Email from U of M President Robert Bruininks

I received today this brief email from President Bruininks:

Dear Mr. Fisher:

Thank you for sharing your concerns. It is important to understand that
the views expressed by biology Professor Paul Myers were expressed on
his personal blog and do not reflect those of the University of
Minnesota, Morris, or the University of Minnesota system. Initially,
there was a link to that personal blog from a University Web site. This
link was inconsistent with University Web policy, and per that policy,
the link was deactivated.

We pride ourselves on providing a nurturing environment for students of
diverse beliefs, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are firmly committed
to ensuring a respectful environment for discourse. I hope you will
continue to support the University of Minnesota.

Sincerely,


Robert H. Bruininks
President

Here was my counter-reply:

Dear President Bruininks:

Thank you for your reply. As I said in my first letter, it is not the views expressed on Prof. Myers blog that I find worthy of discipline. I believe professors should continue in their freedom to express personal opinions when not representing the University. However, Prof. Myers actions are what I find to be unacceptable. He encouraged people to sneak into a Catholic Church and steal the Holy Eucharist. When a Sacred Host was sent to him he publicly defaced the Sacrament and bragged about how stupid people were to be offended by what he did. This hateful action is what merits condemnation from your institution and the dismissal of Prof. Myers.

Students of the University of Minnesota deserve better teachers and mentors than Prof. Paul Myers.

Sincerely,
Mr. Dan Fisher
B.S. Physics, 2002
Univ. of MN, Institute of Technology

Mysterious osmosis

In college I took an intro biology course with a lab component. There was an osmosis demo that I found memorable due to the fact that nobody has been able to explain it to my satisfaction. The problem is that it was a bio lab, but I think the answer involves thermodynamics and biologists are generally not that up to speed on such things (a generalization, I know). But I didn't get along with my thermo prof and so can't remember enough to answers my own question. Here's the demo:

A U-shaped tube has a semi-permeable membrane at the bottom which allows water (the solven) to diffuse across it, but larger solute molecules are blocked (like salt). One side of the U contains fresh water while the other has some salt dissolved in it. The water levels start even on both sides. Leave it for a while (overnight) and the water will diffuse from the fresh side to the salt solution side diluting the solution in the process. The level of the fresh water will drop and the salt water level will rise. The rule is that the water will diffuse in order to "try to" equalize the solutions.

My question is this: A certain amount of work has been done in raising up the water level on the salt solution side. That risen water now has greater gravitational potential energy. I could run a little water wheel and use that energy for something. Where did that energy come from? What provides the energy for the work done raising the water level on the salt water side?

My lab TA in college didn't know. The PhD bio teacher here at my school doesn't know. Our chem teacher doesn't know. The internet is doesn't know (or is at least holding out). This Hyper Physics page suggests that the "internal" or "thermal energy" is responsible. I can sort of see how there might be a change in temperature to explain the gain in GPE.

Can anybody quantify this in a better way? I'm looking at you, PhD physics people!

Possible ocean under Titan's crust

Cool! (literally)

Last year, researchers reported that radar mapping of Titan by the Cassini spacecraft had found a peculiar shift in landmarks on the moon's surface of up to 19 miles (30 kilometers) between October 2004 and May 2007.

Now investigators say the best explanation is a moon-wide underground ocean that disconnects Titan's icy crust from its rocky interior.

"We think the structure is about 100 kilometers of ice sitting atop a global layer of water … maybe hundreds of kilometers thick," says Cassini scientist Ralph Lorenz of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

If confirmed, Titan would be the fourth moon in the solar system thought to contain such an internal water ocean, joining Jupiter's satellites Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Researchers believe that heat from radioactivity in a moon's core or gravitational squeezing may melt a layer of frozen water.

...

Luckily, the group's model is testable. It predicts a quickening of Titan's rotation rate in the coming year or two followed by a slowdown—something that can be measured on succeeding Cassini flybys.

This last bit about the theory being testable makes this more interesting to me. It's a great example to share with students. My 6th grade class is beginning a unit on geology today after finishing a unit on astronomy. We'll be spending a good deal of time asking, "How do we know what is inside of Earth?" It's fascinating to observe scientists piecing together a model for another body in our solar system.

New book from Darren Rousar!

Darren Rousar is a colleague of mine here at Providence Academy. He has recently published a book, Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach available from Amazon. From sightsize.com:

The first book of its kind, Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach by Darren R. Rousar teaches the student a systematic way to meet the challenges of cast drawing. Traditionally taught in classical art ateliers, Sight-Size is an approach to drawing and painting from life. It is through cast drawing that the basics of Sight-Size are learned. This approach is readily adaptable to other disciplines such as portraiture, still life, interiors, landscape and figurative painting as well as sculpture.

I've always been intrigued by Richard Feynman's stories about learning to draw as an adult. This book looks like a very systematic approach that appeals to me. Can anybody say summer project?

---

Darren R. Rousar attended Atelier Lack and Atelier LeSueur, both in Minnesota, as well as Studio Cecil-Graves in Florence, Italy. He was the assistant director and an instructor at Charles Cecil Studios in Florence, after which he became vice president of The Minnesota River School of Fine Art in Burnsville. He has been a professional artist and teacher for more than 20 years, focusing mainly on Christian themes. When not painting, Darren teaches art and art history at Providence Academy in Plymouth, Minnesota. His website is here.

The Grinches of U-ville

Katherine Kersten writes:

For most Minnesotans, December is a festive month of merrymaking and good cheer. But at the University of Minnesota it’s the most dangerous time of the year.

A Dec. 5 article on the University’s website, “Reevaluating seasonal office parties,” sets forth the perils. Its authors, Dee Anne Bonebright of the U’s Office of Human Resources and Julie Sweitzer of the Office of System Academic Administration, exhort U employees to be on their guard.

The memo makes clear that the limits most of us have learned to put on our Christmas spirit in recent years — you know, catching yourself before you hum “Joy to the World” in public — are no longer enough at the U of M.

In 2007, the enlightened Grinches keeping watch over U-ville (with apologies to Dr. Seuss) are trying to keep the spirit of Christmas from coming at all.

December office parties of any kind are now suspect at our state’s flagship institution of higher education.

The problem, explain Bonebright and Sweitzer in their memo, is that “celebrations held in December tend to make people think of Christmas, whatever the theme.” And who knows where that could lead?

GASP! More...

Lost and confused

Gender switch roils United Methodist Church

When did it become controversial to affirm that self-mutilating surgery was wrong? Doesn't this seem like a no brainer? Cutting off functional breasts, sewing on a fake penis, and injecting foreign hormones is clearly seriouly disordered.

Finally, those who argue the "God doesn't make mistakes" and "Don't mess with creation" lines readily make use of medical procedures to change their bodies, Phoenix said.

"Think of all the vaccinations, medications and pharmaceuticals we take," he said. "We completely alter our bodies."

No, true medicine seeks to heal our bodies of faults and preserve our health. It does not seek to destroy the natural functioning of a healthy person. At least, it shouldn't. Birth control and sterilization were previously viewed by Christians as "unnatural" because they frusterate or destroy the ability a healthy person has to conceive a new human being. At the 1930 Lambeth Conference, the Church of England formally permitted the use of unnatural methods of birth control. This was the first time in history that an organized church body broke with the traditional Christian morality regarding contraception.

Now, few churches stand with the Catholic Church in affirming the immorality of contraception. But one can see where it leads. When the connection between sex and procreation is discarded it becomes difficult to appeal to the human body or "human nature" in support of other sexual norms. If we can ignore the natural meaning of the sexual union between a man and a woman, then what stops us from simply ignoring the meaning of maleness and femaleness itself? Isn't it just our body? Isn't it just accidental? Maybe God did make a mistake with some people and ensoul them it the wrong shape...

It reminds me of a blurb I read in the local paper this past week. A local public school will prohibit students from allowing undergarments to show during the school day. No more bra straps on the shoulder or sagging belt lines. Don't worry, though. The administrators aren't doing anything rash. The new commonsense policy won't go into effect until next year.

This is news? Shouldn't a principal be able to say, "You, put on a decent shirt or you have detention"? This is why I'm glad my school has uniforms. We fight with the students over tucking in their shirts, or whether the type of leather on their shoes is dark enough. We pick our fights here so that we don't have to wring our hands about whether thongs can show above the waistline.

It's too bad that so many Christians didn't put up a fuss earlier about exactly what is "natural". Now they have to debate whether that flap of skin sewn between her legs makes her a man.

---

EDIT: The blurb to which I referred referenced a district spokeswoman who said there has not been problems with boys wearing saggy pants and girls having bra straps showing, but "we are staying up with current issues and to make sure everything is covered." Ok. Then why did this make the news?

Training the mind and the will

I teach science at a Catholic school. Our motto is "Faith, Knowledge, Virtue". A common phenomena to all teachers is the student who is very bright. He understands the material quickly and can perform well on tests. However, he constantly neglects homework assignments. As a result, he earns a grade of perhaps a C or even a D when he could easily make an A with simple effort. Many of us say, "He COULD earn an A, but he just doesn't try."

I've come to realize that he really CAN'T get a better grade on his own. Just like another student who really exerts himself but struggles to understand the material really CAN'T get a better grade on his own. BOTH require significant effort on their part and significant guidance on the part of teachers and parents.

The reason is that a person has two spiritual faculties of his soul: the intellect and the will. By his reason, [the human person] is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. (CCC 1704) A student who really works hard and scraps it out all quarter to earn a C+ is struggling particularly with a fallen intellect. I often recognize this struggle in students and council extra effort and practice for them to achieve a better grasp of a given concept. Another student who immediately understands a topic but fails to do his homework is struggling particularly with a fallen will. But, I have a default attitude of "Just get it done!" with this second student.

I'm realizing more and more that the second student needs to exert additional effort and practice (along with external structure and monitoring) just as much as the first. The will must be trained just as hard as the intellect. There is no switch to flip from "slacker" to "on the ball". Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. ... The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts. ... Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God's help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good. (CCC 1804, 1810, emphasis added)

I'm starting to get the "Faith, Knowledge, VIRTUE" thing a little better. Now, how do I teach it?