Because the Universe is Confusing
Archive for February, 2008
The Engineer Who Refused To Kill
Feb 29th
I encourage you to read my interview with Paul Cottle, posted today at Is Greater Than.
Then make sure that you send in a letter to Canada’s Industry Minister, letting him know what you think. Details can be found here.
Keep Canada's Hands Off Cluster Bomb Production!
Feb 28th
In previous entries I have mentioned the story of Paul Cottle, an engineer who quit his job at a Canadian engineering firm because of its proposed sale to an American weapons maker. Below I am posting a copy of a letter to Jim Prentice, Canada’s Minister of Industry, from Tony Thompson, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I urge you to cut and paste if necessary and send your own copy in by snail, fax, or email. All of the information is below. Please, like him, cc the relevant shadow ministers from the (even more) minority parties. It doesn’t matter what country issues your passport: your voice matters!
(By the way, if you think Canadians are getting rowdy, apparently so are Californians …)
Relevant contact information:
The Hon. Jim Prentice
Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca
Constituency Office
Suite 105
1318 Centre St NE
Calgary, Alberta T2E 2R7
403 216-7777
Fax 403 230-4368
Scott Brison, Liberal Party Industry Critic
Brison.S@parl.gc.ca
360 Main St., Suite 12
Wolfville, NS
B4P 1C4
Tel: (902) 542-4010
Toll Free (NS): 1-888-585-0550
Fax: (902) 542-4184
Paul Crête, Bloc Quebecois Industry Critic
cretep1@parl.gc.ca
5, rue Iberville
Rivière-du-Loup, Québec
G5R 1G5
Téléphone : (418) 868-1280, 1-800-668-1280
Télécopieur : (418) 868-1078
Peggy Nash, NDP Industry Critic
nashp@parl.gc.ca
447 West Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Tel: 613.992.2936
Fax: 613.995.1629
The Hon. Jim Prentice
Minister of Industry
House of Commons.
Dear Mr. Prentice,
This letter is to request that you not give regulatory
approval under the Investment Canada Act for the purchase of the space division of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) by Alliant Tech Systems (ATK). There are two main reasons why this proposed deal should not be approved.
The first is that it violates the Social Responsibility Guidelines for such transactions. ATK contravenes the Ottawa treaty on land-mine production and its operation would be illegal in Canada. The assets of MDA (including Radarsat-2) have been built up with hundreds of millions of dollars of support from Canadian taxpayers. These assets should not be transferred to a company that violates the Ottawa treaty. Nor should such a company be eligible for future subsidies (by way of R&D tax credits) from the Canadian government. Presumably, if the sale does go ahead, some legal separation of its weapons component and its MDA subsidiary would satisfy the letter of the treaty. It would certainly not satisfy its spirit.
Secondly, it is not in Canada’s national interest. This sale is likely to result in a significant loss of cutting-edge technical expertise. MDA is Canada’s leading space company and has built up groups of experts in several important fields; most notably in robotics (Canadarm) and synthetic aperture radar (Radarsat-2). These groups are employed across the country in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. With the sale it is unlikely that these groups can be held together. Some individuals may be transferred to the parent company and others will not want to work for an arms manufacturer. Those leaving are unlikely to find similar jobs in Canada and will either leave the country or find jobs in other areas. In either case, there will be a major loss
to the country’s technical skills. Governments often speak about the need to lessen the dependence of the economy on natural resources and to build up a “knowledge-based” economy. That requires policies that support and foster companies like MDA rather than allowing them to be sold to foreign interests.
I most strongly urge that this sale not be approved.
Yours sincerely,
Tony Thompson
Halifax, NS
Cc. Scott Brison, Liberal Industry critic
Paul Crete, Bloc Quebecois Industry critic
Peggy Nash, NDP Industry critic
I think this headline speaks for itself
Feb 28th
“In the video the white students, who make no attempt to hide their faces, order the black people who were cleaners at the whites-only Reitz hostel to down full bottles of beer. They then lead them to a playing field where they are told to display their athletic skills. In the final extract a white man urinates on food and into a plastic soup container. Then, shouting: “Take! Take!” in Afrikaans — he apparently forces the campus employees to eat the dirty food, causing them to vomit.”
Body of War
Feb 26th
I saw an interesting interview in Wired yesterday with Phil Donahue, former talk show host. In it, he discusses his new documentary, Body of War, which is about a disabled Iraq war veteran who is now an ardent anti-war protester.
I encourage you to visit their site, get on the mailing list, and go see it when it releases in theatres this March. Also, the soundtrack sounds great, with Eddie Vedder staying true to his roots and lending his voice to the struggle for peace and justice.
Here is the trailer for the film, featuring Eddie Vedder’s “No More War” in the background:
As I’ve been saying since 2001: Support our troops. Bring them home NOW.
Film about the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP)
Feb 25th
This is a film that was taken the last time we were in Washington, D.C., 2004. It is produced, directed, and narrated by Dr. Aziza Baccouche, who is a Phd in physics. Since earning her doctorate, Dr. Baccouche has made it her project to document NSBP’s progress.
If you think NSBP does meaningful work, please consider donating money here. The more money we get in the form of donations and civilian funding, the easier it is to stay away from dependence on the military.
For those of you who are involved with NSBP, please remember to join. If you can afford it, join at the professional level.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Post Mortem on NSBP/NSHP
Feb 24th
I bitched and moaned to many friends in the weeks leading up to the National Society of Black Physicists joint annual conference with the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. I complained louder during the days leading up to it and even during the first couple of days it was happening. I organized four sessions, and I was terrified. I was giving a talk, and I was terrified. My stomach wouldn’t hold food on the first day. The military intervened and screwed up my plenary session, cutting off one of my speakers. It was emotionally difficult, politically upsetting, and stressful. The whole conference was draining. There weren’t enough Latino/a physicists there for it to really be a joint conference, which is disappointing.
But, I loved being there too. I loved being in the midst of Black physicists, talking physics, talking life, dressing fly, being proud of who we are and how hard we’ve worked. My sixth time attending was really an opportunity to see how far my peers have come in the time that I have known them. Hearing about their successes has left me beaming with pride. And seeing our strength in solidarity has left me filled with a belief that good things are happening.
Perhaps most importantly, I learned this week that despite the stresses of my ongoing involvement with the mechanics of the organization, I have a good reason for doing what I do. Sure there is the component of using it as a vehicle for change, to help the Black community do better. But for me it is something more fundamental. It is the only space where I feel completely able to freely love thinking about, talking about, and doing physics. It is the space where I know the people I am talking to are on my side. They want to see my succeed, not tear me down as is so common in academia. It is a positive environment. And it is an environment where people couldn’t give a fuck about the jargon — they aren’t trying to prove that they know something. They are trying to figure out this universe and add to the store of human knowledge (paraphrasing Jim Gates’s remarks at dinner last night)
I was so inspired by the cosmology, gravitation, and relativity sessions that I spent part of Friday evening working. I wanted to work because studying the universe was cool again. All around me, I saw people I could respect, not just as intellectuals, but as human beings. I wish there was more of that in the world of physics at large.
Unfortunately, for the moment, there isn’t. And I will have to find a way to live with that and carry the flame of NSBP with me in the day to day. I admit that I have not been very good at that. But I have gotten better with time. This year I will be better than last. And then, in just 12 short months, I will be back home again.
In the meantime, I have my pictures from Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 to cherish.
Amazingness in Canada and NSBP Day 1
Feb 22nd
Well, here are a few photos from NSBP. I think my favourite is a picture of all of the theorists of West Indian descent:
Top: Peter & Me (both Barbados), Bottom from left: Gert & Stephon (Trinidad), Someone whose name I didn’t quite catch, and Clifford Johnson of Asymptotia fame, who hails from two islands, but I can’t remember which two (I am tired. Not a jerk, I swear!)
Also, I cannot believe the fucking Globe & Mail, a national newspaper in Canada. Read here for the story about their “Afrocentric Algebra” cartoon. And here for their completely obnoxious response to the complaints about it.
Yeah that’s right people. Keep on telling me racism isn’t a problem. I dare you.
OurChart.com
Feb 20th
A lot of people know that I haven’t been an ardent support of Barack Obama. I am supporting him now, but I have been very critical along the way. That said, I feel I was brought closer to his side by the way the crazy white feminists at OurChart keep going on about him and Hillary.
I am writing the following letter to the makers of OurChart because it’s gotten to a pretty disgusting stage. I recommend other queer ladies also write in to them.
“I am sick of being Black woman in this community”
I think that this entry: http://www.ourchart.com/node/319984 is the last straw for me.
I am really tired of being a Black woman on this site. I’ve seen discussions where people talk about how much worse sexism is than racism. What the fuck do white women know about this?
I am not the sort of person to normally write in to a website like this. But this is incredibly upsetting for me. I come to OurChart for news about the L word. I like the idea of being part of an online lesbian community. But this isn’t an open community. This is an exclusive community that seems to be primarily for white lesbians/bigirls who subscribe to a particular brand of feminism.
Frankly, this brand of feminism makes me want to throw up. What kind of feminist whole heartedly supports a woman who willingly dropped bombs on innocent women and children because George Bush, the mighty election stealer and tremendous liar, said to take his word for it? Really? Either Hillary was lying about being lied to, or she’s just plain stupid.
So, I find it aggravating when I see post after post talking about how a vote for her is a vote for Black women. Let us speak for ourselves. I’ll tell you as a Black woman that a vote for Hillary is a vote against me. It’s a vote against what I stand for, and it’s a vote against women of colour in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s a vote for the woman who supported welfare to work while her partner was in office, which disproportionately affected my community. While the women went back to “real” jobs making minimum wage without health insurance, what happened to the kids? I’m an educator, and any of us can tell you what happens to those kids. A vote for Hillary is a vote for a grotesque kind of feminism that doesn’t respect women who choose to stay home as caregivers.
I realize that OurChart is hoping to support freedom of speech and freedom of discourse. But it’s obvious that those of us on OurChart who aren’t subscribing to mainstream white feminism will have to fight to be heard. And frankly, your website isn’t worth it. From now on, I’m going to watch advance episodes on YouTube or from some other source. I have no interest in supporting a website that is so alienating, segregated, and in the end, functionally racist.
A Visit to the National Museum of the American Indian
Feb 19th
Note: all photographs in this entry can be enlarged by clicking on them
I’m in Washington, D.C. this week, primarily for the National Society of Black Physicists/National Society of Hispanic Physicists joint annual meeting. However, I managed to schedule an earlier arrival so I can spend time with my dad, sister, and step-mother, who live just outside the city.
This is a strange city, and growing up here is a little bit weird. I am pretty sure I hate tourists because spending time in DC means constantly spending time in the midst of white bread Americans wandering around in shirts with the flag on them. Most of their time is spent in NW DC and a bit in NE (home to Union Station), so a lot of people miss out on the fact that DC is Chocolate City — about 80% Black.
Obviously, it is also home to the US Federal Government. This means it has some really nice buildings and some really nasty people. I flew over the Pentagon on Saturday, and I thought, “It’s a shame that such a neat architectural idea is essentially destroyed for me by its contents.”
Perhaps closest to my heart, it is home to the Smithsonian. The national museums are an amazing array of exhibitions, almost all of them freely available 364 days a year (they only close on Christmas). The National Gallery has an amazing impressionist collection. The Air & Space museum has a wonderful IMAX and planetarium. The Natural History Museum has a stunning gem collection and exhibit about planetary structure. And the American History museum has a beautiful exhibit about the Middle Passage. The Anacostia museum covers Af-Am history, although it’s underfunded. The Freer and Sackler Galleries do the ancient world. The Museum of African Art has a really cool entrance and wonderful exhibits.
It took decades, however, to recognize the importance of having a museum that focused on the history of the First Nations on this continent. The last time I was here, they had finished construction, but the lines were so long that I didn’t have time to go. I finally got a chance to go with my sister Maya, yesterday. It’s a pretty building. Here it is from the outside (taken from the side adjacent to the Air&Space Museum):
On the other side of the building, they grow and harvest corn during the appropriate seasons.
While I’m glad to see that there is an acknowledgement of Native presence, I was disappointed by how watered down the museum was. And it really felt like a tour through extinction, which was tragic and gross and grimey. Not to mention the blatant yuck sponsorship, as evidenced in this photo:
As if people of colour aren’t already disproportionately represented in the military. Plus, who wants to fight for a military that spent a significant part of the several centuries trying to kill your family?
There was also some creative (read: BULLSHIT) story telling about about Indian schools in Canada. The real story is that First Nations youth were forced to go away to boarding schools where they were sexually, physically, and psychologically abused. They were forced to abandon their language and were parted from their siblings. The travesty is so glaring that the government has been forced to recognize it in recent years, and multiple million dollar awards have been granted by the courts recently.
Oh one thing that was haHA not funny was the Andrew Jackson Peace Medal, juxtaposed with discussion of his reputation as an “Indian Fighter” (aka genocidal freaking maniac):
The most stunning piece in the museum was the photograph and description of a performance piece by artist James Luna. You can read about it here:
Here is the piece:
I think it perfectly sums up the history of the museum, of anthropology, of America, and colonialism.
There was also a great exhibit about women’s clothing across different nations, including Kiowa Women Warrior Clothing, worn by the female relatives of warriors. The bead work is stunning:
These are just a few of the photos I took, so I invite you all to look at the rest in my Picasa Web Gallery.
Fuppet Master & Crazy Fraggle Present …
Feb 18th
As Lucy and I near our wedding date (just over a month!!) we are slowly losing our minds, as evidenced here:
also FAREWELL MR PRESIDENT! AWESOME:
