Month: November 2020

Essay 78: Education and the Problem of Pessimism

Karl Jaspers was part of the great trio or triumvirate of German philosophers of the twentieth century, along with Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt.

Jaspers’s basics are (from Wikipedia):

Karl Theodor Jaspers was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspers turned to philosophical inquiry and attempted to discover an innovative philosophical system.

Born: February 23, 1883, Oldenburg, Germany
Died: February 26, 1969, Basel, Switzerland
Education: Heidelberg University
Spouse: Gertrud Mayer (m. 1910–1969)
Awards: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels, Erasmus Prize, Goethe Prize

Our issue is not the interrelations of these three but the issue of Jaspers’s “pessimism,” given that we plan an education that completely “levels” with freshmen from day one and puts on their “plate” the whole truth without hiding or suppressing any dimensions of the life/knowledge fusion which is one of the backbone elements of this educational remedy. Jaspers argues that a unifying perspective of existence is impossible for man for the same reason that the goldfish is ultimately in the water which is in the goldfish bowl which is in the room none of which can be understood by leaving the water. Jaspers writes, “Existenz kennt keine Rundung als Bild…denn der Mensch muss in der Welt scheitern.”

(Philosophie Vol. II, German original, Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, 1948, page 647)

This means: “Existence cannot be completed or rounded off and formed into a clear and final picture…man is forced into a kind of shipwreck in this world.”

Jaspers sees existence or life as a kind of “task” or “drama” that one stumbles through and not an object that one studies like a copper salt in the chem lab. Life is always “on the run” and stronger than the runner. Every life, no matter how seemingly prestigious, is characterized by (to use Prof. Stanley Cavell’s words) “little did I know” and you might add, “even at the end.”

Orthodox educators argue that freshmen in college are not ready to be burdened by such bleak or lugubrious views but we disagree and argue, as the great Polish educator Janusz Korczak (died in the Holocaust, 1942) sensed, students rise to the challenge the teacher places before them. If you treat them as childish they will behave childishly and if you take them seriously, they will be serious.

Thus, Jaspers’s view on human life as always a confused and confusing shipwreck will not be hidden from view but studied unflinchingly.

Essay 77: Emerging Markets: Trade Wars Send Manufacturers Scurrying Back Home…

Financial Times Briefing

EMERGING MARKETS

[subscription required for links]

Trade Wars Send Manufacturers Scurrying Back Home [link]
Economies of China and Germany look exposed as growth shifts

U.S. Companies Stay Cautious on Spending Under Strain of Trade War [link]
Executives signal further pullback in capital expenditure for fourth quarter

Australia: The Campus Fight Over Beijing’s Influence [link]
Clashes between pro- and anti-Hong Kong demonstrators have renewed scrutiny over China’s role in western universities

How To Limit Climate Change: Let the Private Sector Do Its Job [link]
This year’s U.N. climate summit must give business the rulebook it needs

China’s $1tn Scramble for Convertible Bonds Reflects Hot Market [link]
Bidding for new deals including Shanghai Pudong Development Bank stuns investors

Evo Morales Flies to Mexico After Being Granted Political Asylum [link]
Former Bolivian president boards flight as violence erupts following his resignation

Chile’s Stock Market Drops After Proposal To Rewrite Constitution [link]
Investors fear that the move by Sebastián Piñera would undermine the economy

Alibaba Aims To Deliver With $16bn Courier Venture [link]
Chinese ecommerce group follows Amazon in focusing on logistics

Trade Optimism Awaits a Big Test [link]
Mike Mackenzie’s daily analysis of what’s moving global markets

British Co-Founder of White Helmets Found Dead in Istanbul [link]
Investigation launched after body of former army officer James Le Mesurier discovered in street

Essay 76: Education and the Question of a “Scheme of Things”

The French classic The Thibaults (Les Thibault) from 1922 has a dialog about the presence or absence of “a scheme of things” behind everything. This Roger Martin du Gard (died 1958, Nobel 1937) classic gives us an insight into the relationship between education and this “scheme of things.”

First:

The Thibaults is a multi-volume roman-fleuve (saga novel) by Roger Martin du Gard, which follows the fortunes of two brothers, Antoine and Jacques Thibault, from their upbringing in a prosperous Catholic bourgeois family to the end of the First World War.

Antione, one of the Thibault brothers, has a conversation with a priest at the very end of the novel:

“I talked just now about a Universal Order and a Scheme of Things…actually we’ve as many reasons to question the existence of a Scheme of Things as to take it for granted. From his actual viewpoint, the human animal I am observes an immense tangle of conflicting forces. But do these forces obey a universal law outside themselves, distinct from them? Or do they, rather, obey—so to speak—internal laws, each atom being a law unto itself, that compels it to work out a ‘personal destiny’? I see these forces obeying laws which do not control them from outside but join up with them, but do nothing more than in some way stimulate them…And anyhow, what a jumble it is, the course of natural phenomena! I’d just as soon believe that causes spring from each other ad infinitum, each cause being the effect of another cause, and each effect the cause of other effects.

“Why should one want to assume at all costs a Scheme of Things?

“It’s only another bait form our logic-ridden minds. Why try to find a common ‘purpose’ in the movements of atoms endlessly clashing and glancing off each other? Personally, I’ve often told myself that everything happens just as if nothing led to anything, as if nothing had a meaning.”

Antione shook his head. “that blind appeal—to what? To that problematic Scheme of Things! To a deaf and dumb abstraction, that takes no heed of us.”

(Roger Martin du Gard, The Thibaults, Bantam Modern Classic, 1968, pages 768-770)

All bodies of knowledge like religion, philosophy, science posit a scheme of things which is perhaps subtle or occluded (“The Occluded Imam” or “mystery of the Holy Trinity”) or “the mind of God” (Steven Hawking’s way of getting at this) or “the Method of Absolute Doubt” leading to final certainty (Descartes).

String theory talks this way too.

In our own educational remediation effort, we are agnostic about any Scheme of Things and do not try to link books, lectures, courses to some pre-existing schema or “final layer underlying everything” at all.

Students create an evolving overview by “circum-spective” “walking around” or meta-intelligence and there is no ultimate “Eureka moment” where “everything is illuminated” (to use the title of the contemporary novel by that name.) We also do not deny the possibility of the existence of a Scheme of Things. Education thought of this way is an exploration and quest that does not end and there does not have to be a final “knowledge map“ or “truth atlas” other than home-made student “composite sketches” which are tentative and not final or “apodictic.”

Essay 75: Biology-Watching for Students

Nature Reviews Microbiology

December 2019 Volume 17, Issue 12

EDITORIAL

Hype or hope?
p717 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0283-5
Microbiome research has attracted considerable attention, partially because of the potential to manipulate the microbiome for human health. To fulfil this promise, tractable methods and cautious interpretation of results are needed.
Full Text | Archived PDF

COMMENT

The future of faecal transplants
Edward M. Giles, Gemma L. D’Adamo & Samuel C. Forster
p719 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0271-9
Faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) is now accepted as an effective treatment for Clostridioides difficile infections. With the increasing number of FMT treatments and clinical trials for other indications there is an urgent need for standardized regulations to ensure patient safety and focused development of safer, rationally designed, microbiota-based medicines.
Full Text | Archived PDF

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Your microbiome is what you eat
Ashley York
p721 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0287-1
Three recent studies highlight how the gut microbiome responds to dietary change, with potential consequences for host–microbiota interactions.
Full Text | Archived PDF

Sublethal antibiotics and a sticky situation
Andrea Du Toit
p722 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0290-6
This study shows that sublethal doses of ciprofloxacin enhanced aggregation of bacterial cells, which resulted in their increased expulsion from the gut by the mechanical activity of the intestine.
Full Text | Archived PDF

Human trial of vaginal microbiome transplantation
Andrea Du Toit
p722 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0291-5
This study reports the feasibility of vaginal microbiome transplantation from healthy donors as treatment for patients suffering from symptomatic, intractable and recurrent bacterial vaginosis.
Full Text | Archived PDF

Designing phagebodies
Andrea Du Toit
p722 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0292-4
A study reports the generation of synthetic ‘phagebodies’ with a broadened host range that were able to target naturally occurring phage-resistant bacterial mutants.
Full Text | Archived PDF

An apple a day helps Bacteroides to stay
Ursula Hofer
pp722 – 723 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0280-8
This study explores the response of the gut microbiota to dietary fibres and presents new biosensors that can measure microbial fibre use in vivo.
Full Text | Archived PDF

Microbial conductors
Andrea Du Toit
pp722 – 723 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0285-3
This study links a histone deacetylase and the gut microbiota to the circadian regulation of host metabolism.
Full Text| Archived PDF

Providing resistance to rotavirus
Ashley York
p723 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0295-1
This study finds that gut segmented filamentous bacteria prevent and cure rotavirus infection in immunodeficient mice.
Full Text | Archived PDF

A probiotic for candidiasis?
Ashley York
p723 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0296-0
A recent study finds that probiotic yeasts can inhibit virulence of several non-albicans Candida species, including mutidrug-resistant Candida auris.
Full Text | Archived PDF

Distinct drivers of functional diversity
Ashley York
p723 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0297-z
This study observed that the functional diversity of core and accessory genes in the soil microbiome are governed by distinct processes.
Full Text | Archived PDF

NEWS & ANALYSIS

The expanding horizons of host–microorganism imaging are clear to see
Patrick G. Inns & Gideon Mamou
p724 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0289-z
This month’s Under the Lens explores how recent developments in sample preparation are aiding and advancing the imaging of host–microorganism interactions.
Full Text | Archived PDF

REVIEWS

Common principles and best practices for engineering microbiomes
Christopher E. Lawson, William R. Harcombe, Roland Hatzenpichler, Stephen R. Lindemann, Frank E. Löffler et al.
pp725 – 741 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0255-9
Microbiome engineering has many potential applications, ranging from agriculture to medicine. In this Review, Lawson, McMahon and colleagues guide us through the design–build–test–learn cycle that has been successful in many disciplines and explain how it applies to microbiome engineering.
Full Text

Diet–microbiota interactions and personalized nutrition
Aleksandra A. Kolodziejczyk, Danping Zheng & Eran Elinav
pp742 – 753 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0256-8
In this Review, Kolodziejczyk, Zheng and Elinav describe the latest advances in understanding diet–microbiota interactions, the individuality of gut microbiota composition and how this knowledge could be harnessed for personalized nutrition strategies to improve human health.
Full Text

Synthetic ecology of the human gut microbiota
Gino Vrancken, Ann C. Gregory, Geert R. B. Huys, Karoline Faust & Jeroen Raes pp754 – 763 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0264-8
Going from description of the diversity and disease associations of the human gut microbiota towards functional understanding and applications is challenging. In this Review, Raes and colleagues present synthetic ecology approaches that reduce the complexity and advance translation of human gut microbiota research.
Full Text

Simple animal models for microbiome research
Angela E. Douglas
pp764 – 775 | doi:10.1038/s41579-019-0242-1
Simple animal models are emerging as valuable tools for microbiome research. In this Review, Douglas discusses the opportunity for microbiome research on the traditional biomedical models Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans and zebrafish. Other systems, for example, hydra, squid and the honeybee, are valuable alternative models to address specific questions.
Full Text

Essay 74: American Geophysical Union Data for All Students

AGU Publications – Global Change Alert

Impact of Distinct Origin Locations on the Life Cycles of Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers over the U.S. West Coast
Yang Zhou, and Hyemi Kim
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres | First published: 05 November 2019

The amplified Arctic warming in the recent decades may have been overestimated by CMIP5 models
Jianbin Huang, Tinghai Ou, Deliang Chen, Yong Luo, and Zongci Zhao
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 03 November 2019

Subtropical marine low stratiform cloud deck spatial errors in the E3SMv1 Atmosphere Model
Michael A. Brunke, Po‐Lun Ma, J.E. Jack Reeves Eyre, Philip J. Rasch, Armin Sorooshian, and Xubin Zeng
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 03 November 2019

Intermittency in wind‐driven surface alteration on Mars interpreted from wind streaks and measurements by InSight
Mackenzie Day, and Laura Rebolledo
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 03 November 2019

Biologically‐Relevant Trends in Springtime Temperatures Across the United States
Theresa M. Crimmins, and Michael A. Crimmins
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 06 November 2019

Flow and Sediment Flux Asymmetry in a Branching Channel Delta
W. Wagner, and D. Mohrig
Water Resources Research | First published: 06 November 2019

Delayed and sustained remote triggering of Small Earthquakes in the San Jacinto Fault Region by the 2014 Mw 7.2 Papanoa, Mexico Earthquake
Bo Li, Abhijit Ghosh, and Manuel M. Mendoza
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 06 November 2019

Hydropower flushing events cause severe loss of macrozoobenthos in Alpine streams
C. Gabbud, M. Bakker, M. Clémençon, and S.N. Lane
Water Resources Research | First published: 06 November 2019

Interdecadal variation of Indian Ocean basin mode and the impact on Asian summer climate
Bo Sun, Huixin Li, and Botao Zhou
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 06 November 2019

Dynamic controls on field‐scale soil nitrous oxide hot spots and hot moments across a microtopographic gradient
Alexander H. Krichels, and Wendy H. Yang
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences | First published: 06 November 2019

Global attribution of runoff variance across multiple timescales
Jianyu Liu, Qiang Zhang, Shuyun Feng, Xihui Gu, Vijay P. Singh, and Peng Sun
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres | First published: 06 November 2019

Links of Extracellular Enzyme Activities, Microbial Metabolism and Community Composition in the River‐impacted Coastal Waters
Zhen Shi, Jie Xu, Xiangfu Li, Ruihuan Li, and Qian Li
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences | First published: 06 November 2019

Analysis of Bent Wire Antenna Resonant Frequency for Different Bent Angles
J. Suganya, Umberto Sciacca, James A. Baskaradas, and Achille Zirizzotti
Radio Science | First published: 06 November 2019

Export Flux, Biogeochemical Effects, and the Fate of a Terrestrial Carbonate System: From Changjiang (Yangtze River) Estuary to the East China Sea
Tian‐qi Xiong, Peng‐fei Liu, Wei‐dong Zhai, Yan Bai, Dong Liu, Di Qi, Nan Zheng, Jin‐wen Liu, Xiang‐hui Guo, Tian‐yu Cheng, Hai‐xia Zhang, Song‐yin Wang, Xian‐qiang He, Jian‐fang Chen, and Ru Li
Earth and Space Science | First published: 08 November 2019

Solar Irradiance Variability: Comparisons of Models and Measurements
O. Coddington, J. Lean, P. Pilewskie, M. Snow, E. Richard, G. Kopp, C. Lindholm, M. DeLand, S. Marchenko, M. Haberreiter, and T. Baranyi
Earth and Space Science | First published: 08 November 2019

Extracting the critical rooting length in plant uprooting by flow from pullout experiments
Valentina Bau, Simone Zen, Giulio Calvani, and Paolo Perona
Water Resources Research | First published: 09 November 2019

Contributions of extreme and non‐extreme precipitation to California precipitation seasonality changes under warming
Lu Dong, L. Ruby Leung, Jian Lu, and Yang Gao
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Adjustment of Radar–Gauge Rainfall Discrepancy Due to Raindrop Drift and Evaporation Using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model and Dual‐Polarization Radar
Qiang Dai, Qiqi Yang, Dawei Han, Miguel A. Rico‐Ramirez, and Shuliang Zhang
Water Resources Research | First published: 08 November 2019

Quantifying the timescale and strength of Southern Hemisphere intra‐seasonal stratosphere‐troposphere coupling
Elena Saggioro, and Theodore G. Shepherd Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Diurnal Cycle of IMERG V06 Precipitation
Jackson Tan, George J. Huffman, David T. Bolvin, and Eric J. Nelkin
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Impact Degassing of H2 on Early Mars and Its Effect on the Climate System
Robert M. Haberle, Kevin Zahnle, Nadine G. Barlow, and Kathryn E. Steakley
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Overview of the GF‐7 Laser Altimeter System Mission
Xinming Tang, Junfeng Xie, Ren Liu, Genghua Huang, Chenguang Zhao, Ying Zhen, Hongzhao Tang, and Xianhui Dou
Earth and Space Science | First published: 08 November 2019

The DOE E3SM coupled model version 1: Description and results at high resolution
Peter M. Caldwell, Azamat Mametjanov, Qi Tang, Luke P. Van Roekel, Jean‐Christophe Golaz, Wuyin Lin, David C. Bader, Noel D. Keen, Yan Feng, Robert Jacob, Mathew E. Maltrud, Andrew F. Roberts, Mark A. Taylor, Milena Veneziani, Hailong Wang, Jonathan D. Wolfe, Karthik Balaguru, Philip Cameron‐Smith, Lu Dong, Stephen A. Klein, L. Ruby Leung, Hong‐Yi Li, Qing Li, Xiaohong Liu, Richard B. Neale, Marielle Pinheiro, Yun Qian, Paul A. Ullrich, Shaocheng Xie, Yang Yang, Yuying Zhang, Kai Zhang, and Tian Zhou
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems | First published: 08 November 2019

Integrate risk from climate change in China under global warming of 1.5°C and 2.0°C
Shaohong Wu, Lulu Liu, Jiangbo Gao, and Wentao Wang
Earth’s Future | First published: 09 November 2019

Size of the atmospheric blocking events: Scaling law and response to climate change
Ebrahim Nabizadeh, Pedram Hassanzadeh, Da Yang, and Elizabeth A. Barnes
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Data‐driven modeling of the distribution of diazotrophs in the global ocean
Weiyi Tang, and Nicolas Cassar
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Seasonal variation in sediment delivery across the bay marsh interface of an estuarine salt marsh
Jessica R. Lacy, Madeline R. Foster‐Martinez, Rachel M. Allen, Matthew C. Ferner, and John C. Callaway
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans | First published: 08 November 2019

Precessional drivers of late Miocene Mediterranean sedimentary sequences: African summer monsoon and Atlantic winter storm tracks
Alice Marzocchi, Rachel Flecker, Daniel J. Lunt, Wout Krijgsman, and Frits J. Hilgen
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology | First published: 09 November 2019

Sensitivity of Land Precipitation to Surface Evapotranspiration: A Nonlocal Perspective Based on Water Vapor Transport
Jiangfeng Wei, and Paul A. Dirmeyer
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Prediction of Dansgaard‐Oeschger events from Greenland dust records
Johannes Lohmann
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Reassessing the value of regional climate modelling using palaeoclimate simulations
Edward Armstrong, Peter O. Hopcroft, and Paul Valdes
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Inter‐model spread in the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex response to climate change in the CMIP5 models
Yutian Wu, Isla R. Simpson, and Richard Seager
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Unprecedented Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclone genesis in 2018 shaped by subtropical warming in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic
Chao Wang, Bin Wang, and Jian Cao
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Analysis of ocean tide induced magnetic fields derived from oceanic in‐situ observations — climate trends and the remarkable sensitivity of shelf regions
Johannes Petereit, Jan Saynisch, Christopher Irrgang, and Maik Thomas
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans | First published: 08 November 2019

Strain Rate‐Dependent Hardening‐Softening Characteristics of Gas Hydrate‐Bearing Sediments
C. Deusner, S. Gupta, X.‐G. Xie, Y. F. Leung, S. Uchida, E. Kossel, and M. Haeckel
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems | First published: 08 November 2019

Dr. Robert C. Thunell: A 40‐Year Career of Outstanding Science, Service, and Education in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
K. Tedesco, E. Tappa, C. Benitez‐Nelson, D. Black, B. Christensen, B. Corliss, M. Goni, L. Lorenzoni, M. McConnell, E. Osborne, C. Pride, L. Sautter, and N. Umling
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology | First published: 08 November 2019

Looking up or looking down? Hydrologic and atmospheric perspectives on precipitation and evaporation variability
Jun Yin, and Amilcare Porporato
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Virtual tide gauges for predicting relative sea level rise
Rhys Hawkins, Laurent Husson, Gaël Choblet, Thomas Bodin, and Julia Pfeffer
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth | First published: 09 November 2019

Increasing water vapor in the stratosphere and mesosphere after 2002
Jia Yue, James Russell, Quan Gan, Tao Wang, Pingping Rong, Rolando Garcia, and Martin Mlynczak
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 09 November 2019

Impact of Interactive Vertical Overlap of Cumulus and Stratus on Global Aerosol, Precipitation, and Radiation Processes in the Seoul National University Atmosphere Model Version 0 with a Unified Convection Scheme (SAM0‐UNICON)
Sungsu Park, Eunsil Oh, Siyun Kim, and Jihoon Shin
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems | First published: 08 November 2019

Through the Thick and Thin: New Constraints on Mars Paleopressure History 3.8 – 4 Ga from Small Exhumed Craters
A. O. Warren, E. S. Kite, J.‐P. Williams, and B. Horgan
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets | First published: 06 November 2019

Morphodynamic Modeling of Sediment Pulse Dynamics
Jacob A. Morgan, and Peter A. Nelson
Water Resources Research | First published: 06 November 2019

Investigations of Aerobic Methane Oxidation in Two Marine Seep Environments Part 2: Isotopic Kinetics
E.W. Chan, A.M. Shiller, D.J. Joung, E.C. Arrington, D.L. Valentine, M.C. Redmond, J.A. Breier, S.A. Socolofsky, and J.D. Kessler
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans | First published: 07 November 2019

Quantifying the effects of nutrient enrichment and freshwater mixing on coastal ocean acidification
Jennie E. Rheuban, Scott C. Doney, Daniel C. McCorkle, and Rachel W. Jakuba
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans | First published: 07 November 2019

Effects of Biomass Burning on Stratocumulus Droplet Characteristics, Drizzle Rate, and Composition
Ali Hossein Mardi, Hossein Dadashazar, Alexander B. MacDonald, Ewan Crosbie, Matthew M. Coggon, Mojtaba Azadi Aghdam, Roy K. Woods, Haflidi H. Jonsson, Richard C. Flagan, John H. Seinfeld, and Armin Sorooshian
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres | First published: 07 November 2019

Impact of inorganic particles of sedimentary origin on global dissolved iron and phytoplankton distribution
H. Beghoura, T. Gorgues, O. Aumont, H.F. Planquette, A. Tagliabue, and P.‐A. Auger
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans | First published: 07 November 2019

The Impact of Ship Emission Controls Recorded by Cloud Properties
Edward Gryspeerdt, Tristan W. P. Smith, Eoin O’Keeffe, Matthew W. Christensen, and Fraser W. Goldsworth
Geophysical Research Letters | First published: 05 November 2019

Enhanced snow absorption and albedo reduction by dust‐snow internal mixing: modeling and parameterization
Cenlin He, Kuo‐Nan Liou, Yoshi Takano, Fei Chen, and Michael Barlage
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems | First published: 07 November 2019

Response of humic acids and soil organic matter to vegetation replacement in subtropical high mountain forests
Hsueh‐Ching Wang, Guanglong Tian, Chiou‐Pin Chen, Ed‐Haun Chang, Chiao‐Ying Chou, Chyi‐Rong Chiou, and Chih‐Yu Chiu
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences | First published: 07 November 2019

Seasonal variations of Arctic low‐level clouds and its linkage to sea ice seasonal variations
Yueyue Yu, Patrick C. Taylor, and Ming Cai
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres | First published: 07 November 2019

Microbial processing of sediment‐derived dissolved organic matter: Implications for its subsequent biogeochemical cycling in overlying seawater
Ruanhong Cai, Wenchu Zhou, Chen He, Kai Tang, Weidong Guo, Quan Shi, Michael Gonsior, and Nianzhi Jiao
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences | First published: 07 November 2019

Partly cloudy with a chance of lava flows: forecasting volcanic eruptions in the 21st century
Michael Poland, and Kyle R. Anderson
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth | First published: 07 November 2019

Response of convective boundary layer and shallow cumulus to soil moisture heterogeneity: A large‐eddy simulation study
Cunbo Han, Slavko Brdar, and Stefan Kollet
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems | First published: 07 November 2019

Identification of Source‐water Oxygen isotopes in trees Toolkit (ISO‐Tool) for deciphering historical water use by forest trees
Christopher I. Sargeant, Michael Bliss Singer, and Christine Vallet‐Coulomb
Water Resources Research | First published: 08 November 2019

Mid‐latitude southern hemisphere temperature change at the end of the Eocene greenhouse shortly before dawn of the Oligocene icehouse
A.M. Haiblen, B.N. Opdyke, A.P. Roberts, D. Heslop, and P.A. Wilson
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology | First published: 08 November 2019

Essay 73: Signs and Meanings: Education and Semiotics

One learns to function in a world of posters, postings, signs, ads, ordinances, notices and indications of “material culture” (i.e. commerce expressed in designs and slogans on walls and buses, subway cars, etc.).

Think of the 1963 movie The Great Escape. There’s a scene where James Coburn’s Australian character is sitting in an outdoor cafe on the French/Spanish border and the waiter comes over to him and pulls him toward the counter and says, “Telephon, monsieur.”

The James Coburn character has no idea why this is happening but mimics the proprietor and son when they duck down. French Resistance fighters in a car gun down the Germans at the cafe and James Coburn’s character “gets it” and asks them for help to get into Spain. As he ducks down you see posted on the wall of the cafe several ad signs for drinks. One of them is “Byrrh”:

“Byrrh is an aromatised wine-based apéritif made of red wine, mistelle, and quinine. Created in 1866 and a trademark since 1873, it was popular as a French apéritif. With its marketing and reputation as a ‘hygienic drink,’ Byrrh sold well in the early 20th century.” (from Wikipedia)

In many French movies or movies set in France, such as Belle de Jour and The Legend of the Holy Drinker from 1988 (in which a drunken homeless man [played by Rutger Hauer] in Paris is lent 200 francs by a stranger as long as he promises to repay it to a local church when he can afford to; the film depicts the man’s constant frustrations as he attempts to do so).

“Byrrh” appears routinely and a French child begins to ‘get the picture’ on what is being signified and how it differs from other notices, commercial or legal or municipal.

Set in Paris, the ad notice “Byrrh” appears in the same way you’d expect to see “Coca-Cola” and know what the sign signifies. “Coke” is a drink and not the fuel coke. How exactly you make these distinctions is unclear to linguists and other language-watchers. It’s a social phenomenon, partly, like mores and manners.

In the movie The Book Thief (a 2013 World War II war drama, starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and Sophie Nélisse, based on the 2005 novel) there’s a moment when you see a sign advertising or reminding you of “Kolonialwaren” (i.e., colonial wares) which was the German way of pointing to a place or store that sold coffee, tea, cocoa, etc. Any German adult of the period would know what “Kolonialwaren” signifies without quite knowing how he or she knows.

A traffic sign (you have to of course realize it’s a traffic sign and not some commercial ad) tells you “Boston 20 m.” You realize or guess it means 20 miles and not 20 meters (since meters are not a typical American measure) nor would it be 20 minutes since that would assume everyone is driving at a speed that gives you 20 minutes, which is far-fetched.

How a person goes from birth to adulthood whereby they spontaneously navigate a welter of different signs and postings, ads and statutes is quite opaque.

Roland Barthes (died 1980) explored this domain of signs (not only physical signs but mythology as a system of signs) all his life:

Barthes is one of the leading theorists of semiotics, the study of signs. A sign, in this context, refers to something which conveys meaning – for example, a written or spoken word, a symbol or a myth.

Education should not ignore “material culture” (i.e., the history of things) and semiotics (i.e., the world “speaking” to you via designs and signs and words).

Essay 72: Rise and Fall of Families: Education in Literature

There’s an “enchanting” way to get into world literature and that is to see the connecting theme of the rise and fall of families: Dream of the Red Chamber from the eighteenth century is generally acknowledged to be the pinnacle of Chinese fiction and details the slow decline and fall of the Chia family.

A Chinese metaphor is introduced in the course of the novel: a family could be like a dead bug or insect still somehow clinging to a wall without having fallen down yet…this is supposed to give the reader an image of the Chia family as it wanes.

In the great The Magnificent Ambersons, by Booth Tarkington, the Ambersons rise and fall from 1873 (when the financial crisis thrust them upwards whether through dumb luck or shrewdness) to their disintegration over the next decades when the “magnificence” has evaporated completely.

This motif of family decline underlies the Japanese classic The Makioka Sisters of Tanizaki (died in 1965).

Tanizaki writes:

“Meanwhile the family fortunes were declining. There was no doubt, then, that Itani was being kind when when she urged Sachiko to ‘forget the past.’

“The best days for the Makiokas had lasted perhaps into the mid-twenties. Their prosperity lived now only in the mind of the Osakan who knew the old days well.

“Indeed, even in the mid-twenties, extravagance and bad management were having their effect on the family business. The first of a series of crises had overtaken them then.”

(The Makioka Sisters, Seidensticker translation, Vintage Books, 1985, page 8)

Whereas history is often centered on the rise and fall of empires, eras, periods, world orders, literature is often centered on the rise and fall of families, sometimes mostly off on their own, sometimes laid low by historical events and contingencies that overwhelmed or blindsided the family.

Essay 71: India-Watching for All Students

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Essay 70: Climate Change and the Fed

Speech by Governor Brainard on why climate change matters for monetary policy and financial stability.

At “The Economics of Climate Change” a research conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, San Francisco, California.

Released by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Visit them on the web at Federal Reserve Board.

Essay 69: Education and “Then and Now” Thinking

The great historian A. J. P. Taylor (the ideal historian in the opinion of Professor Niall Ferguson of Harvard/Stanford) shows us the “comfortableness” of the world for at least some people before “the guns of August” and WWI destroyed that social world:

“Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post-office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. he had no official number or identity card.  He could travel abroad or leave his country for ever without a passport or any sort of official permission.  He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit.  He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home.  For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police.  Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service.

“An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy, or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence.

“Substantial householders were occasionally called on for jury service. Otherwise, only those who helped the state who wished to do so.

“The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale:  nearly 200 million pounds in 1913-14, or rather less than 8% of national income.  The state intervened to prevent the citizen from eating adulterated food or contracting certain infectious diseases. It imposed safety rules in factories, and prevented women, and adult males in some industries, from working excessive hours.  The state saw to it that children received education up to the age of 13.

“Since 1 January 1909, it provided a meagre pension for the needy over the age of 70. Since 1911, it helped to insure certain classes of workers against sickness and unemployment.  This tendency to more state intervention was increasing. Expenditure on the social services had roughly doubled since the Liberals took office in 1905.

Still, broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone. All this was changed by the impact of the Great War.”

(A. J. P. Taylor, English History 1914-1945, Oxford, 1965, page 1)

It seems hard to argue that life has become more “charming” since then and this pre-WWI seems much more calm, sane and relaxed than the world of 2019.  Thinking about “then and now” gives us a feel for the decay in some domains despite the cascade of technologies, gadgets, things.