Thirty-Meter Telescope on Hawai'i

What I've been trying to work my way up to, this week, is discussion of the Thirty-Meter Telescope. It's... complicated, to say the least.

One of the first principles of intersectional work, is that anti-oppression should be led / centered by the voices that are directly affected by it. That being said, this is my blog / my space. So I'm going to begin with this great list of links: http://www.aoletmt.com/

And this Storify that Janet Stemwedel (@docfreeride) put together. My own analysis / processing will be below the cut.

Pay attention, in this Storify, to who are the kanaka maoli, the pre-European Hawaiian voices:

My own processing is below the cut, in two parts: 1) Who I am / Why I care, and 2) What I think.

This is a long post.

Science, History, and Systems of Systems

In Isaac Asimov's Foundation series (The Foundation Trilogy), a scientist develops a way to predict the fall of a galactic empire, and the steps that would be necessary to maintain some level of civilization. He establishes the Foundation in order to carry out his plan, with a series of timed holographic recordings to ensure that things stay on course.

In real life, the discipline that attempts to map out possible futures is called Future Studies, and one place to study it is the University of Houston. The program migrated from the University of Houston-Clear Lake to the main campus in the mid-2000s (~2005-2006).

One of the textbooks that was required for World Futures was Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Years later, when I studied Systems of Systems through Purdue University, many of the concepts matched what I had been taught in the Future Studies classes, and particularly in Panarchy.

One of the issues with complex systems-of-systems, is that the future result is dependent upon the current state of the system.

Moments of Science History

This week I've been discussing history in light of the Women's Studies literature I've read, looking into "where did we go wrong?" Today I want to discuss some of the historical issues with science.

This is a complicated post to write, as I believe in STEM careers, and the ability of science to improve our world... while recognizing that sometimes science has gotten it wrong. It is relevant to several current topics of discussion, most notably the vaccine debate.

There is a meme, "Science can tell you how to clone a dinosaur. The humanities can tell you why that is a bad idea."  The case studies of scientific ethics that I was aware of to begin this post, appear largely to have come after the fact, in reaction to scientific decisions rather than preventative.

My Catholic education has long taught me that the question "Can we?" must also consider "Should we?" on scientific concerns. At the time, it was most applied to reproductive issues, both In-Vitro Fertilization and looking forward to the potential for "designer babies" in the future.

Advice to the GOP

I don't call myself a Democrat.  I call myself a liberal Independent.  I never voted for Bill Clinton.  I sat out the 1996 election, through a combination of avoiding the complicated absentee voter system and not liking either candidate.

And yet, since I started voting in 2000, I have yet to see a Republican candidate at the Federal level that I would vote for.  I clearly remember seeing one or two Republicans that I thought were the best choice at the state or local levels, but not federally.

Really, it comes down to three major things:

1) The GOP's disrespect for women.  Women's Issues Were a Problem for the GOP.

Women, like me, who have been pregnant:

Why have Republicans voted 30 times to repeal Obamacare? To increase uncertainty.

Obamacare, which forces insurance companies to cover "pre-existing conditions" like Down Syndrome, Pregnancy, rape, and domestic violence.

Women, like me, who are the breadwinners for their family.  In whose stable, two-parent home and heterosexual marriage, it made more sense for my husband to stay home with the baby, and typically cook dinner.
Senate GOP Blocks Equal Pay Act for Women

I actually wrote to my Republican Senator asking him to support this bill.  He wrote me back with a letter that (paraphrased, since I'm not sure where it is right now) said that he was voting against Equal Pay because it would harm businesses.  Sorry, I'm not buying that.

'Binders,' cooking and equal pay: Did Romney undo gains with women voters?

As I posted on Facebook:
Stop telling me that I don't deserve to make as much money as the man in the next cube, even if I work just as hard and produce better results.  (Note that this is a conflation of events.)
Stop assuming that *I'M* the one who needs flexibility for my family. In my family, that's

 predominantly been Brian's role.
Stop saying *IF* there are going to be women in the workforce. I am the breadwinner for my family, and I need the Republicans to acknowledge my reality.

Republican Joe Walsh: abortions to save mother's life never necessary
I've been working on the post(s) to tell that story, but it's on FB and on Twitter.  7 years and 8 days ago, I had an abortion to save my life.  I was 10 weeks pregnant.

It happened "accidentally-on-purpose," with my husband.  And then I forgot about the possibility as we went through the Texas Tournament, the Hurricane Rita evacuation, and preparing for our trip to Korea.  Until I started thinking through symptoms, and took a test, and it was so.  And I decided it was a good thing, and I planned to keep my child.

Until I ended up in the ER, and saw the ultrasound that looked like a pre-menstrual Uterus - all lined up with nothing to support.  The blastocyst had implanted in my fallopian tube, an ectopic pregnancy, even though I had none of the usual risk factors.  The pregnancy grew through the tube, rupturing it so that I was bleeding internally.  The salpingectomy that I had (surgery to remove the ruptured tube) is, oddly enough, the only abortion that the Catholic Church accepts, as "incidental" to treatment of my life-threatening condition.

10 weeks is not enough time for viability.

And then, on top of those comments, were these messes:

Indiana GOP Senate hopeful Richard Mourdock says God ‘intended’ rape pregnancies

The roots of Akin's 'legitimate' rape remarks

2) The GOP's disrespect for social and education services that allowed me to become the productive tax-paying citizen that I am today.

I've already written about being on the free lunch program as a junior in high school.  I was also on WIC as an infant.  My mother and youngest brothers went on WIC again when they were born.  In truth, all 8 of us ended up eating the cereal, milk, cheese, peanut butter, and such that we got from WIC vouchers.  Apparently, my mom thought it important that I know how to get that assistance.

I'm still at the college part of my narrative, but I will say that my experiences with poverty in the last years of high school and through college have been a strong motivating factor in my productivity at work.  I do NOT want to go back to the fear, the anxiety, the hunger, the uncertainty of (my parents) changing jobs every six months to two years.  I'd rather provide MY family with stability.

I take strong exception to being called lazy.  I also take exception to income being compared with the grades one receives in school.  While more studying can raise grades, more work does NOT necessarily lead to more income.  The wages matter at least as much, usually more, than the hours do.

And stop demeaning the poor, and those on public assistance. Just because I ate government cheese at my grandparents, and WIC cheese when I/my youngest brothers were little, does not make me lazy. If anything, it's made me work that much harder to make sure that I and MY family don't require that help.

Stop cutting support for education at all levels. How can kids POSSIBLY prepare for college if their preschools, elementary, middle, and secondary schools don't prepare them to learn and be productive in society. And stop cutting student loans, Pell grants, etc. College would have been easier if I had not had to work my way through it.

3) The GOP's misunderstanding and disrespect for science.

The start of this goes back to my comments on women's health and medical needs.

But it's also the GOP opposition to climate change, the biggest threat to  American society in the 21st century.  As I experiences with Hurricane Rita and assisting in the cleanup after Hurricane Katrina, hurricanes take a toll.  Climate change causes bigger and stronger storms.  On top of that, rising sea levels mean storm surges go higher and farther inland.

By all means, we could be working a deal with companies to help them transition to cleaner infrastructure.  We could be working on ways to save energy and water, so that more people have access to it.  We COULD be working together on this, if the GOP would quit sticking their heads in the sand and acknowledge that a problem exists.

And then there's the science that shows homosexuality is not a choice, people are born that way.  It's just part of the diversity of being human.

In addition to those three big ones, there are also some smaller issues.

What I like about the Republican Party?

- Most Republicans I know are good, honest, caring people. It's the politicians I take issue with.
- The devotion to & support for families. I just wish their definition of "good family" was not so narrow.  I stand as an Ally in support of GLBTQIA rights.
- The talk of fiscal responsibility, and the fact that many Republicans actually walk that talk.  I do believe in fiscal responsibility, just as I believe in social justice. (Too bad about the Bush administration, squandering the surplus they had. Perhaps another slate of candidates could make me believe again.)
- I do believe in the importance of faith in my life. I wish the Republican Party would recognize and acknowledge the faith of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. Sometimes I hear too much of a "Christianity is the only way" message in Republican leaders' speech-making.

If the Republican party, or even my candidates, would acknowledge these realities, then I would most certainly consider sending votes their way.  Until then...

This one time, at band camp

One Monday in August, a week before classes started, my dad & my sister drove me to Purdue and helped me move into my dorm room.  Because I was checking in a week early, I had to pay fees for that extra week.  Also, all members of a residence hall are enrolled in a club, which has its own mandatory dues.

Purdue has a variety of options for living on or off campus.  Things have changed considerably since I lived there, I see that most of the dorms have become "co-ed."  However, it is worth checking what Purdue means by "co-ed."  When I lived in Owen Hall, at the time it was the only co-ed H-hall, and by co-ed it meant that one wing was for women, one wing was for men, and the common areas (the bar of the "H") were shared.

STEM Outreach

One of the things that's important to me is engineering outreach. I've even created a Page for my blog listing engineering outreach events that I'm aware of. A few of them are events that I competed in during my education. Several more are events that I have volunteered at.

Earlier this spring, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a Symposium honoring the 40th Anniversary of the Lunar Rover, as part of the Great Moonbuggy Race. The high school and college students asked the panelists a great many questions about their experiences on the moon and with the rover.

Engineering and Compost

Just in case anyone reading my previous blog post Got worms? wonders what composting and gardening has to do with engineering, here's the deal.

The National Academy of Engineering has developed a list of 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century.

One of the challenges on the National Academy of Engineering's list, is Manage the Nitrogen Cycle.

Got worms?

Last week, I posted about the different kinds of wealth there are in the world, and about how self-sufficiency can be a kind of wealth.

Feminism

If you have an hour available, I highly recommend the full video posted above linked. Professor Nancy Hopkins of MIT gives the keynote speech at a conference on The Status of Women in Science and Engineering at MIT. The transcript is also available from the website.

At 19 minutes into the speech, she mentions "I fled from feminists. I just wanted to be seen as a scientist."

Wealth

I've been reading S.M. Stirling's Change series lately, which begins with the book:

The premise is that in 1998, something happens around the world which eliminates all of Earth's high technology, particularly electronics and explosives.  It's alternate "history," with both utopian and distopian elements.

But reading the series has had me thinking about wealth.

See, in the Dying Time that followed the Change, very few people in the cities survived.  All our stockbrokers in New York?  Turned cannibal and/or died.  Wealth did not necessarily mean survival.

Ad Astra

I caught Gene Roddenberry's vision almost independently, when I was very young.  But as a student in Nebraska, I felt very alone.  Criticized for liking "boy things," there were very few who encouraged me to pursue engineering or my interest in space.

My senior year of high school, in the school library, I found a copy of a magazine, titled "Ad Astra," meaning "to the stars."  I loved the phrase, and used it as the tag line for my essay when I applied to Notre Dame.  They must have liked it too... but I didn't go there.