement is still amorphous – the goals indefinite – I am watching carefully to see what form it will take.

Tool Shed - Bodie - California

Predictably the right wing press is using derogatory name-calling in an effort to demonize and delegitimize the "occupy movement"… It is not a "mob"… It is not "anarchy"… ( look up these words in your dictionary). It is a widely varied group - young and old, workers, professionals, unemployed, male and female... united in the practice of peaceful demonstration of our American right to "peacefully assembly" and "express grievances"..

Bodie - Bank Door

Quite a good short video cartoon on the “occupy movement”. http://storyofstuff.org/broke/

Recommended video – get past the intro. to the Marine Sergeant speaking: http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/marine-confronts-police-at-ows/6aypxi7

Country House - Delaware USA

3. INTERNS AND STUDENT TEACHERS: My life is blessed this fall – I am “field supervisor” for ten “Teach-For-America” interns (they teach 5 classes a day) and three Mills College student teachers. (1 class a day, but carry a full load of college classes as well). It is my task to observe their teaching practice – take notes of what I see – to comment on what is creative and effective and to ask questions about those areas that I don’t understand or where changes are appropriate.

Street entrance to a home compound - E. Turkey

If appropriate, I offer teaching materials or management ideas. I travel at far north as central Berkeley and as far south as Union City … most of my teachers are in various parts of Oakland. When possible, I attempt to schedule two or three visits on a day… (I am spending a lot on time on the free-ways these days.)

Central Turkey - Kapadocia

There is a predictable sequence that many new teachers pass through in the first weeks of teaching- First there is the alarming awareness of how much work and how many details are involved in teaching! How to meet the variety of student needs? How to make time to plan and evaluate and administer for "all those students".

Now by the end of the first quarter most teachers are feeling like it is "coming together". Most of the new teachers have developed positive class cultures, and most have found a way to balance their planning, evaluation, and administration responsibilities– and perhaps save some time for their own life outside of school.

Massai Hut - Tanzania

When I visit a teacher I ask if, by the end of the day, they are generally feeling OK about their practice… by now most of them say they love their teaching, love their students, but still feel challenged by the demands. Most students have moved beyond thinking about teaching "the whole class" to recognizing and dealing with the many individual student needs.

Swaziland Farm House

New teachers come to realize that each student comes to their class with different experiences and past learning. They come from different cultures, and different family attitudes toward learning, they come with different erroneous beliefs and ideas, some come with negative emotional baggage that impedes their ability to learn. One size of teacher response does not fit all!

Public House - Bodie

What an amazing thing – to teach young people to think – to empower them to become problem solving! (I think this is why some groups favor teaching students to memorize facts – problem solvers are “dangerous”.

Shop - Czech Republic

4. CARBON IN OUR WORLD: This earth of ours is not making any new carbon – we have a fixed amount. Carbon is special because it can form so many kinds of compounds. It can combine with Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and a few other elements to make an amazing variety of molecules.

Wealthy Home - Bodie

The DNA in my cells (which I inherited from my parents and my long ago ancestors) is itself based on carbon. But DNA molecules carry instructions for making my many different kinds of proteins…just exactly so. Some of my proteins make up my structure, but others make up my control chemicals - my enzymes and hormones... All made mostly of Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Oxygen atoms.

Church Yard - Central Turkey

Now the great curiosity of it all is that I build my proteins from the carbon I eat in plant and animal products. I get my hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen from wheat and corn, from Norwegian sardines and African peanuts, from Beef, Lamb and Chicken…

Parsonage - Bodie

Each of these sources got their carbon from somewhere else… Plants get their carbon from the carbon dioxide in the air, and animals eat other animals or plants. So I must conclude that the carbon in my cells has been recycled again and again from every sort of plant and animal since life on earth began…

Village Hut - NE of Arusha Tanzania

from dinosaurs, and woolly mammoth, from spiders and butterflies, from the people living during the time of the Roman empire, from African tribesmen, from the legions of Genghis Khan… I have shared Carbon with them all. Every single atom of carbon in my body has been used countless times before – and now it is my turn to use these atoms – but when I am through with them they will continue to be used by other organisms.

Shuttered Business - Prague - CZ

Every time I exhale I release carbon dioxide back into the air … When I get a hair cut some of my carbon ends up on the barber room floor.… I just have temporary loan of all these carbon atoms. In fact most of the carbon that is part of my body today has been replaced more than once in my life time!

I remember the first time I realized the truth of the Carbon cycle - I was still in school - it left me feeling a bit of disquiet... I thought of the protein in my arm muscles to be "special"- to be part of "me"... the very idea of sharing my carbon with the whole world seemed strange indeed!

5. Recipe of the week: I have used this multiple times - and I love the result! http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/002047.html

Notes from 10/14/11

1. The sky was filled with crows - I stopped counting at something over 40. They were wheeling and diving all in the neighborhood of a grove of young redwood trees. Forty plus crows make a lot of noise!

Crow

I was walking the dogs so we went looking and sure enough there was a very nervous looking great huge red tail hawk in the top of a tree. After a bit, the hawk decided he had enough and off he flew with a parade of crows trailing and threatening him - all "cawing" at the top of their lungs.

Every season has its magic - it is now the time when great black and orange orb weavers construct their perfect webs across garden pathways.

Orb weaver

This is a miracle that mystifies me - how do they store web making instructions into the DNA of a spider egg -how can a sequence of nucleic acid chemical code lead each new generation to the same design...? The older I get the more content I am for there to be mysteries that I dont know how to answer... It is the mystery itself that pleases me.

Last weeks rain caused the overnight appearance of the first mushrooms - and the hills are started their annual color change form yellow to green ( I fear it will be short lived if we dont get more rain to support the new grass.)

2. I urge you to follow daily activities of the "Occupy Wall Street " movement at this site - it is updated frequently...

http://occupywallst.org

On the same topic: "What you should know about the “1%”

http://campusprogress.org/articles/how_unequal_we_are_the_top_5_facts_you_should_know_about_the_wealthies/

3. EDUCATIONAL TOOLS: Messy old chalk boards! - Do you remember chalk dust - by the end of the day I had it all over me! Do you remember trying to erase the board clean, and then having to thump the erasers to clean them? Chalk boards have long since been replaced with white boards and easy erase color pens … and these have largely been replaced by preprepared PowerPoint presentations – which allow the teacher to travel around the room as the lecture is proceeding with PowerPoint notes and images on the screen controlled by a handheld "clicker" to change images. If you don't know them do a search for LCD projectors.

Do you remember those old mechanical projectors with real film and the sound of the motor driving the mechanism. Classroom films like "Hemo the Magnificent" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156602/)

Hemo poster

and "Unchained Goddess" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF9WdV8pUPk)… often required most of a period to show. – In todays classrooms, there are still videos but they are often brief and to the point. If I want to illustrate the process of Mitosis – I search in Google for “You tube - Mitosis”.

Onion cells at different stages of Mitosis

Here I find that there are several and so you must choose the one that best matches the level and needs of your class- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlN7K1-9QB0 The videos are generally 2-6 minutes in length and can be directly integrated into PowerPoint lecture note presentations. Teachers generally require students to summarize or respond to the video in a short written piece. Check out a couple of examples: Photosynthesis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdgkuT12e14&feature=related Surface of Mars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8VoD9m7ug4&feature=relate

***My "Don't Miss" favorite source of ideas for high school science and math teachers is here: http://www.ck12.org/flexbook/ - Whether you are a teacher, or have been a high school student sometime in your life - check this out - for example - go to 'Biology' - and there you have your choice of student editions or teacher editions... lots of good activities, videos, labs, as well as text... the entire site is a kind of teacher co-op ... no fee - and is continually growing as teachers across the world contribute more good ideas... I love it!

3. "Un American activities" are being "sneaking by us" in some of our state legislatures: The Brennan Center for Justice from the New York University School of Law recently did a study of state voting practices:

Government of the people - by the people - for the people

http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/voting_law_changes_in_2012/

"State governments across the country enacted an array of new laws making it harder to register or to vote. Some states require voters to show government-issued photo identification, often of a type that as many as one in ten voters do not have. Other states have cut back on early voting, a hugely popular innovation used by millions of Americans. Two states reversed earlier reforms and once again disenfranchised millions who have past criminal convictions but who are now taxpaying members of the community.

Fair government for all

Still others made it much more difficult for citizens to register to vote, a prerequisite for voting. These new restrictions fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election. Based on the Brennan Center’s analysis of the 19 laws and two executive actions that passed in 14 states, it is clear that:

• These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.

One man ( or woman) - one vote

• The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.

• Of the 12 likely battleground states, as assessed by an August Los Angeles Times analysis of Gallup polling, five have already cut back on voting rights (and may pass additional restrictive legislation), and two more are currently considering new restrictions.

With liberty and justice for all

States have changed their laws so rapidly that no single analysis has assessed the overall impact of such moves. Although it is too early to quantify how the changes will impact voter turnout, they will be a hindrance to many voters at a time when the United States continues to turn out less than two thirds of its eligible citizens in presidential elections and less than half in midterm elections.This study is the first comprehensive roundup of all state legislative action thus far in 2011 on voting rights, focusing on new laws as well as state legislation that has not yet passed or that failed. This snapshot may soon be incomplete: the second halves of some state legislative sessions have begun."

What can be more unAmerican than seeking to prevent all Americans to vote - especially to stack the desk so that "your party" has an unfair advantage... Another reason to join the OccupyWallStreet movement in your city or town...

This week most of my images came from Wikipedia - the Political figures I copied from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC/

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