Ruminations, Haunts, and Errors

Maybe clearing out some mental brush will let me get on with building the big hairy active-set optimization module that’s been languishing for two weeks…

• From Eric Zorn comes this link to Unintelligent Design. This would have piqued my interest normally, but especially so since during my viewing of Body Worlds I was thinking along the same lines: the human body is amazingly intricate, but indeed some of the designs–knees, nerve placements, unprotected belly organs, brain and sensory organs stuck on a vulnerable stalk–seem like
  terrible engineering.
• ‘Our Godless Constitution’. Continuing the theme that the godhead’s residence in beloved institutions doesn’t always hold up to close scrutiny.
• The news broke about an hour ago that Federal judge Joan Lefkow came home to find her mother and husband murdered. She’s the same judge whom Matt Hale was convicted of trying to have killed. It’s a horrible thought but part of me hopes that this was a burglary gone wrong or something along those lines; the brutal killing of two people is terrible, but to me it’s even more disturbing if it happened because a loathsome white supremacist not only thought terrorizing a member of the federal judiciary was a proper course of action but that he could convince others to help him do it.

My preference for objects extragalactical rather than planetary is well known, but I couldn’t pass up this shot. I dunno why I like Saturn so much. Perhaps the fascinating gravitational dance of the rings and moons? Perhaps the systemic complexities that are every bit as rich and detailed as mighty Jupiter but more subtle and understated? Whatever…good to know we should continue getting shots like this from Cassini for a couple more years.

The AP reported a couple hours ago that down in South Carolina U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd has ordered the Bush administration to either charge Jose Padilla or release him within 45 days, ruling

The court finds that the president has no power, neither express nor implied, neither constitutional nor statutory, to hold petitioner as an enemy combatant.

It’s somewhat heartening to know that some on the Federal bench, even in regions not known for their progressiveness, still believe that civil liberties, separation of powers, and due process count for something.

I’m sure this won’t be the last of this, as the administration will probably drag out as many of the 45 days as possible before doing something. They’ll have an interesting choice, though: release Padilla and possibly let stand a precedent that might ‘hamstring’ this or future Presidents, or continue the fight and risk a setback at a higher judicial level. Either way, I think there will be some good solid case law on the books that may prove helpful in the future.

As happened last year, we were foiled in our attempts to obtain single-game tickets for the 2005 season. Of coure the biggies (Red Sox, White Sox, a few Cardinals games, Ryno’s number-retirement ceremony) sold out by lunchtime on Monday…but even more frustrating were some of the issues in attempting to get tix against lower-profile teams. Methinks many could be addressed with some simple, easily-implemented fixes:

• The ticketing system needs to indicate, on the front page, not just that tickets are available in a seating section but also the biggest block of tickets available.
• While randomly choosing persons from the virtual waiting room, rather than just a first-come-first-serve method, does provide some degree of fairness to those who simply can’t afford to keep open a browser session all day, it would also be fair to incrementally increase the probability of a person’s being selected the longer he/she goes without getting in.
• Wrigleyville residents should get a chance a little early (a week? three days?) to buy tickets for one or two games before the rest of Cubdom; to ensure fairness, perhaps they must show up in person and show a photo id.

Yesterday, after the idea came up suddenly the day before, we found ourselves at the Museum of Science and Industry for the first time in many years. While we spent some time in various regular exhibits (hmm, is Petroleum World supposed to provide accurate info or merely make us feel all warm and fuzzy about BP and other petrochemical interests??), the major attraction right now is the Body Worlds anatomical exhibit.

It was certainly fascinating to see how complex the human body actually is; we were struck by how large the lungs are yet how small are the uterus, kidneys, and brain. Liz put it well in noting that, despite being surrounded by cadavers in various states of dissection (and that sometimes were clearly the remains of a person, not some anatomy-class model), the only disgusting things were some of the results of self-inflicted tumors and diseases–notably those such as tar-filled lungs, cirrosis-scarred livers, and bodies most in excessive amounts of fat. I also could see why some have objected to some of the more, uh, unorthodox presentations. While sometimes the positioning of bodies in positions that replicated regular human activities did achieve the stated purpose of showing the interplay of organ systems in ways a body on a slab cannot, I noted that some of the presentations gave a sense of attempted whimsy or artistic attempt (in a gallows-humor sort of way) that I didn’t find so much offensive as out of place in something that was trying to convey scientific understanding. Nevertheless, many of the ‘posed’ exhibits clearly gave a sense of scale and interrelationship of the various body systems that no anatomy book could ever convey.

As for the museum itself, when did it become a science-tinged theme park? Wait half an hour in a snaking rope line for admission tickets. Buy tickets to be granted permission to enter something-or-other 3 hours later. When that time comes, wait another fifteen minutes in yet another snaking rope line. (And let’s not mention drink or snack prices). All while being surrounded by exhibit signage that resembles entertainment marketing. Okay, they probably have to scrape by to get various high-end exhibits, but if they’re going to follow the theme-park plan at least put in the signs that indicate ‘X minutes from this point’.

With the clearer margin of victory and reduced reports of problems and irregularities, the 2004 election may have seemed to resolve the issues discovered in 2000. Not exactly true, it just so happened that the lingering issues didn’t materially affect the outcome. So I was glad to see that new, more comprehensive voting-improvement bill will soon be introduced in Congress, if for no other reason than it indicates some people are still aware that a lot of things still need fixing. I particularly like the provisions to require paper reciepts, no-excuse absentee ballots, and the designation of Election Day as a Federal holiday.

Of course politicians–especially those in power–aren’t typically interested in either getting valid votes from every eligible citizen or in obtaining truly accurate tallies, but only interested in ensuring that votes for them are recorded (whether cast validly or not). So, methinks this bill is a longshot for passage, but we can always hope (and cajole those on Capitol Hill).

Fun stuff from the skies in the last few days

• Some cosmologists have been predicting them for awhile, but it appears that the first little galaxy to be mostly composed of dark matter has been found. It’s a little funny to see some of the discussions about galaxies that are ‘invisible’ or ‘made of nothing’, but if more turn up it certainly has important ramifications for galaxy studies and cosmology. Would it then be valid to continue calling stars and other easily-visible stuff ‘normal’ matter when it’s such a small fraction of the total?
• Looks like there are remnants of an ancient sea on Mars. Combined with the solid case for ancient water put together last year by Spirit and Opportunity, perhaps there are some interesting biological precursors or fossils to be discovered in one of the next few missions.
• It seems that some members of Congress were none too pleased that the latest NASA budget essentially proposed to kill HST, especially after they and the National Academy of Sciences went to bat for the telescope. Good, perhaps they’ll stick some funding back in to pull it back from the brink. With former astronaut and pilot Fred Gregory replacing the cost-conscious–and risk-averse–Sean O’Keefe at NASA’s head, perhaps there’s a good solid opportunity here to squeeze out a few more years of good science before JWST is ready.r

Today the Cubs announced that they will retire Ryne Sandberg’s number on August 28. It’s sorta been effectively retired since he did, but I’m suprised they hadn’t done it already. Perhaps they were just waiting to do it in his Hall of Fame year.

If nothing else, adding a fourth numbered flag will restore some symmetry to Wrigley Field’s foul poles.

As expected, the first couple days of Spring Training were dominated by discussions of the Sosa trade. Most seem to be taking a tack along the lines of ‘last year’s done, we’re ready to play together, we feel good for 2005.’ Nice to see Mark Prior talking bluntly about The Trade and how it was ’something that needed to be done’ to make things right for all–that he’s kept his down-to-earth bulldog mentality bodes well. He also has the best quote so far:

We have another stereo system that nobody knew about at the other end

While there’s been lots of rah-rah-team sort of talk, little has drifted into assessments of how well the 2005 Cubs will pitch, hit, and field–except for sportswriters. And I think I must agree with many who say that the subtraction of Sosa (and Alou and Clement, for that matter) has dropped the talent level somewhat: the moves subtracted a lot of HR and RBI (even if Jeromy Burnitz does prove his ‘04 numbers weren’t a Coors-induced mirage) without doing anything to address last year’s weaknesses in the bullpen and defense.

However, while the expected run production (and prevention) as of right now will probably drop…well, baseball teams in October nearly always look a bit different than the ones in the Arizona and Florida sun. Oakland GM Billy Beane has said on several occasions that he uses April and May to assess his team, June and July to find new pieces, and then pushes towards the World Series in August and September; he’s been fairly successful, and most other winning teams have had similar patterns over the years. Perhaps the greatest advantage of moving Sosa (and Alou) is that with a happier clubhouse and fewer big egos to step around, Dusty Baker and Jim Hendry may have more freedom to adjust the lineup and rotation, call up minor leaguers, and trade for other pieces that can be mixed and matched throughout 2005 to produce more wins.

Besides, with all the recent steroids messes, run production might drop off across the board, leaving the pitching-strong Cubs in a good position…

Just weeks after projecting yet another record federal budget deficit, the Administration yesterday requested yet another $82B in spending (mostly) related to military activities. It’s For The Troops, so it must be okay, right? What’s sad is that several members of Congress (from both parties) recognize that the Administration has gotten addicted to the idea of getting many things its wants by requesting funds outside of the normal budgeting process–with its associated scrutiny–but concede that little chance exists that Congress will put a stop to it.

Remember when Republicans were the champions of fiscal discipline, railing against tax-and-spend Democrats? At least the latter recognized that if one wants something paying for it now is far better than paying for it over time, and were honest enough to make a reasonable attempt at laying out something approaching the actual costs of some program or other.

Given their track record from the past four years of not bothering too hard to align what they think and say and do with actual fact and consequence, perhaps it’s not surprising that Dubya and his minions are so cavalier about the near- and long-term effects of all this extra spending on the economy (and future taxpayers). Perhaps they don’t realize that debt racked up in off-budget requests requires the same servicing as does debt officially marked as ‘deficit spending’ even if it’s earmarked for some project they say everyone wants. Well, Bush didn’t have a record of stellar successes in his businessman days, and Halliburton certainly never worried too much about truth and honesty in their financials, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by all this…

The Chicagoland weather can’t hide that spring has truly started…pitchers and catchers report to Mesa starting today!

Today I set out to do an initial prep of our 2004 tax returns. Things started well, as I was ready to give the IRS kudos for their subtle good work in adjusting the contents of our forms-and-instructions packets based on last year’s returns…but my goodwill evaporated after actually going over our numbers for 2004. The instructions really need a couple pages that contain a flowchart, for while most forms and worksheets aren’t by themselves particularly difficult (it’s mostly simple arithmetic, after all) it is extremely frustrating when getting to a line only to discover the need to go fill out another form–which might itself have lines requiring yet another; forms other than the 1040 itself are usually better places to start, but unless I’ve got some really exotic financial arrangements I don’t think I should need to be a tax accountant to know where to start. Along with those flow charts, each major publication should also list a table that summarizes the scenarios that most taxpayers find themselves in; why must I wade through a 100-page document (Publication 590) just to determine whether we can take the full amount of an IRA deduction?

Seeing a big payment looming at the end of the process certainly didn’t help my mood, but I’ll at least admit that it was partially my fault–I could have easily made some better projections last fall–and I’ll thank the tax-code writers for creating a nice exception for what is probably a not-unusual situation when people get married. The IRS could possibly reduce this issue were they to update the W-4 to allow employees to select a tax bracket as well as a filing status; a little extra withholding from each paycheck would have mostly resolved the issue. At least we know now to account for it during our quarterly estimated payments.

It’s getting to the point where the tax advantages alone will justify buying a house…

Tonight we ventured out to Spring, a place we consider one of the gems of the Chicago restaurant scene. The place definitely stands out for its adventurous menu (with a number of clearly marked vegetarian options), good wine list, and upscale but not outrageous prices (definitely not a place to go every weekend). However, it doesn’t feel too pretentious, which is probably due mostly to the staff but is also helped by the somewhat incongruous patches of enamel-painted brick wall (think elementary school) and the slight whiff of seediness that remains in its surrounding Bucktown environs.

This was our second visit, and while we were both happy with the wine (a nice Piedmnot barbera d’alba) and the dessert–sour cream ice cream goes well with chocolate cake and candied beets!–perhaps our expectations for the entrees had been set too high from our first visit, as everything was very good but wasn’t a wow moment. Yet we noticed how the little touches really made it a good experience overall: lighting behind false half-walls that make the whole room seem to glow, confirming that Liz was vegetarian to ensure her receipt of an appropriate version of the appertif sushi, hot towels and shots of chile-laced hot chocolate to finish the evening.

After the political/bureaucratic side of NASA generated some bad news earlier this week, today the science side released more hopeful stuff. First, the operator who inadverently killed the wind-speed measurements on Huygens was reprieved today when some clever folks at the Deep Space Network were able to reconstruct much of the data simply from analyzing the Doppler shifts in the carrier signal. Nifty work! Then, of course, what can be more pleasant than calm azure skies–unless perhaps those skies with a nice moonshot and pretty ring shadows:

Most discussions surrounding Super Bowl XXXIX will obviously center on the Eagles’ inexplicable late-game clock (mis)management or the merits of various commercials, but ESPN’s Jim Caple took a different tack, venturing among the Pennsylvania Amish to watch the game. And yes, he did actually see it and talk sports with the locals. Funny sometimes are the ways and paths that one can take to gain visibility into another lifestyle.