Thursday, October 14, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Thoughts on Newspapers
In my first video blog, I talk about H. L. Mencken's thoughts on newspaper work: "a grand, gaudy time."
Friday, October 8, 2010
Seaside nonprofit refurbishes computers for needy
(Written for the Monterey Herald, published 10/07/2010.)Christian Mendelsohn is ensconced among stacks of computers, motherboards and hard drives.
On the upper shelves nearby, rows of flat screen monitors are stored sideways, like an encyclopedia set of computer screens. The shelves below hold neat plastic bins labeled "ethernet cables," "power cords" and the like.
Mendelsohn is surrounded in his Seaside office by computer equipment. He is eager to distribute it to those who usually couldn't afford it through his nonprofit company Loaves, Fishes & Computers.
"Right now we have about a two-month turnaround time," said Mendelsohn, 32, while he leafed through a binder full of applications for the computer systems. "We have the supply to take care of the demand. But we're lacking manpower, we're lacking space and we're lacking funds."
Mendelsohn started the nonprofit in April 2009. The charity takes unneeded computers from organizations and individuals, refurbishes them and sells or gives them to the needy and computerless. Those who qualify get a computer, monitor, printer, mouse, keyboard and, if needed, set up and training. Depending on their income, recipients can pay $50, $60 or $70 or, if they like, they can spend six hours in volunteer work.
Loaves, Fishes & Computers is funded primarily through Mendelsohn's work repairing computers for clients. The group is an incorporated nonprofit, Mendelsohn said, and expects to receive tax-exempt status from the IRS in four months to nine months.
Refurbishing work is done by volunteers, two of whom come in every day during the work week."Like me, they love computers and like to do good," Mendelsohn said.
Mendelsohn would like to see Loaves, Fishes & Computers expand. In the Seaside office, they restore and turn out three to five computers a week. Two years from now, Mendelsohn would like it to be 20 computers a week.
"I have a vision of LFC expanding in to a larger area, where we'd have more repair space, space for volunteers and a computer lab open to the public," he said.
In their current space, there is only room for two people to work.
"Library labs get filled up and time on their computers is limited," said Mendelsohn. "Some students would like to volunteer as refurbishers. This would be a way for them to give back to the community and learn how to fix computers for themselves or for work."
Mendelsohn is starting a recycling and decommissioning service to remove e-waste of local businesses.
"We have a lot of computers in the area going to e-waste," said Topher Mueller, K-8 technology coordinator at the Carmel campus of Stevenson School, who helped donate 12 computers.
"Half of those might be too old to be useful, but the other half should be kept out of e-waste, which is becoming a huge environmental problem. They can be put to good use. There is a gap in opportunities between people who have computers and those who don't. He is bridging that gap," Mueller said.
"It's best to keep these computers in the hands of students and out of e-waste dumps," said George Ball, property coordinator at CSU Monterey Bay, who aided in the donation of 80 computers.
"The work he is doing is phenomenal," said Mueller. "He's filling a niche in the community that to my knowledge no one else is doing."
While Mendelsohn's work might fall short of miraculous, it is nonetheless appreciated by recipients.
On the wall of his crowded office, Mendelsohn looks up at a painting given to him from an artist who received the second computer he refurbished. In the picture, Jesus is feeding the masses with loaves of bread, baskets of fish and, down in the corner, a little collection of laptops.
Danielle Venton can be reached at 646-4358 or dventon@montereyherald.com.
Loaves, Fishes & Computers
A nonprofit in Seaside offers refurbished computers to those who normally couldn't afford them.
· A computer setup (including monitor, printer and setup and training) costs from $50 to $70, depending on the consumer's income.
· Consumers can also get computers in exchange for six hours in volunteer work.
· The wait time for a computer is two months.
· To apply for computers or make donations, call 383-0412 or see loavesfishescomputers.org. Printers are especially in demand.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Newsflash!
As a start, the ten class members of SciComs 2010 were served a hefty dose of self reflection, having to write biographical blurbs (see below) and our own obituaries (for the hearty, upon request).
When I'm not envisioning my future demise, I'm writing at the Monterey Herald, a local daily newspaper. Working on a big piece tomorrow, look for it here in a few days.
Aside from being useless behind a microscope, I’m in science writing for the variety. Like many a writer before me, I love language, learning and talking about science. I love new experiences that deepen my understanding of the world and its people. Science writing gives both author and reader access to every field touched upon by research, which is to say, every field there is.
I’ve worked in science communication from many places: the redwoods of Northern California, the ponds of Cape Cod's National Seashore and the caverns of the Large Hadron Collider, the largest particle accelerator, at CERN in Geneva. Every new place, every new project, teaches me something and broadens my perspective. The world will always have something new to teach us, science writing allows me to remain its student.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Migratory amimals
To my surprise leaving Geneva, when it finally came, was a relief. I had spent the previous three weeks in that intensified mode which always takes over when you are about to jump in to a big geographic change: saying goodbye, organizing the minutiae, desperately savoring the place while you still have the chance.
I quite like the image, I must say, of myself as a migratory animal. Where ever these animals are calling home they contribute to, and get what they need from, their area. Where ever they are they have a purpose, a role in their ecosystem (one beyond collecting fridge magnets from all the capital cities of Europe). For example, now I'm living with extended family in Napa County, California. This unit of my family currently includes young kids. Part of my "ecosystem services" in Napa involve diaper changing and dinner cooking. While it is not what I want my life to look like forever, at the moment, its not so bad. I know in time I'll migrate on.
One of our favorite migratory mammals along the whale-watching Californian coast is the Humpback. These whales travel up to 16,000 miles annually, feeding during the summer in fish-rich sub-Arctic waters, and traveling down to tropical environs to calve and over-winter. Salmon also migrate, spending the start and end of their life in freshwater streams, cruising the rest of the time on the open seas. By coming upstream to spawn, they transfer nutrients from the ocean to the rivers. This helps zooplankton and phytoplankton flourish, which in turn becomes food for the next generation of salmon. The small fry are literally sustained by their parents. Aside from whales and fish, insects, antelope and of course the iconic migratory birds all have second homes. Birds generally eat around a third of their body weight in insects each day -- keeping insect populations in check where ever they are. (Worryingly, many migratory populations have crashed, as the populations disappear they take with them the ecological services they provided. For more read Going, Going, Gone: Is Animal Migration Disappearing?)
When you've lived in many places, you begin to feel less like you are native to anywhere and more like a citizen of the world. You take something from, and leave something in, each place. I'm sure my fellow migratory species would agree with me.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Last day at CERN
Leaving CERN isn't easy, though it is a decision I made and a decision I'm happy with. Sad as I am to leave Geneva, I can't wait to be back in California, back with old friends and back in school.
While I'm clearly not the most dedicated blogger, I'll try to keep this alive, as I can, sharing new tid bits as I come across them. If it is CERN-news that you're after, let me share this amazing little link (CERNlove.org) that someone sent to me the other day. Items discussed? The peculiar signs in the toilets, our decaying buildings, the coffee machines and other hundred other niceties.
It is an amazing place here, someone someday will need to write a cultural history of the place. They would have plenty of material. I was speaking to someone the other day about the different cultures of the Physics and IT Departments. Within those groups, each division -- for example each experiment -- has a unique feel. Dividing things further, each subdetector has its own team and culture. Rivalries (friendly, or at least touted to be) are rife. As long as no one takes themselves overly seriously, it is all a lot of fun. (Physicists?? overly serious?? Never!)
Speaking of which, apparently it is a very serious matter if you do not take care of all of the administrational minutiae of leaving this place, so I'd better head out.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Checklists, complexity and patterns
Standing on the brink of another transition (which I am thrilled about) I've been thinking quite a lot about what I want my future life to look like. And it occurs to me that, while defining what makes a daily routine “good,” a career “good,” a friendship, a book, or even a glass of wine “good” might prove elusive, there are useful things to look for, that will give you a strong indication of its quality. A kind of “checklist of goodness.”
I've been thinking about this because, after reading Atul Gawande's essay “The Checklist”, I'm convinced of their power. I've made many lists for the things I need to do before I leave Switzerland and move back to California. I've made a check list of what I want in my apartment in Santa Cruz that I will (I hope) share with my brother. I have even gone so far as to make a mental checklist of the things to me that indicate a “good day.” Let's turn this checklist from mental to actual, shall we?
Sufficient sleep; sufficient water; time to exercise a little, read a little and think or write a little; fresh good food (including two hot meals, I guess I'm sort of high maintenance); some satisfying work; and some social contact.
People talk about a “perfect day,” a concept which I've also been thinking about and have concluded is downright evil. The strive for perfection is paralyzing. “Perfect is the enemy of good” as Voltaire so astutely noted.
So what makes things inherently good? This is a pretty interesting question. We often have a gut reaction to things. You taste a wine or meet a person and think, “I like it,” “I like them,” “I dislike it,” “I dislike them.” If you never venture beyond reacting to things and people, that's not a terrible problem. But it is useful to examine things a little closer to understand why.
What you like anyway is more appreciated because you can see it more clearly. And appreciation is the mother of enjoyment.
What you dislike, once you understand why, becomes less frustrating. You are better able to navigate the issue as you think and talk about it. You make better decisions as you decide what to do with it or, in some cases, with them.
Want to know where these thoughts stem from? A book I've begun listening to. A book on wine no less. Making Sense of Wine by Matt Kramer. The author makes a powerfully persuasive argument for things that seem to indicate goodness. I quote:
“Inevitably, one comes to the essence of the matter: What constitutes quality in wine? How do you go about distinguishing between what tastes good to you and what is genuinely good? It's not as difficult as it may appear, nor as arbitrary as it sounds. In anything where matters of taste are important there is no one idea, but there can be standards.”
He goes on to say that, for wine, complexity is the single most important standard. He says that humans (and animals too research indicates) find complexity fascinating, possibly because this keeps us surprised and engaged. However, a certain harmony, the existence of patterns, a sort of cohesion, is required otherwise we find the complexity jarring and eventually irritating. Now, I find this idea fascinating. This is why we love studying science, reading Russian novels or seeing patterns repeat in plants and flowers.
Beyond that, he speaks of other needed qualities: balance, proportion, and “finesse” or fine-ness (the quality most elusive of definition, so we'll save that for another time). I put it to you, these are not just needed for good wine, these qualities, this checklist, are what makes anything good. Architecture. Fashion. Literature. A great dinner. Our day and, yes, our life.
Now, speaking of exquisite, balanced, fine, well-proportioned food, the Japanese do quite an amazing job. Mark Bittman (who I am adopting as a food fairy god-uncle) has inspired me with his column in this week's NYTimes. This is to be the afternoon's experiment.
(Photo above found here.)
Posts
