Carol Finch

Carol Finch
11 December 1953—4 March 2013
long-time volunteer around the C’ville racing scene, as she appeared at the North Garden Chicken Run in 2007.

Our friend Carol Finch died last night 4 March 2013. She directed multiple events annually, scored scores and scores of other races during her lifetime, coached lots of novice race directors, served repeatedly on the board of the local track club, and helped in many other ways with Charlottesville’s local racing community. Probably the Charlottesville Track Club’s Lifetime Service Award should be renamed the “Carol Finch Lifetime Service Award” in her honor.

Oh, and don’t forget that she also greeted lots of dogs that visited race sites and was a discerning sampler of any homemade goomies available for post-race snacking.

Update 8 March: Read Mark Lorenzoni’s fine tribute to Carol in his column, The Daily Run. Watch the CTC Website for notes about events celebrating her life. Read the obituary for Carol with recommendations about donations.

Thanks, Jeanne Manford!

Jeanne Manford, the founder of Parents and Friends and Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), died 8 January 2013. She showed a lot of us the way. It’s a sorry time, because she was such a pioneer. As PFLAG says, “It is with great sorrow that we share with all of you the passing of PFLAG’s founder, Jeanne Manford.”

Gunning for me?

How many guns do you own? Using data from the International Small Arms Survey, Max Fisher of the Washington Post reported that there are 270 million weapons in private hands in the United States, or about 9 for every 10 US citizens. In an informal survey, I asked a lot of my friends whether they owned guns, and they said “no.” Thus, there must be a lot of people who own more than one to balance out my social circle.

But, you know, there’s big money being made from guns and ammo. That’s a point that Bill Moyers makes in his editorial (print version; video version linked to accompanying image) that aired 4 January 2013 on his TV show. It’s a dandy of a commentary that includes a clip of Wayne LaPierre making that extraordinary statement about bad and good guys with guns, echoes of Archie Bunker, and a real-life gun dealer who quit selling guns. That’s why, as Mr. Moyers reports, the gun lobby suppresses discussion about sensible control of weapons. Watch the video of his editorial.

Global light maps

NOAA-NASA Satellite Image

I look at maps frequently and at length. I find them fascinating. Aerial images also appeal to me, because they have a map-like quality. Among those that have intrigued me are images of Earth showing lights at night. I came upon a new one to me recently and am sharing it here, in case others might has a similar interest.

I snagged this image from a section of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Web site devoted to the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite. Interested readers can go to the page called “Our Earth at night” to read lots more, but here’s a snippet to explain a bit.

U.S. Election Mega-analysis

Political pundits are second in line after the politicians themselves in putting spin on political poll data to make those data sound as if they support a particular interpretation. But there is another class of analysts who do not prognisticate. Instead, they simply examine the data and tell what those data show at this time.

Nate Silver of the New York (NY) Times has gotten a lot of publicity recently for his versions of this sort of work, but there are several others who are doing similar work (and to me, some are maybe even better, but let’s not argue about that right now). These people aggregate data from the polls (and, in many cases, other sources of evidence) to arrive at statistically dispassionate estimates of the situation. They don’t use hunches about momentum, ad-buys, and so forth. They follow the data.

Talk about dying, please

In some posts here I have reported examples of situations illustrating what I consider to be times when people should be able to hasten their own deaths. I recognize that people have differing views about whether individuals should be able to aid their own death when they are near the end of their own lives. It’s important to me that people have a civil discussion about this matter, not a discussion that is marked by histrionics, name-calling, and illogical argument.

Steve Lopez, who has reported for the Los Angeles Times about cases that evoke compassion about the people involved and with whom I agree about many of these matters, conducted an interview about this subject on 9 August 1012 with two representatives from Compassion & Choices, Judy Epstein and Kathryn Tucker. Admittedly, all three of these folks support the view that people should have options for hastening the end of their lives under certain circumstances. Other people may disagree.

What’s important is that we, the people, need to talk about this. We should do so before the issue becomes critical. We shouldn’t wait until someone we love is dying. I encourage people to watch this discussion about end-of-life options and investigate these issues. Sure, there are legal and legislative matters we can debate, but we also have our own person matters that we need to examine with our own loved ones.

For a primer on earlier posts related to my admiration of Mr. Lopez’s compassionate reporting on this story, simply type his last name into the search box at the top right of the screen and read the entries. Start with the oldest one.

Ms. Clinton on religious freedom

Many people who know me will know that I hold little truck with religion. At best, I consider religions woe-begotten variations on reasoned ways to live one’s life humanely. However, as much as I find religions untenable, I shall defend folks’ right to espouse religious—or anti-religious and especially non-religious—views. Thus I was thrilled to hear the US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “Remarks at the Release of the 2011 International Religious Freedom Report” in which she delivered one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom I can remember hearing.

Whether you might agree or disagree with Ms. Clinton’s political positions, I think most people will agree that the core of her remarks are a spirited defense of foundational principles of human freedom. I hope people everywhere, regardless of political stripe, can watch or read this talk. There are, to be sure, the usual segments of the talk that have to do with thanking contributors to the talk, thanking allies, and calling out miscreants. But there are, as I heard it live while driving home from a meeting yesterday AM, sections of the talk that discuss fundamental human aspirations. Reminders of the ideas of principles on which the US and other democracies were based hundreds of years ago.

Technology in the wild

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have wasps nest in the headphone jack of your computer? How about border guards questioning why you’re transporting a computer with a dead battery? Dolly Joseph doesn’t question why these things occur. She’s lived them, and she connects them in an enlightening post about technology and the environment. Recommended.

Be smart about ocean debris

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a blog about marine debris chocked full of interesting entries. As are many other agencies, NOAA is using social media extensively (e.g., see the Facebook page for its Office of Exploration and Research, the Vimeo shows for its Climate Program Office, and, of course, its own Twitter feed and weather information on its own YouTube channel), but the marine debris blog is a bit unique. It has a voice of its own. It’s focused, friendly, informative, and entertaining. It’s a good use of my tax dollars.

Yay, grads!

Randall Munroe’s take on
post-secondary majors.

Over on XKCD (one of my all-time-fave cartoons), Randall Munroe has done it again. He’s produced another marvelous interpretation of the state of the world. Just while I’m finishing up the review of my students’ final exam work and am looking forward to commencement exercises, he’s rendered a cool commentary about higher education that comes flitting through my experience like a butterfly…or is it shooting through like a meteor…or cannonball?

Guide To This Post: (1) Read the XKCD cartoon. (2) Return here and then