Daily Archives: November 7, 2019

I recently came across a Smithsonian flyer promoting inquiry-based science education, and an article for WiredMagazine about engaging students in evaluation and active learning. How could this be done in education about chemical and biological evolution?

In Wired, physics professor Rhett Allain notes, If you can create a situation that challenges students assumptions and produces conceptual conflict, thats a great opportunity for learning.

Allain talks about his pinhole experiment, where he shines one light and then two lights in front of a box with a pinhole and measures where it comes out the other side. Kids are often surprised to see two spots of light even though there is just one pinhole.

He says, You cant get physically fit without breaking a sweat, and you cantreallylearn, at a fundamental level, without a little conflict in your head. In other words, real learning requires engagement with potentially unexpected evidence and a willingness to lay assumptions aside.

I also ran across a new site from the Smithsonian: their Science Education Center. They define what they call The STEM Imperative:

Four billion people on the planet use a mobile phone, while 3.5 billion people use a toothbrush. In the past two years, 90% of all of the worlds data has been generated. NASA plans to set foot on Mars in the next 20 years, and driverless cars are already being tested in Europe. The future is here, and it requires a citizenry fluent in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Agreed, quality science education is crucial. But what does that look like? The Smithsonian makes that clear: learning science through inquiry.

They offer a remarkable information sheet here. It traces the education and life of Ada, a little girl who grows up learning the scientific method, and goes into a career in STEM. The Smithsonian notes, Children can learn problem-solving skills using methods similar to the ones scientists employ that will lead them through parallel stages of discovery. At a young age, Ada learns to: Develop her own questions. Collect evidence. Form a decision. Construct explanations. Communicate logically and clearly.

Ada also learns the FERA method. The Smithsonian implies she learns this in K-8 science before high school. What is the FERA method? First, focus on a topic, generating interest and conceptualizing what learners already know about the topic. Next, explore objects, organisms and scientific phenomena that build on prior knowledge. Then, reflect on observations and data, revisit prior ideas and develop or refine explanations. Finally, apply understanding of science concepts to new situations and prepare to repeat the learning cycle.

You see, science education experts make the case for inquiry-based education almost universally. But when it comes to evolution, they seem to throw this methodology out the window. In the Next Generation Science Standards, used in the majority of states, students are asked to support evolution not to examine, analyze, or evaluate its tenets.

But as a matter of good science education, it seems that an inquiry-based approach to teaching evolution would be much more likely to equip Ada with the skills she needs for science literacy and ultimately a STEM career.

From those in favor of the status quo, represented by the Next Generation Science Standards, a constant refrain I hear is that high school students simply cannot analyze and evaluate evolution. They are not ready to examine the strengths and weaknesses of neo-Darwinism that is not developmentally appropriate for them.

Oh really? Well, the Smithsonian doesnt seem to think that scientific inquiry, including collecting evidence and making decisions based on that evidence, is too difficult for young people. Indeed, Ada supposedly learns all of the above skills (including the FERA method) before beginning high school.

Students who learn the difficult but important skills of examining data are more likely to engage in learning that sets them up for future STEM success. It is time to put inquiry-based learning front and center in all areas of the science curriculum including evolution.

Photo: STEM education in action, by Idaho National Laboratory, via Flickr (cropped).

Read more:

How Should We Then Teach Evolution? - Discovery Institute

On 12/19/04, The Baltimore Sun published a ridiculously misinformed article that attempted to conflate intelligent design (ID) with biblical creationism.In Evolution or Design, reporters Larry Carson and Larry Williams used the Institute for Creation Research rather than Discovery Institute as a spokesman for intelligent design theory. They also implied that ID teaches that God created the Earth and its creatures less than 10,000 years ago. In reality, the Institute for Creation Research is a supporter of biblical creationism, and it has criticized design theory because it is not biblically-based. It is not a spokesman for intelligent design. Moreover, most of the scientists and scholars who support and write about intelligent design theory accept the standard scientific dating of the earth. Read More

Stanford neurology prof Robert Sapolsky squared off against CSC Director Stephen Meyer and CSC senior fellow John Campbell on the pages of the San Franscisco Chronicle, Friday, Dec. 10. Sapolsky dodged the real scientific controversies and instead spewed stereotypes and politically motivated ad hominem attacks, such as calling intelligent design supporters Jed Clampetts. Contrast that with the serious issues raised by Meyer and Campbell, who delve into real issues such as micro vs. macro evolution. Click here to read both and judge for yourself.

Original post:

Page 2001 of 2001 | Evolution News (EN) provides original reporting and analysis about the debate over intelligent design and evolution, including...

Accuracy In Media (AIM) just published a story spanking the press for their reluctance to give fair and accurate coverage to challengers of Darwinian evolution. Cliff Kinkaid, editor of the AIM Report writes: But those who believe in intelligent design or find gaping holes in the theory of evolution frequently encounter a hostile press. The Discovery Institute recently provided to Accuracy in Media a thick file of complaints about the way their representatives have been treated by the media, especially National Public Radio. The Discovery Institute focuses on the issue of whether there is any evidence of design in nature, rather than whether there is a designer. Still, its representatives tend to be portrayed in religious terms by the media. Read More

The Kansas State Board of Education will take up science education when it reviews standards and policies for teaching evolution. A group of scientists and educators, who are members of the science standards writing committee, have submitted proposed revisions that would follow in the footsteps of Ohio, Minnesota and New Mexico and require students to learn both the strengths as well as the weaknesses of Darwins theory. One can only hope that the media take the time to actually read the proposed revisions, and dont just resort to rehashing the stereotypes that so dominated the media when this was an issue in Kansas in 2000. The proponents of these proposed revisions have set up their own website: http://www.kansasscience2005.com.

One pretty clear indicator of newsmedia bias is the amount of space news articles devote to each side of a public policy debate. Does each side of the debate get a similar number of words to describe and articulate their views? Or do reporters only provide one side of the debate space to articulate their position? If recent articles by major American newspapers are any indication, reporters writing about controversies over teaching evolution are engaging in seriously lopsided reporting, outquoting defenders of evolutionary theory by as much as 5 to 1. Moreover, many reporters appear to be censoring or refusing to report information that doesnt fit their predetermined stereotypes. The following recent stories from The Washington Post, USA Today, and Read More

A local paper in Dover County, Pennsylvania has outperformed The Washington Post and much of the rest of the national newsmedia. In a recent story, reporter Lauri Lebo of the York Daily Record (Some allies question Dover boards policy, 12/19/04) discusses Discovery Institutes disagreement with the policy on intelligent design recently adopted by the Dover school board. While there are some errors in Lebos story (especially in the way she describes intelligent design theory), Lebo does what many national news reporters have thus far failed to do: Correctly report that Discovery Institute does not favor mandating the teaching of intelligent design, and that it has urged the Dover school board to withdraw its current policy. If you are surprised to Read More

After wrongly reporting on 11/16/04 that Discovery Institute is active in opposing the teaching of evolution in schools around the country, The Boston Globe to its credit has issued a correction. As we pointed out to The Globes ombudsman, Discovery Institute actually favors the teaching of evolution, and has publicly denounced efforts to de-emphasize or remove evolution from school curricula (see here for an example). Our gripe is not that students learn about evolution, but that they dont learn enough about it. We think they should study not only the scientific evidence in favor of Darwins theory, but also the scientific evidence that raises problems for the theory. In other words, we think students need to learn more about evolution. Read More

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Page 2000 of 2000 | Evolution News (EN) provides original reporting and analysis about the debate over intelligent design and evolution, including...

On the opening morning of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, Capt. Thain MacDowell ran towards enemy lines through a welter of mud and craters, sleet and machine gunfire.

He reached his objective, a German trench, only to find that he had become separated from most of his company. Joined by a pair of army couriers, MacDowell captured two machine gun placements, then climbed down a flight of steps into a deep dugout.

Around a sharp corner, he confronted a roomful of German soldiers. He turned and shouted to an imaginary group of Canadians behind him to hold their grenades. Seventy-seven Germans surrendered.

He sent the prisoners up the stairs in groups of 12 to conceal the fact they were surrendering to just three Canadian soldiers.

They had plenty of rations but we had a great time taking them prisoner, MacDowell wrote in a dispatch later that day, April 9, 1917.

His act of courage and deception would earn him the British Empires highest decoration for military valour. One of four Canadians awarded the Victoria Cross at Vimy Ridge, MacDowell was the only one still alive six months later when he returned home to Brockville on sick leave.

MacDowell was not sick in the conventional sense: He was suffering from what military doctors called war neurasthenia, or shellshock. His symptoms included depression, insomnia, headaches, irritability, fever, perspiration, difficulty concentrating and decreased energy. He also had a slight speech impediment.

MacDowell was one of 10,000 Canadian soldiers diagnosed with shellshock during the First World War.

The condition baffled doctors and challenged military leaders, who didnt know how to deal with the flood of traumatized soldiers that accompanied every major battle.

Some attributed the phenomenon to emotional weakness or malingering. More than 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers were executed for cowardice or desertion during the war, including 23 Canadians.

An unknown number of them suffered from what today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

War has inflicted trauma on successive generations of Canadian soldiers whose psychiatric injuries have been variously labelled shellshock, battle exhaustion, combat stress reaction and PTSD. The evolution of that diagnosis has traced a century of conflict: It is a story of service and science and suffering.

First World War Victoria Cross winner Lt.-Col. Thain MacDowell.SunMediaArchive

Capt. Thain MacDowell

In February 1915, British psychologist Dr. Charles Myers was the first to identify the phenomenon of shellshock. In the medical journal The Lancet, Myers recounted the case histories of three soldiers traumatized by shell explosions. Curiously, he said, the soldiers hearing was little affected, while other functions such as sight, smell, taste and memory were damaged.

The close relation of these cases to those of hysteria appears fairly certain, he concluded.

Hysteria was a mental disorder, attributed mostly to women at the time, which typically featured nervousness, fainting or fits. Shellshocked soldiers could be rendered mute or left with partially paralyzed limbs.

Some doctors theorized that shellshock was the result of a physical brain injury caused by soldiers repeated exposure to blast waves from exploding shells a new part of industrialized warfare. Others pointed to afflicted soldiers who had never been in an explosion to argue that the condition was due to a weakness of the nervous system, neurasthenia, triggered by the general stress of war.

The worlds first personality test was developed in an attempt to identify recruits with the emotional instability that could put them at risk for shellshock.

Treatments were mostly experimental, and sometimes, horrifying.

In December 1916, Myers spearheaded the establishment of specialized medical units near the frontlines to assess and treat traumatized soldiers using Freudian talk therapy. Theorizing that shellshock was a stress disorder, he believed a patient had to relive his experience to reintegrate the traumatic event with his conscious mind.

A Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Lewis Yealland, was the leading proponent of an altogether different school of thought: that shellshock was a kind of personal failure.

Yealland, a clinician at Londons National Hospital for the Paralyzed and Epileptic, was convinced he could recondition traumatized soldiers through the power of suggestion. He regularly accompanied those suggestions with powerful electric shocks, and sometimes, cigarette burns. He used electrotherapy on 196 patients during the war, and published his results in a disturbing 1918 book, Hysterical Disorders of Warfare.

No one, including Yealland, could suggest that war hero Thain MacDowell lacked battlefield courage or personal fortitude.

Awarded the Victoria Cross in June 1917, MacDowell was hospitalized in England and sent home to Canada in October. He spent three months at Brockville General Hospital where, according to his medical history, he suffered a nervous breakdown.

In January 1918, after a period of rest, he was deemed fit for service again: Officer shows much improvement since last examination has regained his emotional control. No attacks of crying since Nov. 17.

MacDowell returned to England in February 1918, and spent the year in officer training as the First World War raced towards its bloody conclusion. He returned to Canada in December, one month after the armistice, and again sought help.

A medical history taken at the time says: Officer states that he tires easily and cannot sleep. Has not slept well since Nov. 1916. He may sleep 3 to 4 hours a night if there has been no excitement.

(In November 1916, MacDowell was thrown into the air by a shell blast at the Somme; he earned the Distinguished Service Order for his role in capturing three machine gun posts during the same battle.)

In January 1919, MacDowell was made commanding officer of a demobilization unit in Ottawa, where he was also an outpatient at the Sir Sandford Fleming Convalescent Home. He could only manage the work for a few months. By August 1919, he was an in-patient at Montreals Ste. Anne de Bellevue Hospital, complaining of depression, insomnia, restlessness and irritability.

He tires very easily and in all work loses interest, reads his medical case history.

In Montreal, he was prescribed massage and hydrotherapy, a popular method for treating mental illness in the early 20th century. Warm, continuous baths were used to treat agitated patients; they were often bathed in a darkened room for hours, sometimes days, at a time.

In October 1919, after MacDowell was deemed medically unfit for service and discharged, he returned to Ottawa, where he slowly recovered his mental health. His military file does not disclose what treatment he received.

For five years, he worked as private secretary to the minister of defence, and in 1929, married Norah Hodgson, of Montreal. They had two sons. He later entered the mining business as an investor and executive.

MacDowell died of a heart attack in March 1960. He was 69.

Ted Patrick was a signalman (radio operator) in the Irish Regiment of Canada.Wayne Cuddington / Ottawa Citizen

Signalman William Ted Patrick

In the Second World War, signalmen maintained communication links between frontline officers and headquarter staff who managed the battlefield.

Enemy forces regularly used signalmen they carried radios on their backs to aim their artillery since they knew officers would be nearby. It made Signalmen William Ted Patrick a target in 1944 as he fought his way north through Italy with the Irish Regiment of Canada. He suffered perforated eardrums from shells exploding so close to him.

Patricks Italian campaign had other harrowing moments. In the Moro River Valley, he saw a heavily pregnant woman ripped open by a landmine. During another advance, he had to cover the lighted dials of his radio as German soldiers walked past him into an ambush.

He did not seek help for the profound anxiety he suffered.

Infantry soldiers like Patrick were the primary victims of battle exhaustion in the Second World War. Research by Canadian military historian Terry Copp, a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, found that 90 per cent of Canadas battle exhaustion cases came from ground troops.

In part, that was a reflection of the Royal Canadian Air Forces uncompromising attitude towards aircrew members who developed psychiatric problems and refused to fly. Such airmen were branded as lacking in moral fibre or LMF; they were often demoted or dishonourably discharged.

The Canadian army took a more pragmatic view. Its senior psychiatrist, Col. Frederick Van Nostrand, wanted battle exhausted soldiers treated quickly while close to the frontlines so they could be promptly returned to action.

It meant that as Canadian forces fought through Normandy, hundreds of soldiers were treated each week at field dressing stations for acute battle stress. Typically, they were sedated for 24 hours, given two days of rest, and counselled by a therapist. Many were returned to action only to suffer another breakdown.

Battle exhaustion cases represented one-quarter of all wounded soldiers among Allied forces.Those numbers caught military planners by surprise in Canada, where medical officers had tried to weed out recruits with emotional instability.

The methods that were used were no better than flipping a coin, Copp, the author of two books on the history of combat stress, said in an interview. None of it worked in terms of predicting who would break down or who would not break down under conditions of combat.

In a prophetic report filed at the end of the war, Van Nostrand said he was unsure doctors would ever solve the vast problem of the psychiatric breakdown of soldiers during war.

It is my opinion, he wrote, that the methods now employed in the British, American, and Canadian armies will not materially lower the incidence of psychiatric casualties in a fighting force.

There are various reasons for these opinions but two of them are fundamental: First, there is direct conflict between the needs of the service and the needs of the individual soldier as assessed by his physician. Secondly, the attitudes and behaviour of the successful soldier are contrary to most of his previous teaching. He must not allow death or mutilation of his comrades to prevent him from reaching his objective, and finally, he must pretend that he is glad to risk his life for that cause.

Van Nostrand pleaded with military planners to accept that normal people cannot always manage the exceptional stress of war. Every soldier has his breaking point, he warned.

Ted Patrick had bumped up against his breaking point.

Ted Patrick.Wayne Cuddington / Ottawa Citizen

After the Second World War, Patrick returned home to Ottawa and buried his memories. It was a common approach. He married, took a job in the civil service, and launched a bee-keeping business to supplement his income.

All the while, however, the tide of war washed over his subconscious. Patrick sometimes attacked his wife in the middle of the night, believing her to be an enemy soldier; she eventually began to sleep in a separate bedroom. Other times, hed wake up sobbing.

Patrick scrupulously avoided the legion hall and regimental reunions anything that brought the war to mind. He was also extremely cautious. He didnt like to go to unfamiliar places; he was, he said, like a rat that stayed close to a wall.

I would not take a chance on getting hurt or having the family hurt. I was always extremely cautious and went around danger, he once told an interviewer.

It wasnt until the 1980s that Patrick was finally diagnosed with PTSD; his psychiatrist urged him to confront his wartime trauma. Talking about his experiences and sharing his memories eased Patricks anxiety. Late in life, he became a dedicated volunteer at the Canadian War Museum and travelled to Holland for ceremonies to commemorate the countrys liberation.

He died in February 2015.

Gordon Forbes poses for a photo in his home in Ottawa Tuesday Oct 29, 2019.Tony Caldwell / Postmedia

Lt. Gordon Forbes

Gordon Forbes, 76, of Orlans, was on board H.M.C.S. Kootenay 50 years ago during the worst peacetime disaster in the history of the Royal Canadian Navy an event that would colour much of his life.

On Oct. 23, 1969, H.M.C.S. Kootenay was in the North Atlantic, returning to Halifax from a NATO naval exercise. At 8:21 a.m., during a full power trial a drill to test the destroyers performance at top speed an explosion ripped through the ships engine room. A mass of flames shot from a broken gearbox, setting fire to the 10 men inside of the room.

Only three escaped alive.

Thick black smoke quickly filled the lower decks, but its source wasnt readily apparent to those on the bridge, including Lt. Gordon Forbes, the ships weapons officer who was responsible for Kootenays 50 tonnes of ammunition.

Engineering Officer Al Kennedy, one of those to escape the engine room, stumbled into the bridge, blackened and badly burned: Fire in the engine room, he announced.

That posed problems. The ships firefighting equipment was stored near the engine room, and the ships main ammunition magazine was immediately behind it. A sailor reported the bulkhead between the two was already hot.

Divers donned tanks and masks to descend into the smoke: They retrieved the ships firefighting equipment and rescued sailors trapped by the blinding smoke. Forbes sprayed down the magazine to reduce the threat of a catastrophic explosion.

If the magazine had blown up, it would have destroyed the ship, he told this newspaper.

It took about three hours to bring the fire under control; the magazine was then flooded to better stabilize the munitions.

Those on board were told not to talk about the disaster, which had killed nine of their fellow sailors. No one really knew how to deal with it, said Forbes.

At the time of the Kootenay disaster, the Vietnam War was in full swing: In 1969, the number of deployed U.S. troops peaked at 549,000.

HMCS Kootenay approaching flight locks, Welland canal.CF Photo Unit / Brown

Curiously, few soldiers reported battle fatigue symptoms in Vietnam. Army officials attributed that development to limited battlefield exposure: Soldiers were rotated through the war on one-year tours of duty. It gave them a firm date by which their wartime ordeal would end.

Many military planners thought the problem of battlefield stress injuries had been solved.

Instead, of course, it had simply gone to ground. Tens of thousands of soldiers returned from Vietnam traumatized: afflicted by nightmares, insomnia, depression, rage, paranoia and addictions. Psychiatrists labeled the phenomenon delayed psychiatric trauma or post-Vietnam Syndrome since some thought the disorder was unique to Vietnam.

It was the first time that psychiatrists recognized that stress injuries were not always immediate, but could announce themselves months, even years, later.

Psychiatrists who worked with Vietnam veterans lobbied to have the disorder formally recognized, and in 1980, the authoritative American Psychiatric Association made PTSD part of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The formal recognition of PTSD had profound consequences and allowed for better diagnosis and treatment. Therapists recognized the same disorder in Holocaust survivors, sexual assault victims, first responders and others afflicted by traumatic events such as the Kootenay explosion.

Sub-Lieut. Clark Reiffenstein, one of those who donned scuba gear to plunge into the ships smoke-filled lower decks, died of suicide one month after the fire. He was posthumously awarded the Star of Courage.

Many other Kootenay sailors struggled with alcoholism, nightmares and anxiety.

In 1990, Gordon Forbes was diagnosed with clinical depression soon after retiring from the navy. He suffered from paranoia and had difficulty sleeping. His condition was later linked to PTSD and recognized as a service injury by Veterans Affairs Canada.

It was one measure of the advance in the militarys approach to psychiatric infirmity.I was very pleased that they started to recognize PTSD, he said, and not just throw people out of the service on medical grounds, which is what happened to people who went to get help after the Kootenay fire.

In 2010, Forbes published a book, We Are As One, about the disaster and its emotional aftermath. Researching and writing the book, he said, was a cathartic experience for everyone involved: I had so many men come up to me after I wrote the book and say, I thought I was the only one.

Natacha Dupuis is a former Canadian soldier and Afghan vet who suffered debilitating PTSD after her war service.Julie Oliver / Postmedia

Master Cpl. Natacha Dupuis

Ten years ago, in March 2009, Master Cpl. Natacha Dupuis was put in charge of her first mission with the reconnaissance squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons: a week-long patrol in Kandahar Province.

Qualified as a tank gunner, she had served in Bosnia and was on her second tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Leaving the Forward Operating Base Frontenac, a military outpost near Kandahar, Dupuis led her unit to a hilltop camp on the first night of the patrol. The next morning, as the unit departed, a massive explosion ripped into the armoured vehicle behind Dupuis vehicle. The 14-tonne Coyote was blown into the air and landed on its roof.

Dupuis helped to collect the remains of two dead soldiers, one of whom was cut in half, while preparing for a secondary attack that never came.

Her team was quickly evacuated, but Dupuis kept reliving the incident and re-imagining the terrible scene. For days, unable to turn off her flow of adrenaline, she couldnt sleep. A psychiatrist prescribed her sleeping pills, but she struggled through each day and often sought out a private place to cry.

She willed herself through her final two months of service in Afghanistan.

As soon as she returned home to Petawawa, however, she fell apart: Dupuis suffered powerful flashbacks and panic attacks that left her gasping for air. Diagnosed with PTSD, she transferred to Ottawa, then took a leave. She left the military for good in 2014.

Her story is a familiar one. A Veterans Affairs Canada report last year revealed that about 16 per cent of Canadas Afghan veterans more than 6,700 soldiers have been diagnosed with PTSD.

The PTSD rate remained high in Afghanistan even though the military had tried to carefully prepare soldiers for the stress of war.

Soldiers were briefed about the nature of stress injuries and the importance of seeking early treatment. Those leaving Afghanistan were given an overseas decompression period and repeatedly screened for PTSD or related afflictions. But the psychological inoculation of soldiers did little to reduce the overall incidence of PTSD.

I personally feel I was absolutely ready to face going to Afghanistan, said Dupuis. I was given very good training and it showed. We were able to react to the IED attack. But how do you prepare people to see a horrible scene like that?

After her diagnosis, Dupuis explored a variety of treatments, including cognitive therapy, a kind of talk therapy designed to help patients identify negative patterns in the way they perceive and deal with everyday events.

At Montfort Hospital, she tried a newly developed treatment, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), which had been shown to help people process their traumatic memories through a series of guided, rapid eye movements. The therapy is believed to mimic the beneficial effects of rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep, which plays a role in the healthy storage of emotional memories.

EMDR was really difficult, said Dupuis. It would drain me a lot because it takes you right back to the trauma: You would feel like you are still there.

Read more:

A century of trauma: Tracing the evolution of PTSD through four soldiers - Ottawa Citizen

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Mobile device use is one of the primary reasons commercial real estate owners have been tasked with providing tenants with reliable wireless connectivity. A reliable network allows tenants to use their mobile devices to send emails, stream videos, send and receive text messages and even, gasp, make phone calls.

Yes, people do still talk on their cell phones. That fact has not changedhow they talk on them has somewhat though. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Yahoo! Labs conducted a study to see how teenagers use video chat. What they found was subjects liked to multitask while they talked with friendstheyd turn on a video chat and put their phone somewhere, according to Yahoo! principal research associate Frank Bentley.

Theyd basically use it as open audio because the camera would just be pointing at the ceiling, he told The Wall Street Journal.

Open audio is not that far off from making a phone call, but under the guise of video chat, the conversation seems less impolite to people, according to Bentley.

Its almost seen as rude to call someone, he told The Wall Street Journal. Its as if theyre saying I am going to disturb someone and make their phone ring and interrupt them and force them to pay attention to me.

The hesitation to call someone doesnt apply to just teenagers however. According to consumer-research firm MRI-Simmons talking was the most popular way to communicate with a cell phone in Fall 2012. Ninety-four percent of MRI-Simmons survey respondents said theyd use their cell phone to talk during the prior week.

Fast-forward to spring 2019, where talking was the least popular cell phone communication method. Only 45% of survey takers said they used their phone to talk with someone in the prior week. The standard call came behind texting, email, posting to social media and using chat apps in the survey. Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Bindley noted multiple people she interviewed for the article said they assume someone died when their phone rings unexpectedly.

However, there are app developers and investors who believe voice communication over the phone is not the issuemaking the phone call is the problem. Theyre betting voice communication will supplant text again given the rise of smart speakers, wireless earbuds, group messaging and the aforementioned video chat.

Calling is fundamentally broken, Alex Ma, co-founder and CEO of the company behind audio-chat app TTYL (Talk To You Later), told The Wall Street Journal. We went from landlines to the iPhone X but we havent changed the way we call people.

Mas TTYL app allows users to see when their friends are free to talkeliminating that feeling of being rude. People can have a room open for others to join or lock it for privacy. TTYL was designed for small close groupsonly people users would want to hear from.

What our app allows you to do is in a single tap, jump into someones ears and start a conversation, Ma said.

Another app, Chalk, lets users combine a text chat with the ability to switch to a voice conversation, The Wall Street Journal reports. Users can go into listen-only mode where they can hear everything, but cant respond via voice. Instead they can text a response or turn their microphone back on. The idea is to decrease how long it takes to toggle between communication methods.

People were designed to have voice conversations, Juyan Azhang, co-founder and CEO of the company behind Chalk, told The Wall Street Journal. I dont think we were designed to have phone calls, and I think people lump those things together and I guess our goal is in some ways to peel that apart.

What does a potential voice over phone evolution mean for CRE? Well, if apps like TTYL and Chalk become a more prominent communication tool, especially in the workplace, CRE owners will have to have a wireless network in place that can accommodate it. Its one thing to have enough wireless bandwidth to handle cell phone calls and standard text messages. However, it could be quite another if a majority of tenants are relying on voice messaging and video chats are their primary communication source.

For example, seed-stage venture capital firm Betaworks Ventures recently announced an 11-week Audiocamp that includes mentorship and funding for startup companies that are focused on audio, according to The Wall Street Journal. The firm invested in Yac Chat, an audio messaging platform for remote workers. Users can send and receive voice messages similar to how instant messages are transmitted, but people can listen to the message when they want. Betaworks partner Peter Rojas believes voice messaging is a better fit for the workplace.

Most people dont want to be on a conference call all day, he told The Wall Street Journal. You have to balance the things that are special and better about audio with the things that are annoying. If you have never really spent a lot of time using phone calls, your relationship to audio is going to be different.

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How the Evolution of the Phone Call Impacts CRE - Connected Real Estate Magazine

WednesdayNov6,2019at12:05AM

In his Oct. 30 letter, "For some, evolution is still a theory," Frank Langford argued that evolution has not yet been proven; it's still a theory.

Langford might be surprised to learn that every competent scientist would agree with him. Of course evolution is a theory. So is gravity.

Langford is confusing the scientific terms "hypothesis" (an unproven guess) and "theory" (an explanation that can be used to make predictions).

Gravity is a theory, meaning that scientists can use their knowledge of gravity to make predictions. For example, scientists used the theory of gravity to declare that black holes long existed - before they had the technology to find those black holes in space.

Similarly scientists have long used the theory of evolution to predict natural phenomena that haven't been discovered yet.

Jean Reynolds, Ph.D., Winter Haven

Link:

Letter: Evolution is a theory, and something more - The Ledger

For students in attendance at a University sporting event, Cav Man often appears to be the epitome of University spirit. But he hasn't always been the icon he is today.

Before Cav Man, the University's mascots included a slew of different dogs, a Cav Man-esque "Cavalier" embodied by members of the polo team and the highly controversial "Hoo" a fuzzy, odd-looking creature.

While modern Virginia mascots are recognized by their flamboyant costumes and animated appearance, the earlier mascots were actually alive.

Nicknamed the King of Canines by The Cavalier Daily, Beta a mixed-breed dog served as the Universitys first mascot during the 1920s and 1930s. Think of him as the Universitys very first CavPup. The Beta Theta Pi fraternity adopted the dog, and he lived at their house on Rugby Road.

Like a true University student, Beta took his academics seriously his name was even called regularly during attendance for a lecture on Plato held in Cabell Hall. However, Beta always made time to support the Cavaliers at sporting events and sometimes even attended away games.

Over one Easter weekend, he traveled to the Georgia with students for a football game and didnt return it is unclear whether he was left behind or abducted.

Two weeks later, the Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers claimed they heard a scratch at the back door and, once they opened it, were met by Beta. To this day, it is unknown how the dog found his way back to Charlottesville.

Beta was fatally struck by an automobile and broke his back April 6, 1939. A student carried him to the local veterinarian, who was unable to save the dog.

Betas funeral was held that Friday. Followed by a procession of an estimated 1,000 mourners, a hearse transported the dog from the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house to his final resting place the University Cemetery.

There are many one man dogs, many one family dogs, but Beta was a whole Universitys Dog, Dean Lewis said in 1939 in the eulogy.

When Betas casket was lowered, students joined hands and sang the Good Ol Song.

Beta was succeeded by a dog named for his shiny coat of fur Seal. Seal was welcomed at different sororities and fraternities but typically stayed at the home of Dr. Charles Frankel, the football teams doctor.

The mascot is perhaps best remembered for urinating on a cheerleaders megaphone at a football game against Pennsylvania in 1949.

In 1953, Seal suffered a rupture due to his old age, it was unlikely that he would survive surgery. Veterinarians decided that Seal should be put to sleep to prevent further suffering.

Seal was put to rest Dec. 11, 1953. The V-Club, an organization for members of the Universitys varsity sports, was in charge of organizing his funeral, led by football co-captain Pete Potter.

Captains of the Universitys 12 varsity teams served as pallbearers followed by a procession of an estimated 2,000 people.

In true Jeffersonian tradition, Seal came from an obscure and questionable beginning and rose to the highest place of esteem at this University, Frankel said in the eulogy.

Just as with Betas funeral, attendees joined hands and sang the Good Ol Song when the coffin was lowered. Beta and Seal are buried beside each other in the University Cemetery overlooking where Gilmer Hall stands today.

Since Seals death, no other dog has been allowed to serve as the University mascot, though one has tried Grizzle.

Grizzle was donated to the University by a student, but the Beta Theta Pi fraternity who had once owned Beta volunteered to take care of the dog. Grizzle was intended to be the Universitys mascot, but a lack of communication between the fraternity and the athletic department prevented this from ever happening.

Today, students cheer at football games when the Cavalier rides into the stadium. The first documented Cavalier mascot appeared in a football game against Harvard in 1947. Starting in 1963, Virginia Polo Club members served as riders for 11 years until Scott Stadium acquired AstroTurf.

However, the mascot wasnt always accepted by students a photo of the Cavalier taken in 1984 refers to the mascot as defunct, but the infamous mascot resurfaced soon after.

The horse nicknamed Sabre is now ridden by Charlottesville native Kim Kirschnick. The mascot remains a part of Virginia home football games today.

The Hoo debuted at the 1983 home football opener against Duke and failed to receive a warm welcome. According to Virginia Magazine, fans threw ice cubes at it, and fraternity brothers even removed the mascots tongue.

Students were also dissatisfied with then-Virginia Athletic Director Richard Schultz and the athletic departments creation.

The Hoo is a video game reject, the Cavalier Daily wrote in a 1983 article. It tried out for Ms. Pacman and didnt make the first cut But there still might be hope. Pep band members have suggested placing a vacuum attachment on the creatures nose so it could at least clean up the field during halftime.

The controversy surrounding the Hoo reached Student Council, which received calls and letters of complaint regarding the mascot. John Farmer, College of Arts and Sciences representative, called for an end to the mascots career.

[The] Hoo does not fit in with the Universitys image, Farmer said in 1984.

After an overwhelming amount of criticism, Schultz relented and agreed to terminate the mascot and its association with the University. Schultz also met with Student Council and agreed that the athletic department and Student Council would work together to create a new mascot.

The Hoo can die a sudden death as far as Im concerned, Schultz said.

The costumed Cav Man students know and love today was introduced during the 1984 football season. The very first student to serve as the mascot was a second-year biology major, Jeff Stewart, whose portrayal bears many similarities to the version students see today.

In fact, Cav Mans iconic walk today takes inspiration from Stewarts original stride he called it the bebop.

While Cav Man was not initially accepted by the student body, Stewart remained optimistic about the mascots future.

I am still getting used to what I can and should do, Stewart said. Gradually I will be better, and the crowd will like me more.

Over three decades later, that prediction has certainly turned out to be true Cav Man is a fan favorite of not only students, but the Charlottesville community as well.

Link:

From Beta to Cav Man: The evolution of Virginia mascots - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Hard to believe, but collected at the Darwin on Trial website is a wonderful, yes wonderful, Washington Post profile of intelligent design godfather Phillip E. Johnson, who died on November 2. Of course, the article isnt recent. The Washington Post of today wouldnt be so fair or, indeed, sympathetic. Their more recent commentary compared Johnson and ID proponents, absurdly, with conspiracy theorists.

But a 2005 profile by feature writer Michael Powell, Doubting Rationalist, paints a rounded portrait and is very charmingly written. Powell begins by half-apologetically acknowledging that his newspaper has, in the editorial pages, taken a harsher view of ID than he evidently does:

BERKELEY, Calif. The Washington Post is not one of my biggest fans, you know that.

Hello?

The Washington Post reporter has just walked out of a spray of Pacific-borne rain into the living room of a modest bungalow west of downtown. Theres a shag rug, an inspirational painting or two and Phillip Johnson, dressed in tan slacks and a sweater and sitting on a couch. He pulls a dog-eared copy of a Post editorial out of his shirt pocket and reads aloud:

With their slick Web sites, pseudo-academic conferences and savvy public relations, the proponents of intelligent design a theory that challenges the validity of Darwinian evolution are far more sophisticated than the creationists of yore. . . . They succeed by casting doubt on evolution.

The 65-year-old Johnson swivels his formidable and balding head with that even more formidable brain inside and gazes over his reading glasses at the reporter (who doesnt labor for the people who write the editorials).

I suppose you think creation is all about unguided material processes, dont you? Well, I dont have the slightest trouble accepting microevolution as the cause behind the adaptation of the peppered moth and the growth of finches beaks. But I dont see that evolutionists have any cause for jubilation there.

It doesnt tell you how the moths and birds and trees got there in the first place. The human body is packed with marvels, eyes and lungs and cells, and evolutionary gradualism cant account for that.

Hes not big on small talk, this professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeleys law school.

The rest, some 3,400+ words in length, portrays Johnson as a professorial Buddha, accurately sketches some of the reasons skeptics doubt the Darwinian account of biological origins, notes a fascinating and quirky interest of Johnsons in critical legal studies, even brings in Stephen Meyer instead of the usual nave genuflecting youd expect today toward the National Center for Science Education:

Stephen C. Meyer, then [in the late 1980s] a young graduate student studying the philosophy of science at Cambridge, got word of this law professor who was getting some odd ideas about evolution. Meyer, who harbored his own doubts, walked to a tavern with Johnson and they talked for hours.

Phillip understood that the language of science cut off choices: Evolution had to be an undirected process or it wasnt science, says Meyer, who today directs an intelligent-design think tank affiliated with the Seattle-based Discovery Institute. He knew the rhetorical tricks.

By the end of that day I knew we could challenge Darwin.

A lot of creationists are unctuous and earnest and begging for a place at the scientific table, says Meyer. Not Phil. He was a star academic, he conceded nothing, and hes got rhino hide for skin.

Phil Johnson comes across as brilliant, which he was. Only in the last few paragraphs does Powell mention Johnsons strokes. Reading up until then, you would never have guessed he suffered from any disability:

Johnson listens and folds his hands in his lap and remains silent. Hes had two strokes, the latter a few months back. His mind remains a fine instrument, the levers and wheels spinning sure as ever. But putting thoughts into words can be laborious.

There are sympathetic comments from Stuart Kauffman Give Johnson and the intelligent-design movement their due they are asking terribly important questions and even a moment of seeming hesitation from Ken Miller, who briefly weighs the possibility that the Cambrian explosion reflects the work of a super-intelligent or supernatural form Im a Red Sox fan. But its surely not very likely.

Speaking of baseball, Powell has since moved on. He now writes about sports, a subject still fairly insulated from poisonous bias, for the New York Times. Today, 14 years later, on any controversial topic, I would be shocked at such generosity from a mainstream media reporter.

Photo: Phillip E. Johnson in 2009, screenshot from Hanging Out with Phillip Johnson, Godfather of the Intelligent Design Movement.

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Wonderful Profile of Phil Johnson inthe Washington Post? - Discovery Institute

It was a Friday night, and I wasn't sure I was hip enough to blend in with the crowd at Fabrica de Arte Cubano, an art gallery-slash-nightclub that has emerged as ground zero for Havana's burgeoning "Brooklynization."

The venue was one of many stops on a custom weekend tour with Cultural Cuba and decidedly different from the day's earlier activities, which had included a visit to a local preschool for disadvantaged youth.

Surrounded at the entrance by tall security guards and a horde of well-dressed twenty-somethings, Fabrica de Arte Cubano, or FAC for short, gave off an air of exclusivity. I assumed it to be a typical tourist hot spot, where foreigners and wealthy Habaneros could go to see and be seen, all under the pretext of patronizing local artists.

A few minutes after entering, I realized I was way off the mark.

Housed in a former cooking oil factory, Fabrica de Arte Cubano opened in 2014 and is the brainchild of X-Alfonso, a Cuban hip hop and Afro-rock musician and entrepreneur. The sprawling, maze-like space showcases everything from contemporary photography, art installations, live music, performance art, indie films and more, easily rivaling the galleries found in hipster havens like Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or Wynwood, Miami.

Street art on the walls inside FAC. Photo Credit: TW photo by Christina Jelski

But rather than catering only to well-heeled bohemians, FAC aims to be egalitarian. Entrance fees are kept intentionally low, at around CUC$2, to ensure the venue remains accessible to locals. (The Cuban Convertible Peso, or CUC, is the currency that visitors are required to use and is pinned to the U.S. dollar value. In Cuba, the average government employee salary is just CUC$43, or around 1,067 Cuban pesos, a month.)

This inclusive approach translates into a refreshingly unpretentious atmosphere, where contemporary art and music can be enjoyed by young and old, rich and poor, Cuban and non-Cuban alike.

"La ultima cena" (The last supper), a piece by Enrique Rottenberg, hangs in the gallery at FAC. Photo Credit: TW photo by Christina Jelski

During my visit in early November, one of the gallery's main draws was an exhibit featuring work by Enrique Rottenberg, an Argentine-born Israeli who emigrated to Cuba in the early 1990s. His photography regularly incorporates self-portraiture, which made it easy to spot Rottenberg himself in the gallery later that evening, surrounded by star-struck admirers hoping to snap a photo.

A band plays in one of FAC's more intimate performance spaces. Photo Credit: TW photo by Christina Jelski

Elsewhere at FAC, a jazz group played on a small, tucked-away stage, while in a larger, more cavernous space a crowd milled about and swayed to Afro-Cuban rhythms as they waited for a live music set to start.

FAC's bar and restaurant scene was similarly vibrant. Affordable food and drink options are plentiful throughout the complex, but the venue's standout eatery is Tierra, a small paladares, or privately run restaurant, in the club's VIP area. Tierra's diners are primarily foreigners, and the restaurant's menu features globally inspired offerings like baba ghanoush and hummus, traditional Portuguese beef dish bife a Portuguesa and a Spanish dessert called torrejas.

Our group left FAC completely blown away. The venue seemed emblematic of a new chapter gradually unfolding in Cuba, driven not by revolution but by cultural evolution.

On our last day in Havana with Cultural Cuba, we stopped by Dador, a Cuban fashion brand and clothing boutique. The bright, airy store, which features high ceilings and white walls, is stocked with pieces that are proudly Cuban made, all designed and sewn in-house.

There, we were met by Dador co-founder Lauren Fajardo, a Cuban native who, after an eight-year stint in New York, decided to move back to Havana permanently in 2016. Like us, she had been astounded by the city's transformation upon her return.

"I started to come back for a documentary project and started staying for longer periods of time," said Fajardo. "Then, at one point, I decided I wanted to be here because I saw a totally different Cuba. And none of it existed when I was growing up. All the restaurants and bars, they didn't exist back then. We used to just head to the malecon with a bottle of rum and hang out. We never dreamed the city could be like this."

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Getting an inside look at the Cuban evolution - Travel Weekly

The actor, comedian, and Big Mouth creator brings his most personal stand-up set to Medfords Chevalier Theatre this weekend

Over the years, Nick Kroll has performed on Boston stages in a variety of ways, but as he makes his way back to the area for his latest New England rendezvous, hes feeling a bit different about what hes bringing to the table. Actually, you could say hes going through changes.

Equipped with what he feels is the most complete version of a show hes done in any format, Kroll brings his Middle-Aged Boy tour to Medfords Chevalier Theatre on Friday (November 8) for two shows, one of which is sold out. While hes excited to bring new material to the area, hes even more excited to bring the show in a more open and honest direction than hes really used to, and in many ways, he has Big Mouth to thank for that.

This show is a little more about my life, and a little bit more revelatory about where I am at this point in my life, Kroll tells Vanyaland. The whole idea of the Middle-Aged Boy tour is that Im in my forties, but in a lot of ways I still feel like a kid, and I think a lot of people can identify with that. It just feels like a much more open and honest version of where I am right now, and I think a lot of that comes from what I learned doing Big Mouth and how much Ive been rewarded with the amount of people that watch the show because of how honest it feels.

The newer territory of touring solo, as opposed to bringing projects like Oh Hello! around the country with John Mulaney like hes done in the past, is strange in a number of ways for Kroll; he admits that its been a very different creative process when it comes to molding the material as the tour rolls on. But on the other hand, hes happy that hes able to do his own thing in this way, as hes been able to draw a few key similarities from past tours that have helped him to keep learning, building, and reframing the show as it evolves.

I brought this show to Providence a fewmonths ago, and a lot of it is the same, but a lot of it is also changing andevolving, and its just a really fun way to continue to grow it, says Kroll.Its a completely different beast when you do a show with someone else likeJohn, but its been a lot of fun just being open and honest about who I amnow.

While he draws a lot of inspiration from whathes done in real life, Kroll has also felt a shift in the direction of hiscomedy since he began creating the hit Netflix show Big Mouth, which has also helped him to feel more comfortable inbeing more open and honest with the crowd. Hes even drawn a lot from thecreative process of making the show that hes been able to transfer to hisapproach to stand-up to give his fans a well-rounded stand-up experience.

The process of animation means that you getconstantly revise and polish whats wrong, and it takes a long time to make anepisode for a show like Big Mouth,says Kroll. So, I feel like Ive taken a lot of those lessons of revising andfixing the things that are working or not working in my stand-up, and use themto continue to make it a better and fuller show.

While hes put a lot of focus into shaping his stand-up show, Krolls growth as an artist has also been evident throughout the evolution of Big Mouth, which is currently in its third season on Netflix. While the first two seasons drew a lot of inspiration from his childhood, as well as that of his creative partner Andrew Goldberg, Kroll wanted to make sure that the third season dealt with issues that kids are facing today. The new season speaks to the affects of addiction to electronics and social media, Adderall use, and the dynamic shift that the #MeToo movement has brought to the forefront between boys and girls going through the throes of middle school.

This season was the first season that was written after the #MeToo movement really started, so we also wanted to explore the politics of men and women, and young boys and girls, with these questions like how can girls be angry? and how can boys be horny and still be good kids?, says Kroll. We really just wanted to explore all of those different elements.

Kroll has a lot to keep him busy through the start of the new year. Between the tour, the next season of Big Mouth in the works, and his starring role in Olympic Dreams, which he shot on location at the 2018 Winter Olympics with Alexi Pappas and director Jeremy Teicher, hes also looking forward to getting another show, Human Resources, up and running. But for now, hes just excited to return to the area and soak up the New England fall, make some people laugh, and stay far away from any sort of shellfish.

Ill probably take a stroll around BostonCommon, and I wouldnt be surprised if I wound up eating some dumplings inChinatown, says Kroll. Im also allergic to shellfish, so I wont be havingany clam chowder, but Boston is one of my favorite cities, because its sobeautiful, so Im hoping it wont be too cold and I get to walk around a bit.

NICK KROLL, MIDDLE-AGED BOY TOUR :: Friday, November 8 at the Chevalier Theatre, 30 Forest Street in Medford, MA :: 7:30 p.m. (sold out) & 10 p.m., $34 :: Event Page

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Nick Kroll's creative evolution has him feeling more open and honest - Vanyaland