Friday, April 19, 2024
Living a small life
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
On walking
Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.
~Søren Kierkegaard
I try to get out to walk each day, and usually manage a couple of miles a day. I have my favorite routes; one of them is to walk around Sant Hanshaugen park, which is a lovely park not far from where we live. Other routes are along the Akerselva river--both north and south. Sometimes I just walk down to my garden and back; I've taken to having my phone in my pocket as I work in the garden and walk around it. You'd be surprised how much walking I do just in the garden.
My mother was a great walker, and was well-known in Tarrytown for that. Many people used to stop and offer her rides home from the grocery store, but she politely declined. For her, getting out each day for her walk was a lifesaver. It gave her some needed free time, time for herself. I think she must have enjoyed that--getting some free quiet time away from the hustle and bustle of family life. Sometimes she let us children tag along if we begged her long enough, but most times not. And that was ok with us, as she always returned with candy or comic books for us to enjoy.
I haven't always been a walker. I became one in earnest about fifteen years ago, when I decided that having to sit each workday in a shared cramped office was no longer what I wanted to do. I started to end my workdays around 3:30 or 4:00 pm and left work early to walk home. A two-mile walk. I would put my headphones on and listen to music on my phone. Doing this was great training, and started me down the road of wanting to be outdoors whenever I could. It's one of the reasons I dislike winter intensely in this city, as I've written about in previous posts. It's very difficult to get out and walk when the sidewalks are sheets of ice. If they weren't, I might like winter a little more.
Whenever I am on vacation in a new place, I get out and walk around. My husband enjoys this too, so we have explored many new cities this way. As long as I can be mobile, I'm happy. I don't need to ski, go to the gym, or any other such thing. If I can walk each day, I'm happy. I agree with Søren Kierkegaard; I begin to feel ill if I can't get out for my walk. The cure is free--walking. I've become my mother, at least in that respect.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The surreal world we live in
Friday, March 15, 2024
Trying to understand the mystery of life
Apropos my last post, where I talked about accepting some things in this life (like my faith) that I know I will never understand on this earth; Henry Miller wrote about his way of looking at the world and trying to understand the mystery of life. He came to the conclusion that he would never understand everything, but that didn't stop him from trying. That's a beautiful way of looking at the world.
He wrote:
I have a theory that the moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. I have tried this experiment a thousand times and I have never been disappointed. The more I look at a thing, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I want to see. It is like peeling an onion. There is always another layer, and another, and another. And each layer is more beautiful than the last.
This is the way I look at the world. I don't see it as a collection of objects, but as a vast and mysterious organism. I see the beauty in the smallest things, and I find wonder in the most ordinary events. I am always looking for the hidden meaning, the secret message. I am always trying to understand the mystery of life.
I know that I will never understand everything, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I am content to live in the mystery, to be surrounded by the unknown. I am content to be a seeker, a pilgrim, a traveler on the road to nowhere. ~Henry Miller
(from Henry Miller's book: Black Spring)
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Odds and ends, part two
As I get older, I am more willing to accept that I won't get the answers I seek, particularly where faith is concerned. Faith is a mystery that I will never truly decipher. My faith in God has wavered from time to time up through the years. Ditto for my desire to attend Sunday mass. But I've realized that I won't get firm proof that God exists; he/she is not going to suddenly appear before me (like in the story of doubting Thomas) and convince me that way. So I accept God's existence on faith. Attending mass is similar; I go, no matter how I feel. Ten to fifteen years ago, I often wondered why I should go to mass when so many things seemed to be topsy-turvy in my life and definitely in the world. Not anymore. It's become something I do without thinking about it too much. That works for me. I like being there, being part of something larger than me. Being together with (presumably) like-minded people, in the sense that they are also believers. Even if they aren't, it wouldn't change my wanting to be there. I've realized that I can just offer up who I am on any given day--happy, sad, moody, bored, angry, irritable--and hope that I am acceptable. Being human means being imperfect. That is my reality, even though I try hard each day to be the best version of myself (as Matthew Kelly says).
I watched the film Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret from 2023 last night. It's a touching, funny and sweet story about a twelve-year old girl on the cusp of adolescence, and how she deals with life at home and in school. The film is based on the book of the same name by Judy Blume; I never read it when it was published back in 1970. Margaret is the daughter of an interfaith marriage--Jewish father and Catholic mother, but neither of her parents are religious and they have chosen to raise Margaret without any religious affiliation. She does however hope to eventually find some sort of religion to belong to. She is assigned a school project that allows her to explore different religious beliefs, which she hopes will give her some idea of what religion to eventually embrace. She does talk to God however, telling him about all the things that are happening in her life and sharing her joys as well as disappointments. Abby Ryder Fortson did a wonderful job as Margaret, as did Rachel McAdams as her mother and Kathy Bates as her grandmother.
I also watched the film Dog from 2022 with Channing Tatum the other night--also very good. He played a former Army Ranger suffering from PTSD who wants to return to military duty but whose superiors deny him that chance due to his condition. However, he agrees to bring his former partner's dog Lulu to his funeral (he has committed suicide) as part of a deal for him to return to active duty. Lulu is anxiety-ridden and aggressive (suffering from a kind of PTSD too) and destined for eventual euthanization, and the trip from Oregon to Arizona is fraught with different problems and troubles along the way. It's a beautiful story about the bond that forms between man and dog, and how they both save each other.
I've spent the past four days without tv news of any kind to invade my life. Bliss. I don't want to know what's going on in the world because I know it's the same old, same old--wars, aggression, conflicts, shootings, murders, political divisiveness--the list is long. And the news media love reporting it all; sometimes I get the feeling that 'the worse, the better'. I know that's cynical, but hey, the news media are cynical institutions. You get back what you give.
I haven't been on social media much either. Also bliss. I don't really miss it. As I've written about before, I'd remove myself from most of it if it wasn't for the fact that friends in the US still use it. It's a way of staying in touch with them, although these days we mostly chat via Messenger and WhatsApp.
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
The scowlers
I could have entitled this post The Scowls. The furious looks. The dissatisfied men. Two angry men--Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson. Because they are angry. But why are they angry? What do they have to be angry about? They are two very wealthy men. They are privileged. They live in a rareified atmosphere that few will ever experience. They don't have to get their hands dirty. They can do what they want when they want. Tucker Carlson once worked for Fox News until he cost them more than they could reasonably defend. Ah yes, Donald Trump--well, what is there to say? He speaks for the common man, Donald Trump does. He knows what it's like to walk into a grocery store and pay through the nose for food. He knows what it's like to struggle to pay a mortgage. He knows what it's like to be a common everyday man or woman.
I am simultaneously fascinated and repelled by their public displays of anger. Who are these men fooling? Certainly not me. When I look at these photos, I have to laugh. Can you imagine having to live with them? Wake up with them each day, looking at their sour pusses? Dealing with their feigned anger? Heaven forbid. And yet, people are drawn in by their theatrics. They believe their empty promises and lies.
These two men come to mind whenever I need good examples of grumpy old men and scowlers. They've perfected the art of scowling. I'm not sure if Trump's scowling will net him a second term. Carlson has more to scowl about after his embarrassing interview with Putin and his debacle at Fox. But why doesn't their wealth make them smile? Since they're all about the money, I would have thought their money would have made them happy, much like Scrooge and Scrooge McDuck.
Perpetually-angry people bring to mind the Aesop fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The shepherd boy kept 'crying wolf' (lying) about a wolf attacking his sheep, and the townspeople always rushed to help him. But when he cried wolf once too often, they got tired of his false alarms. One day a wolf really did show up to attack and devour the sheep and the townspeople ignored his cries for help. Perpetually-angry people should realize that their constant yelling will make others lose interest and sympathy. Maybe some people like listening to the same manic complaining every day, but most of us don't. We learn to ignore them and their anger. As a friend of mine used to say to her husband (now ex-husband) when he yelled at her for trivial reasons--'I don't hear you any better when you yell'. I feel the same way. If you raise your voice to me, I quietly consider my options. I can tune you out while you're yelling; I'm a master at it from my schooldays. Or I can leave the room. I simply don't want to hear what you have to say. And that includes angry politicians and tv personalities and their nonsense.
Saturday, March 2, 2024
Odds and ends and updates
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Wise words from Mary Oliver
Wise words from Matt Haig
Apropos some of my previous posts; Matt Haig sums it up
beautifully when he writes that 'happiness isn't very good for the economy'. I
would go one step further and say that the media is invested in depressing us.
Why? I would guess it has to do with ratings, because the more we watch, the more brainwashed we become, and then they can sell us whatever world view they wish to push on us. They have an agenda for sure. On social media, it has to do with clicks that are given to each article posted.
All of the clickbait stories bring in revenue for the advertisers. Again, we’re
back to money. How cynical the world has become.
Matt Haig writes:
"The world is increasingly designed to depress us.
Happiness isn't very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had,
why would we need more?
How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? You make someone
worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You
make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By
making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic
surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a
TV show? By making them worry about missing out. How do you get them to buy a
new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left behind.
To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be happy with your own non-upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business".
(from his book: Reasons to Stay Alive)
Monday, February 19, 2024
Restoring equilibrium and peace by not watching the news
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Monday, February 12, 2024
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Two good pieces of advice
"I’m not telling you to make the world better, because
I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just
telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not
just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the
picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take
pride in it. To seize the moment. And if you ask me why you should bother to do
that, I could tell you that the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I
think do there embrace. Nor do they sing there, or write, or argue, or see the
tidal bore on the Amazon, or touch their children. And that’s what there is to
do and get it while you can and good luck at it.”
Joan Didion
“Find meaning. Distinguish melancholy from sadness. Go out
for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a romantic walk in the park, spring at its
most spectacular moment, flowers and smells and outstanding poetical imagery
smoothly transferring you into another world. It doesn’t have to be a walk
during which you’ll have multiple life epiphanies and discover meanings no
other brain ever managed to encounter. Do not be afraid of spending quality
time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but 'steal' some time and
give it freely and exclusively to your own self. Opt for privacy and solitude.
That doesn’t make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world.
But you need to breathe. And you need to be.”
Albert Camus
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Greed will be the death of us
Boeing has had its share of problems recently. This quote is from The New York Times article published today: Opinion | Boeing’s Problems Started Long Before the Alaska Airlines Mishap - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
"What Boeing has missed, as it tried to dump costs and speed production, was the chance to ensure that safety was a cultural core and a competitive advantage. Corporations can choose to push back against the Wall Street-driven notion that safety equals cost and thus lower profits".
This type of thinking--cutting costs and speeding up production--has invaded every corner of the business world. It's a disease without a cure. Every time I turn around, I read or hear about more budget cuts that result in fewer employees and more work for those employees who remain. When the emphasis is on keeping costs low, something gets compromised, and that is usually quality work and eventually safety. Even employees who want to do their absolute best (and more) will not be able to get it all done in the best possible way. Corners will be cut in the name of saving money and time. After all, time is money. Those employees with good ethics and a conscience know that this type of thinking won't work in the long run, and they leave. Highly-competent employees who don't want to compromise quality and safety leave to take other jobs that won't force them to compromise their ethics. But what happens when the majority of companies behave in this way? What happens when companies that prioritize ethics and quality work become a minority?
As always, Wall Street figures into the picture. What would happen if companies delisted from the stock market and focused on the business they were created to do, rather than on corporate profits and having to satisfy shareholders (investors)? Would they lose all of their investors? I understand that companies need investors who will provide the money needed for the company to grow. And of course investors want their money back via profits. I don't understand enough about how the stock market works to really discuss this in detail. My only question is: when is enough, enough? If and when investors are paid back, do they need more money? The Norwegians have a saying: 'mye vil ha mer'. It means the wealthy will always want more. I guess that's part of the investment deal. As long as companies have to consider their shareholders first, employees and quality work will take second place. Budget cuts, fewer employees hired, outsourcing to cut costs, loss of competent employees and eventually substandard finished products are the result.
Greed will be the death of us.
Friday, January 12, 2024
The waning of common sense
Actions speak louder than empty words, strange ideas, or half-baked theories. When you put any of the latter into action and the results are underwhelming or even foolish, you have to ask why. The answer is found in the waning of common sense. Society is losing its ability to think, discuss, and act rationally.
People are talking about how AI (artificial intelligence) is going to be the undoing of the human race--that AI technology/machines are going to wipe us out. As far as I can see, the human race is doing a bang-up job of wiping itself out all by its lonesome. AI doesn't worry me half as much as does the bad behavior of human beings. Let's list up the bad behavior: greed and more greed, lust, envy, stealing, cheating, murder, lack of peace, warmongering--all of which will be our undoing.
Climate change hysteria has invaded and permeated every aspect of our lives. While I don't deny that there have been increases in different types of climate changes (global warming, rising seas, melting polar caps), no one can say for sure if the causes are due to man or to natural changes or both. I would guess both. We should make adjustments to the way we live, yes. That we should uncritically swallow every new idea that is put forth as to how to eliminate climate change, no.
Pertinent to the previous point, here in Norway, electric cars are overtaking gas cars, which will likely be phased out in a few years. The politicians are totally on board with this way of thinking. There is little to no discussion of why electric cars are better than gas cars. I understand that the carbon dioxide emissions from gas cars can contribute to a greenhouse effect. But what about the production of the huge lithium-ion batteries needed to run these cars? What about the mining that is necessary to obtain the metals needed for these batteries? What about the disposal of these huge batteries? And additionally, let's get real, Norway is a winter country with snow and bitter cold from November until April. Cold temperatures reduce the efficiency of these batteries which in turn affects the performance of electric cars. Heating electric cars is a drain on the batteries, so in the wintertime the cars can be quite cold so as not to drain the batteries. Also, I've read that the production of lithium-ion batteries results in more carbon dioxide emissions compared to gas car usage. So tell me again, why are electric cars better? Why not push hybrid cars that can run on gas fuel in the winter and on battery power in the summer, if you've got to push anything at all? The goal is null emissions from gas-fueled cars, but it's ok if the emissions come from electric car battery production. This makes no sense to me since the emissions from the latter are only going to increase as more and more transportation vehicles (cars, boats, planes) 'go electric'.
I am on board with using public transportation more, rather than using our cars for everything. Better yet, get out and walk if you can. Interestingly enough, Oslo has invested millions of dollars in electric buses and is phasing out its biofuel/diesel buses. But do the electric buses run in the wintertime when it is bitter cold outside, like it has been the past few weeks? No, they don't. They've stopped running, they're cold inside because to warm the buses up drains the batteries, the distance range (how long you can drive before the battery needs recharging) is abysmal, and the bus drivers are fed up. Do the bus company managers listen to their drivers? No, they don't. They continue to push their agenda, that electric buses are the future, no matter what. The same problem has occurred with the electric ferries that run between the Oslo fjord islands. Who wants to be out in the middle of the ocean when the ferries stop due to battery problems? These problems don't inspire confidence at all. I don't even want to think about the airline companies; eventually they'll be pushing electric airplanes. I won't be flying on them.
Oslo has invested millions of dollars in bike lanes. Admirable, yes. You can really get around the city using your bicycle. We can thank the Green Party for that. But again, this has been their focus to the exclusion of other equally important issues. And during the wintertime, the bike lanes are cleared of snow and salted. The sidewalks are another story. Walking is just as healthy for you as biking, perhaps more so. But no one is going to get out and walk when they fear falling and breaking an arm or leg on slippery snowy sidewalks. It makes no sense to me, this strange prioritizing. Additionally, very few people except the diehards bike during the wintertime.
Food prices continue to increase. The increases seen are for the healthy foods--fruits and vegetables, fish, etc. I can attest to that. But a box of gingerbread cookies after Christmas in one of the Oslo supermarkets was selling for less than a dollar. Go figure. The Green Party is pushing us all to eat less or no meat. But I don't see them pushing the supermarket owners to lower the prices of healthy foods. I don't see them making that their focal point. The thinking is that we should continue to pay higher prices for them. Is it any wonder that people eat at fast food places where they can still afford the prices? The thinking that 'I should pay more for the quality food that is best for me' only goes so far. Most people have a food budget. I feel sorry for families of four or more. Their food budgets must be very high. And while I'm on the subject of food, salmon has been pushed and is still being pushed as being very healthy for us. Wild salmon, yes. Farmed salmon, not so much. The open tanks for fish farming use antibiotics and pesticides to keep the salmon 'healthy'. Sick fish find their way into the processing plants. What is healthy about keeping fish swimming around in crowded conditions in tanks compared to having them swimming wild in the ocean? The answer given is that it isn't possible to catch enough wild salmon for human consumption, thus we need fish farms. My answer--eat less salmon, eat less tuna, eat less meat. You don't have to cut them out completely from your diet. Just cut down. We're overfishing the oceans as it is.
Norway is very good at recycling plastic bottles and plastic items in general. However, plastic waste is exported to other European countries that presumably have ways of dealing with this type of waste. I'm not sure of the percentage of plastic waste that is exported, but it seems to me that in a country as rich as this one, that a solution could be found so that Norway could take care of its own plastic waste, rather than export it. Apparently, many countries have previously exported their plastic waste to developing countries which have found themselves overwhelmed by the sheer amounts. So these countries have dumped the waste they cannot process into the waterways and oceans. So what has been accomplished? It is not correct to say that Norway (or the USA or other European countries) are not polluting the oceans. They are, just not directly. Each country should take care of its own waste. Rich countries should lead the way, and the Green Party in this country should prioritize that.
Sunday, January 7, 2024
Oh Christmas tree
At Christmastime, we usually buy 'edelgran' (noble fir in English) trees, and this year, the tree is an exceptionally healthy one. It's still drinking about a liter of water each day. So we'll keep the tree up until it stops drinking water. I can't picture Christmas without a tree; I know some younger people who don't put up a tree, mostly because they travel home to family during the holidays and there's no one to give the tree water. But if that were the case for me, I'd put up an artificial tree instead. When I was single and living on my own in New Jersey, I did just that. Like my mother, I love pretty much everything about the Christmas season.
For as long as we've lived in our apartment, the Christmas tree always has been a holiday fixture in the dining room area, which also has a sitting area with a comfy couch. When it gets dark out and the tree's lights are on, I like to stretch out on the couch and just look at the tree. It's peaceful, calming, and meditative. Sometimes I turn on the flameless candle on the table near the couch, and the combination of both is very soothing. Puts me right to sleep. One of the nicest things I know of is waking up after a short nap to see the tree standing there, with its lights and decorations. A constant in a world of inconstants. A reminder that all is right with the world if we choose to look at it that way. Of course, I'm not naive, I know the world is drowning in problems. But I can't focus just on them. Before Christmas, I was rather despondent due to the lack of peace and all of the problems in the world. But when I traveled to Dresden and met my friend there, I got back some of my Christmas spirit. When I get a bit depressed or sad, I try to remember what it was like when I was younger and going through troubled times. I had faith that life would change, and it did. I hold out the same hope for the world, because I don't know how much worse it can get.
Many people before me have had the same thoughts about their Christmas trees. I'm including the lyrics to Oh Christmas Tree, a traditional carol (written by German organist and composer Ernst Anschütz who called the song Oh Tannenbaum which means Oh Fir Tree) that we sang as children. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. I still love hearing the song now.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
Not only green in summer’s heat,
But also winter’s snow and sleet.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Of all the trees most lovely;
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Of all the trees most lovely.
Each year you bring to us delight
With brightly shining Christmas light!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Of all the trees most lovely.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
We learn from all your beauty;
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
We learn from all your beauty.
Your bright green leaves with festive cheer,
Give hope and strength throughout the year.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
We learn from all your beauty.
-------------------------------------
Reflections on academic plagiarism
I’m not stepping into the politically-charged fracas surrounding the resignation of the president of Harvard University--Claudine Gay. I understand that politics will inevitably rear its ugly head in the USA nowadays no matter what the situation. I’m only interested in one aspect of the case--the alleged plagiarism charges against her. If it’s true that she plagiarized some parts of her doctoral thesis already way back in 1997, then that’s the only thing that interests me. That’s because I spent over forty years in an academic research career and wrote nearly one hundred scientific articles, all of which were peer-reviewed and checked by specific software for plagiarism from around 2005 or so. This type of software appeared around the year 2000 and most scientific journals had incorporated it into use by 2005. If you were intentionally unethical and extensively plagiarized others’ articles, you would eventually get caught and your article would be refused. The ‘punishment’ was not more severe than that, except that ultimately, if you don’t publish in academia, you perish, hence the old adage—‘publish or perish’. The punishment of no published articles leads to no funding, because scientists will not get funding for their research if they haven’t published. Essentially it’s tantamount to shooting yourself in the foot. But in my long experience, most of the scientists I ran across or collaborated with were decent and ethical people. I include myself in that group. I can’t tell you how many times I lay awake during the night, wondering about the phrasing of this or that sentence or paragraph, wanting to get it just right, and hoping that I had without parroting others’ ideas. The problem of course is that each published article builds on the work that came before; in other words, there are very few novel ideas. The novel ideas belong to the few visionaries who move science along in a way that the rest of us do not.
If you have to write about the ideas and findings of others,
as we had to do as scientists, then you must reference their
previously-published articles. You cannot knowingly take credit for ideas and
findings that rightfully belong to others. Most scientists are ethical and follow
this unwritten rule; no one would like to end up being labeled a plagiarist. Of
course mistakes are made and usually those cases are sorted out by the author
and the journal, or by the author and his or her co-authors. But if you
knowingly plagiarize and are caught doing so, the consequences can be
unpleasant for your career.
I was an anonymous article reviewer for a number of journals
for well over twenty years. Article reviewing is voluntary; we scientists do
not get paid for helping the journals in this way. I have come across blatant
plagiarism (of words or ideas) only several times in that period of time. In one
case, the authors copied and pasted whole abstracts and paragraphs in the Introduction from one of
their previously-published articles to a manuscript they were writing and
wished to submit for review. They did this in order to pass off their new article
as original. We’re talking about the exact same abstract and introductory paragraph(s) showing up in two
different papers, with only a drug concentration or amount changed to indicate that
the new article was different from the previous one. They did not bother to
cite their previous article (had they done so, it would have been less
problematic). In other words, the authors plagiarized themselves
(self-plagiarism), which you might think is not plagiarism, except that it is. This type of behavior has positive consequences for the authors if
their behavior is not discovered. We academics know why this is done—to increase
the number of publications on one’s publication list. In this case, the authors
had tested the effects of five different chemicals on cancer cells, and
published the effects of each one individually (five separate papers instead of
one paper detailing the effects of all five chemicals). Since the methodology
involved in each paper was the same, as were the aims of the studies, the
authors were too lazy to write new abstracts and introductions for each
article. It happens more often than you might think and is not discovered so
often, mostly because many reviewers won’t google previous publications by the
authors in question due to lack of time or interest (another kind of laziness).
How did I find out that the authors had done this? Interested as I was in the
subject matter, I googled some of their previous articles. After I saw what the
authors had done, I recommended to the editor that the manuscript be refused and
the authors chastised for this practice. What I know for sure is that the
article was published as it was (without
any changes) in another journal (low impact-factor), because those journals are
desperate for articles to publish. They need them for their existence.
Another case involved a high-profile group who published a
rather banal article in the late 1990s in one of the best journals in the science field. Their article
documented the use of a technology that could be used to assess DNA content in
cancer cells. It was presented as though this was a novel finding, which it most
certainly was not. I happen to personally know the researchers who invented
this technique and published many articles about it twenty years before the publication in the elite journal; nowhere in that article were the original researchers referenced. I
and many others wrote letters to the editor pointing this out, expecting the
journal to retract the article or at least write a short commentary about the
situation. Nothing happened. The journal did not want to upset the research
group involved, so nothing happened. No consequences. When you’re the elite, when
you sit at the top, you can get away with a lot. I learned that already in my
late thirties/early forties, with nearly thirty years to go in the academic
research arena.
So back to Claudine Gay, who as president of Harvard was making
close to a million dollars a year. I’ve read some of the articles about what
she did; the most descriptive one so far (in terms of comparisons of Gay’s
writing versus the original articles she is accused of plagiarizing) was
written by Sophia Nguyen and published in The
Washington Post: Timeline:
Plagiarism allegations against Claudine Gay - The Washington Post . It is
possible to read the article for free if you register your email address with
them. After reading the article, I say, Gay should have known better. Harvard
University should have known better and reacted differently and much earlier.
But many elite universities would probably have done the same--swept the affair
under the rug as a tempest in a teapot. But they’re wrong, it is an important
matter, because the entire affair allows for a way of thinking that is already
prevalent in our society. That laziness is ok, mediocrity is good enough, taking
credit for others’ work is ok as long as you don’t get caught, but if you get
caught, talk your way out of it. One must strive for ethical behavior at all
levels of academia. It’s hard work (the antithesis of laziness) and sometimes
you’re fighting against the crowd, but in the end, you have to live with
yourself and answer to yourself.
Sunday, December 24, 2023
The politics of revenge (aka politics practiced by idiots)
This will be a short post, because I don't want to focus on negativity during the Christmas season. But it's also important to point out that we need a seismic shift in American politics away from revenge (tit for tat) politics and idiocy, toward balanced politics based on common sense, decency and intelligence. I wonder if that will ever happen, but God knows I'm hoping. Perhaps Santa will bear the latter down the chimneys of all of the politicians currently serving (I'm including a number of European politicians as well).
How did we get here? I've asked that question many times. The great divide. The great disconnect. Why is it impossible for American politicians to meet somewhere in the middle without having apoplectic reactions on both sides? He said this, she said that, so I have to take revenge. Hasn't the American public gotten tired of being screamed at, lectured to, derided, insulted and otherwise treated badly by its politicians? Or do they just no longer care? Just asking. Because the current situation is likely to usher in someone who will take charge in a way that will no longer seem democratic. That person will crush all those who oppose him (or her). Think it can't happen? Think again. We are moving toward autocracy. I say wake up before it is too late.
Summing up 2023, political cartoon-style
Sometimes the political cartoons sum up just about everything you've been thinking (or worrying) about.....
Thursday, November 30, 2023
The small trials of winter
It's been a while since my last post, and that's mostly due to illness in our household. Even though we've taken the vaccines against Covid and this year's influenza, that doesn't stop regular colds, sinusitis, bronchitis or any of the other winter illnesses from rearing their irritating heads. I so prefer the other seasons, mostly because we don't have to deal with all of these illnesses. Well, sometimes an occasional summer cold. I find it hard to believe that we made it through a pandemic back in 2020 and 2021. We managed to avoid Covid until June 2021, although I can't say that it was worse than some of the major colds we've had. We were apparently lucky. But it's interesting that we weren't sick during the winters of 2020 or 2021, most likely due to lockdowns and the like. I don't want to go back to that time, of course. But I would like to be illness-free.
When I was younger, I was susceptible to getting bronchitis. I've had some wicked rounds with bronchitis--coughing so intensely that I cracked two small rib bones. I remember one year (1993) vividly; I lived on antibiotics from November until February. Coughing was extremely painful with broken ribs, not an experience I care to repeat. But the worst bout of illness I've ever had was in 2004, when I got a flu that knocked me out completely. It took me months to recover; the worst part of it was the fever and the chills, but also the total lack of energy. Flus are nasty illnesses and that experience pushed me to take the flu vaccine each subsequent year.
I have friends who are dealing with RSV, bronchitis, sinusitis (also very painful) and regular colds. All of us are getting older. My good friend who recently passed away was stricken by Covid; although her neurological illness would have eventually taken her, it was Covid that ended her life. I guess the immune system weakens as we age. I guess we just have to deal with it.
When I was younger, I never understood why older people traveled to warmer climates during the wintertime. Now I know why. I don't know if one avoids all the respiratory illnesses that way, but one certainly avoids all the other pitfalls of winter--snow, ice, intense cold. Here is the city of Oslo, they've gotten better about cleaning the sidewalks and throwing down some gravel after a snowstorm, but that doesn't prevent the remaining snow from caking and becoming ice. The sidewalks can be slippery. I'd like to reclaim my joyous love of winter that I had as a child, but I do believe it's long gone. And since I became a garden enthusiast, I know how I want to spend most of my days. In the garden. I can't do that in winter.
Thank God for the month of December--we have Christmas to look forward to and all the preparations leading up to it are enjoyable for the most part. So I focus on that, and not on the small irritations and trials of winter. But because this past summer was neither sunny nor warm, I didn't get my usual dose of sun and warmth that gets me through the winter. So in January I'm heading to Florida for a week together with my friend Jean, and I'm looking forward to that!
Living a small life
I read a short reflection today that made me think about several things. It said that we cannot shut ourselves away from the problems in the...