Random Ambition

So, I had this idea. In our office, just to the left of where I sit, stands a seven-foot-tall bookcase. It's filled, actually overfilled, with books. My idea is to take one book off the shelf as randomly and as blindly as possible, open it to a random page, point to a random place on that page, and read the nearest complete sentence, paragraph, or section. The way I see it, this could be anywhere from truly enlightening to completely pointless and stupid. It's a risk I'm willing to take. If it's interesting, I might do this once a week or so. If not, well, I promise I won't torture any of the three of you. So, here goes:

"Universities, too, are being redefined by corporations. I recently visited Omaha, where the corporate community made it possible for the Omaha branch of the University of Nebraska to build an engineering school -- even after the Board of Regents vetoed the project. Local corporations, particularly First Data Resources, wanted the school, so they worked with the Omaha branch of the university to finance what became less a school than a large information-science and engineering complex. 'This is the future,' said the chancellor of the Omaha campus, Del Weber. 'Universities will have to become entrepreneurs, working with corporations on curriculum [emphasis mine] and other matters, or they will die.' The California state university system, in particular the San Diego campus, is perhaps the best example of corporate-academic synergy, in which a school rises in prestige because its curriculum has practical applications for nearby technology firms."

From: Robert D. Kaplan, The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War. Random House. 2000.

California Politicians Pattin' Themselves on the Back

At least one California Legislator isn't congratulating himself on our latest budget. If you are a Californian, whether Democrat, Republican, "independent," or whatever, please read this.

Kennewick Man

I've been following this story off-and-on since the 1998 discovery of 9300-year-old remains near Kennewick, Washington. I was taking an Anthropology class at the time (where I first met my Annie), so my interest in the story was heightened somewhat. The more I learned, the more outraged I became. The bones were found by accident on land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. When the remains were dated and measured, scientists were shocked and excited at their discovery: the bones were more than 9000 years old. No big deal right? Well, this is where it gets interesting. The bones appear to be from a Caucasian male rather than from an Asiatic (Native American) one. (I'm not going to get into how they do all these technical measurements on the skull structure). This discovery, if proven to be accurate, would throw out much of our long-held beliefs about where the first Americans came from and when they came here.

The scientists, naturally, planned to excavate the entire site in order to look for other possible human remains or cultural artifacts. But, this is where the story gets outrageous. The Army Corps of Engineers forbade further excavation and promptly planted over the site. What's more, Native American tribes got involved and demanded the remains be handed over to them for proper burial. They claimed Kennewick Man was not an ancient white man, but one of their own. To paraphrase one of the tribal spokespeople: "We know this is true because our people have always been here. Our ancestors have passed down our story to us." Thus began the protracted legal battle you now read about in the article.

My outrage stems from the willingness of some to forbid scientific study in the name of religion, culture, history, ancestory, or pride. If you are truly secure in your ancestoral pride, you would let the light of careful scientific scrutiny shine on anything and everything. It would appear that scientists may finally be able to shine that light on Kennewick Man. Unfortunately, the tribes have shown that they don't just "want a seat at the table." In this, and any future cases, they want to bury the remains with no scientific study performed, and they want the Government and the scientific community to go away. If the pending legislation in Congress should pass, they just might get what they want.

What A Jacques Ass!

I know what it's like to get myself into trouble by saying something I shouldn't have, but I love this story anyway. French President Jacques Chirac (former ally and trading partner of Saddam Hussein) was overheard making comments about British and Finnish cuisine yesterday. The comments have apparently motivated someone to challenge Chirac to put his money where his mouth is, so to speak. Read the article here.

After reading the article my only question (and, yes, I know I'm probably the only one on the planet who would think of this): Why not serve a fine English Ale or Finnish Sahti with those dishes. Either one would match a hell of a lot better than French wine (whine)!