Although astronomers have monitored activity in Fomalhaut’s system (and other systems) for years, the new information they can get from viewing the planet’s reflected light will deepen their knowledge about planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets. Before this photograph, it was only through the absence of light that astronomers could get information about exoplanets. Bruce Kamiat explains:

Kamiat said that astronomers have worked for years to solve the problem of seeing a planet near a star, which is “like trying to see a firefly next to a searchlight.” The Hubble team developed a “coronagraph mask” to block the star’s light and show its surroundings. Meanwhile, a ground team on Mauna Kea in Hawaii used adaptive optics on their telescopes to help reduce distortion from viewing through Earth’s atmosphere. That allowed the team to image three planets around the star HR 8799. The news about both the Fomalhaut and HR 8799 planets was released on the same day.

Now that imaging is possible, astronomers can get spectral information to analyze the atmosphere and elemental composition of the planets. With future technology, scientists hope to see smaller, “rocky” planets, which are currently beyond the power of space telescopes to detect. Once smaller planets closer to their suns can be seen, scientists hope to discover whether or not they are suited to sustain organic life.

“You want life,” said AAA member Julian Parks. “That’s why we go out and look for these things. To find a planet that has life on it, that’s not too far away, and that we can communicate with.” But even if the first detectable life on an exoplanet is microbial, it’s one more step in what could be a centuries-long quest to answer the question of whether humans are alone in the universe.

NASA is often criticized for mismanaging its spending, most recently by astrophysicist Alan Stern in the New York Times. But for avid stargazers and seekers of extraterrestrial life, every effort is another step closer to answers. Not only would finding life on other planets be “cool,” said Parks, but a discovery of such magnitude might force people across the world to work together. Fellow AAA member Mary Carlson shares her hopes for the future:

On the evening of December 1, AAA president Rich Rosenberg set up his telescope on the Brooklyn Promenade to view a spectacular celestial event: the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, next to the sliver of a young moon. The planets were so brilliant that they could be seen with the naked eye, even in an area heavy with light pollution. Rosenberg shared his telescope with any passerby who cared to take a look, and true to his fellow astronomers’ sentiments, the event drew strangers together:

While it’s sometimes difficult to explain the core idea behind the movement, the Couchsurfing.com website explains that it is “a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit.” That means that when you travel to other countries as a Couchsurfer, you can stay with local residents there rather than staying at a hotel.There are currently nearly 850,000 members (and their couches!) to choose from.

Many travelers and backpackers prefer to Couchsurf rather than to stay at hostels, and not only because it saves you money. Many feel that Couchsurfing guarantees you a more authentic travel experience as you will live with local people and take part in their everyday lives.

“Everyone raves about it,” said Vivianna Neder, 25, from Flushing. Since she only joined Couchsurfing recently, she hasn’t “surfed” with other members yet, or had anyone stay with her. But then that is not all there is to Couchsurfing. Couchsurfers also organize activities and form social groups in the cities they live in. The New York Couchsurfing community is one of the most active ones in the world, with over 8,000 members and 51 groups.

“I’ve pretty much made a whole new groups of friends that I always hang out with now,” Neder said. “That’s all I do, I hang out with Couchsurfers,” she said, laughing.

As you can see, Couchsurfers come in all shapes and sizes, not to mention ages. Though the average age on the site is 27, and 85 percent of the people are under 34 years old, there are still nearly 120,000 members who are over 35. And a total of 183 people who are between 80 and 89 years old! There are members in more than 200 countries and on every continent.

Like many things in life, Couchsurfing is what you make of it and it’s an individual experience. Here, seven Couchsurfers who recently got together for dinner in Queens in New York explain what Couchsurfing means to them.

Since The Couchsurfing Project was started five years ago by traveler Casey Fenton, there have been over two million positive experiences, a whopping 99.791 percent of all member experiences. While some people are scared to give Couchsurfing a try due to security issues, the current members say to go for it.

“Open your mind to experience it,” encouraged Laura Johnston, 32, who is originally from Australia but now lives in Sunnyside, Queens. “Three times I have had Couchsurfers, and I am not dead yet, so it can’t be that bad,” she said and laughed.

So what are you waiting for? The surf’s up!

Here you will see Couchsurfing in action.

As a Democrat in a largely Democratic state, I cannot help but wonder how much of a difference my vote makes. 

Lets go back to the beginning, the first election that I was of age of to vote in was the 2000 presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.  At the time I was a resident of the state of Florida.  I am sure we all remember how the election panned out especially with regard to Florida, if not check this Time magazine article out: “Making Votes Count in Florida“ 

During the campaigning for the 2000 election, there were a couple of considerations.  Ralph Nadar was running under the Green party and in a fight to win 5% of the vote in order to get federal funding in the next election.  The concern was that Nadar would take the votes away from Al Gore, essentially handing the presidency over to George W. Bush. 

 This was very important in the swing-states.  Florida is and was at the time one of these crucial states.  On election day when I made my way to the polls I had this feeling like I doing something important, that my vote really counted and that I had a voice in this election.

Eight years later and coming up on my second presidential election as a New York voter, I am struck by something my boyfriend said to me.  When I asked him if he was going to vote, he responded with a big “NO”.  I pressed the issue and he said that there is no reason to bother.  His vote will not help get the Democrats the state, the democrats already have the state.  He continued by saying that if there were ever a threat that New York would fall to the conservatives, he would head out and cast his vote.  Until then, what’s the point?

 I had not even thought about it that way.  I always held my right to vote in a high regard and feel this sense of empowerment when I head out to the polls.  As Bob Schieffer said at the close of last week’s debate, “Go vote now. It will make you feel big and strong.” 

I am not sure I will feel so big and strong this year after I pull the handle on the voting machine and cast my vote.

But when I walked by the Sony store on 5th Avenue Saturday night and realized there was man IN the store window, lounging in a recliner reading an e-book, I stopped with my friends and took a picture.   (”Tourist,” a true New Yorker would scoff.)  And when I walked by again hours later heading home, I stopped and stared at the man in the window, asleep with his bare feet dangling out from his blanket.

Then I came home with a need to settle my curiosity.  Who was this man and why was he sleeping in a Midtown store window?

His name is Dave Farrow and he is a two-time world record holder.  He once memorized the order of 59 decks of playing cards shuffled together, and he’s a speed reader.  So Sony hired him to live in the display window for the month of October to promote the Reader Revolution, which is basically a pledge the company made to donate 100 e-books to a school for every page Dave turns.

It sounds like a win-win, right?  Sony sells a ton of digital book readers and gets great publicity while school kids get free digital books.

But what about Dave?  Is it really humane to make him live in a store front window, for all the world to gawk at, just to save Americans’ dwindling interest in books?

Yeah.  It probably is, especially in an overstimulated city like New York.  Nevertheless, I’m convinced that there are better ways to inspire young readers in New York City.   My main issue with the Sony experiment is that the scope of its influence is limited.  Sure, it’s great to donate educational things to school children, but most of the kids in NYC won’t see the man living in the store who overcame dyslexia and ADD and loves to read books.  I want to see a pro-literacy scheme that won’t just give kids books, but will also share with them a little piece of the enthusiasm we have for reading.

Any ideas?

Finally the New York Times has published what psychologists have long known to be true: forcing kids to clean their plates ISN’T going to make them like new foods.

Nowadays parents seem to subscribe to one of two camps: the you’re-not-leaving-the-table-til-that-plate’s-clean group or the one where parents buy every imaginable sugary, chocolaty substitute for vegetables in a last-resort attempt at getting their picky kids to eat something.  Anything.

With the nation’s childhood obesity statistics rising at a staggering rate, something must be done about parents who lack the proper training in how to teach their children healthy eating habits.

One of the six mistakes parents make, says the NY Times, is making certain foods off limits.  Basically if you tell kids they can’t eat something, they want it more and will binge on the food when they do get access.  I can personally vouch for this one.  My mom adamantly opposed that classically-chemical, Kraft Mac & Cheese that most kids I knew ate from time to time when they had a babysitter.  And Kool-Aid?  Forget about it.  That was strictly forbidden.

Not surprisingly, as soon as I went to college and had total control of my diet, I went CRAZY with those two products.  I ate Mac & Cheese almost every night (in addition to dinner) and drank multiple pitchers of Kool-Aid everyday.  When that got boring I started eating spoonfuls of Kool-Aid drink mix, not even bothering to mix it with water.

Gross, right?  I know.  The most shocking thing is that I’m an adventurous eater who loves vegetables and whole wheat grains.  It wasn’t that my mom failed to introduce me to nutritious foods, but rather that she made the bad ones so appealing I couldn’t resist them.  I gained 30 pounds freshman year without drinking beer.  How’s that for disgusting?

Another major threat to childhood healthy eating is school lunches.  You know what I’m talking about.  Potatoes galore (often fried), greasy pizza (without vegetable toppings) and chocolate milk at every meal.  Yes, there are vegetables, but they’re generally way overcooked and rarely served in an appetizing manner.  As adults we know that salads are more fun when jazzed up with cheese cubes or dried fruit, but school kids are expected to eagerly consume steamed carrots and peas sans spices or garnish.

So, what can we do to fix this nutrition nightmare?  For one thing, we can use research findings to inform our parenting styles, rather than traditions passed down from the Depression era.  Also, we can get involved in community organizations like the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food that work to make positive changes.  Do it.  New York City kids need your help. ]]> http://blogs.journalism.cuny.edu/interactivefundamentals/2008/09/18/no-more-clean-plates/feed/ 0 http://blogs.journalism.cuny.edu/interactivefundamentals/2008/09/12/seven-years-later-and-a-whole-lotta-nothing/ http://blogs.journalism.cuny.edu/interactivefundamentals/2008/09/12/seven-years-later-and-a-whole-lotta-nothing/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:41:30 +0000 karina.ioffee http://blogs.journalism.cuny.edu/interactivefundamentals/?p=146

A woman signs a lantern at a memorial ceremony at Pier 40

On Thursday, I went down to Pier 40 to check out the floating lantern ceremony, held each year to commemorate the victims. That’s where I met Steven Wargo, who lost his friend Doug Di Stefano, an investment banker at Cantor Fitzgerald, in the attacks. Wargo and I happen to live in the same neighborhood, so we chatted a bit about that. He talked about how the grief of losing someone in a terrorist attack never really subsides; the pain never goes away. Then, he turned his attention to the slow reconstruction of the area.

 “ What’s frustrating is that the government is still bickering over what to do with the site,” he said. “There is so much unrest of the whole issue.” 

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is chairing a foundation created to build the memorial, happens to agree.

He expressed as much in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal this week, blaming the slow reconstruction in part the many cooks in the kitchen—city government, owners of the WTC site and the Port Authority—as well as the fact that the World Trade Center was not owned by the city.

“…the memorial must be completed by the 10th anniversary,” Bloomberg wrote. “No

more excuses, no more delays. New York Gov. David Paterson and I are in complete agreement on this subject, and it’s time for the PA to formally commit to the same goal.”

The snail pace of reconstruction is an embarrassment for a world-class city like New York and a dishonor to the men and women who died in the towers. It’s high time government officials put aside their egos and political ambitions and found consensus on the issue. It’s already been seven years. How much longer do they need?

After reading the comments from Amy’s post, I thought maybe this issue needed its own post for ongoing discussion.

First, if you are interested in knowing what New York State felonies are, this site provides a list by offense level. Did you know there are A1 and A2 level felonies, B violent felonies, B non-violent felonies, C violent felonies, C non-violent felonies, D violent felonies, D non-violent felonies, and E felonies? Have a look at the lists. You may be surprised by what you see — and let’s not forget the broad discretion prosecutors have in deciding what charges should be brought in cases.

In New York State if you are convicted of any of the above, you will lose your right to vote (until you are on probation). It is also very hard to get a job (much less a good one) after a felony conviction.

FairVote2020 has some neat interactive charts and maps with loads of good information about felony disenfranchisement across the U.S. by state.

Dan Filler, blogging at the Faculty Lounge, writes:

Felon disenfranchisement has an intuitive appeal – we deny the right to vote to those who breach the fundamental social contract and violate the law.  But these laws have deeply racist roots and a dramatically disparate racial impact today.  There is also a deep democratic problem with the policy; as we criminalize and prosecute more and more conduct, we passively strip more and more citizens of voting rights.

Most states added felon disenfranchisement laws in the aftermath of the Civil War. It is no coincidence that more people gained the right to vote at that exact moment (at least in writing on the Federal level, via the 13th, 14th, 15th, and later the 19th amendments). Only two states allow everyone to vote (including those who are incarcerated): Vermont and Maine. Those two states are each almost 97% white (the highest white populations by state).

For more information and the latest news, see the Right To Vote Campaign, a collaboration between the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, and The Sentencing Project. The Right To Vote Campaign has led on this issue, but its own Web site has been down recently for some reason.

Late Update (9/14/08): See this New York Times article from Sunday’s edition, “States Restore Voting Rights for Ex-Convicts, but Issue Remains Politically Sensitive” and accompanying multimedia map from The Sentencing Project.