Posts in Holidays

On my drive to work this morning, a sports radio talk show host warned his presumably largely male fan base that Valentine’s Day was coming soon.  Not to fear, he argued. If the holiday has caught you off guard, he claimed he still had the perfect gift that every woman would love.  He summed up his advice in two words: “power down.”

Answer:  Leonard Cohen, adulterers in Aceh, and Malcolm Casadaban. 

Question:  Who by fire?  Who by stoning?  Who by plague?

As Flag Day arrives on June 14, I have a confession to make. Outside of an endearing International Day ceremony at my girls’ school featuring brightly colored flags carried by elaborately dressed children, my patriotism has been strained in recent years. Yet now I am intrigued by the rhetoric of hope coming from the capital. While some may be wishing for less transparency to fortify their hope, I am encouraged by promises to restore the integrity of political life and to rethink progress.

I sing the honor of our fallen soldiers; and their final sacrifice on behalf of country, freedom, security; And technological innovation.

May is National Museum Month so I forced my 7-year-old son to accompany me to the Museum of Human Frailty. Housed in a restored factory building in a depressed mid-sized rust belt city in upstate New York, the MHF's promotional brochure describes the museum’s mission as helping "children of all ages understand their own emotional and rational contradictions and limitations."

There are few jobs more demanding, more confusing, or more closely scrutinized than that of a mother. How do mothers ever make sense of the constant deluge of expert and scientific advice? What can we do to help them, and what can they teach us about evaluating expert advice?

Damn. I’ve temporarily disqualified myself from making the incisive and witty kinds of political comment that Dan Sarewitz and CSPO colleagues regularly make in these Soapbox articles, because I’m currently enjoying a 12-month secondment in a challenging policy role. What I thought I’d do instead is to relate some of the values that I see as fundamental to science-policy practice to the legend of ANZAC, an important part of Australia’s national psyche. This is timely because the 25th of April is ANZAC day here in Australia. Confused? Relax – this might all make sense in a moment.

The environmental movement has made great strides since this day 39 years ago, when Earth Day was first declared a holiday. Amidst the ebbs and flows of public attentiveness for environmental concerns, legislation has been passed and regulations implemented in cities, states, and the federal government to protect our water, air, ecosystems, species, roadless areas, ocean health, etc, etc.

I'm sitting in an airplane at 38,000 feet and young children are crying from rows in front and in back of me. If the Exodus was this loud, I might have stayed in Egypt. What would it have been like to be part of that mass, that throng of people? And their animals? And their camels?

Wednesday is April Fools’ Day. So as you’re stuffing snakes into peanut brittle cans, inflating whoopee cushions or winding your joy buzzer in preparation, CSPO types might take a moment to consider the legacy of the most “science and society-ish” practical joke ever.