Calling your representatives

After calling my state and US representatives' offices, and leaving a short message regarding issues I care about ("Yes, I SUPPORT the hate crimes bill"), I wonder, "Did I make any difference?"

Today I stumbled upon this startling example:

[Vermont state legislator] Robert South, a freshman Democrat from a conservative district, said he reversed his position after 228 of his constituents reached out and urged him to support the override, compared with 198 who urged him to oppose it.

From "Gay Rights Groups Celebrate Victories in Marriage Push", NYT, April 7 2009.

Nerdity

From "Art for nerds and nurseries" by Tiffany Ard, via BoingBoing.

"If we're equal, will you trade your marriage for my civil union?"

Nutshell-capturing photos of the marriage equality battle around the country:

Trish and Kate Varnum of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, react to the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling, 3 Apr 2009, from Yahoo News. As my wife put it, "Wow, these are midwesterners! Pasty heavyset folks with cross necklaces -- they look like everyone in my home town."

Euan Bear, of Bakersfield, Vt., in Montelier, 6 Feb 2009, from Yahoo News.

Pres. Obama emphasizes scientific integrity

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Scientific Integrity

Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration on a wide range of issues, including improvement of public health, protection of the environment, increased efficiency in the use of energy and other resources, mitigation of the threat of climate change, and protection of national security. The public must be able to trust the science and scientific process informing public policy decisions. Political officials should not suppress or alter scientific or technological findings and conclusions. If scientific and technological information is developed and used by the Federal Government, it should ordinarily be made available to the public....

Reality-based thinkers are back in charge. Full text of President Obama's memo on science.

Faculty job drought makes the NY Times

"Doctoral Candidates Anticipate Hard Times", in today's New York Times.

... A survey by the American Historical Association, for example, found that the number of history departments recruiting new professors this year is down 15 percent, while the American Mathematical Association’s largest list of job postings has dropped more than 25 percent from last year.

“This is a year of no jobs,” said Catherine Stimpson, the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University. Ph.D.s are stacked up, she said, “like planes hovering over La Guardia.”

See also this this caustic reaction, which estimates that tenure-track jobs are down only 25%, and argues that the real problem is that universities use "substitute student workers" instead of faculty.

Fixing this lousy arrangement could provide millions of jobs. Graduate students shouldn’t be teaching their asses off, and undergraduates should be working a lot less too. Many forms of this “work as financial aid” or extreme work-study are essentially using up and spitting out young people as disposable labor--costing them their chance at degrees, not enabling them.

Prop 8's day in court

We attended Wednesday's "Eve of Justice" rally in LA. Thousands of people there, despite the rain. We rallied, then marched from Nuestra Senora (the old church for which Los Angeles is named) to the US Courthouse. I snapped this photo of a fellow marcher, whose sign quoted one of Harvey Milk's best speeches.

I listened to the oral arguments from my desk (while reducing data.) It did not go well. The justices, especially Justice Kennard, seem ready to rule that California voters are entitled to make laws as discriminatory as they want, with no check on that power. Which means that Article 1 means nothing, that equal protection means nothing -- unless 50.001% of the voters agree that you deserve equal protection. That no one has any rights, except as bestowed by the California constitution. And that you have no rights that can't be stripped from you by 50.001% of the voters.

The justices repeatedly asked what rights are "unalienable". Hard to pronounce, easy to understand. Unalienable rights are those that cannot be made alien to you, by anyone, no matter what -- because they come from GOD, not from your fellow voters. "That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That's what Jefferson meant in the Declaration (which the California constitution quotes.)

"You've gotta give 'em hope."

Satellite debris could cancel Hubble repair mission

Nature.com is reporting that debris from a recent satellite-satellite collision may prevent the upcoming (desperately needed) shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

"Kaputnik chaos could kill Hubble", from nature.com
"Satellite collision puts Hubble at risk", from abcnews.com

The Onion: Cheney Dunk Tank raises $800 billion for Nation

"WASHINGTON—Organizers reported Sunday that the 44th White House Carnival was a rousing success, raising a record $800,000,066,845 for the federal government—$800 billion of which came from a dunk tank featuring former vice president Dick Cheney.

"According to Secretary of the Treasury and carnival volunteer Timothy Geithner, the 5-foot-deep tank has provided a much-needed boost to the nation's flagging economy."

Full article here.

Job Cancellation Mill

The Astrophysics Job Rumor mill currently shows 9 faculty searches are reportedly canceled or suspended. (Calstate x2, Dartmouth, Hertfordshire, Hopkins, Amherst, NC, Pitt, SC.)

Add a few other searches that may not have money to hire this year, and a few more institutions that decided not to advertise for a position this year, and you've got quite a grim year to be looking for a faculty job.

Of course, there are always positions for analytic brains in the financial secto-- oh, wait, nevermind.