A Sampling of Clips for October 5^th, 2009

* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office

Sunday Book Review: Connected: The Surprising Power
of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
The New York Times, Oct. 1 – For those of us not actively toiling in a university, most modern writing in the social sciences can be placed into one of three categories. The first category, which is vast, consists of the arcane and the incremental — those studies so obscure, or which advance scholarship so infinitesimally, that they can be safely ignored by the general reader. (Not that this work isn’t important; it keeps academic publishing in business, and significant knowledge accretes in tiny drips on the way to tenure.) The second category consists of statistical proof of the obvious. (Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives is co-written by James H. Fowler, professor of political science at UCSD) More

New Script for India on Climate Change
The New York Times, Oct. 3 – When the United Nations convened its summit meeting on climate change last month, China and the United States, the two most important countries at the negotiating table, hewed to mostly familiar scripts, making promises without making too many specific commitments. Less familiar was the script followed by the third most important country at the table, India. (Quotes David G. Victor professor at UCSD’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies) More 

President of Toyota Apologizes
The New York Times, Oct. 3 -- Even by Japanese standards — where chief executives routinely make public apologies if their company is in crisis — Akio Toyoda’s comments on Friday were surprising. A little more than three months after assuming his post, the president of Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, recited a long list of mea culpas to astonished reporters at the Japan National Press Club. He expressed grief over a fatal crash that led to a recall of 3.8 million cars, regrets about an expected second consecutive annual loss and sorrow over the decision to close the company’s first American factory in California. (Quotes Ulrike Schaede, a professor of Japanese business at UCSD) More

UM Scientist Studies Volcanoes in Galapagos Islands
Miami Herald, Oct. 3 – He took a plane, sailed on a boat, rode horseback, flew on a helicopter and trekked across a volcano -- all for science. Falk Amelung, a geophysicist at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science on Virginia Key, went on a three-week expedition to the Galapagos Islands this summer to help install 16 seismic stations. The stations will record data from Sierra Negra, one of the Galapagos' and the world's most active volcanoes. (Mentions UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

Simulated Quakes Test Retaining Wall Design
KFMB, Oct. 2 -- Theory meets reality during an earthquake test in Miramar. Researchers from UCSD and UC Davis simulated three different types of earthquakes to test retaining walls. Results of Friday's test will help in modifying existing designs. For Caltrans it's all about keeping you safe and saving you money. "For us it's a major maintenance issue. They tend to move and then we have to go out and remove them and replace them so it's a very significant amount of cost that we're trying to reduce with this design," explained Cal Trans Earth Retaining Specialist Katheryn Griswell. More

20 Things You Should Know About Breast Cancer
Women’s Day, Oct. 1 -- Ask any woman what disease she’s most afraid of, and chances are she’ll say breast cancer. “Almost everyone knows someone who did everything ‘right’ and still got breast cancer,” says Victoria Seewaldt, MD, who is co-leader of the breast and ovarian cancer program at the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center. “That can make women feel like they have no control.” While you can’t control your genes, there are powerful steps you can take to protect yourself. But experts say there’s a lot of confusion about what really matters. (Quotes Anne Wallace, MD, a team leader of the Moores Cancer Center breast program at UCSD) More

Test Your Rainfall IQ Against the Professional Prognosticators
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 5 -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong.  Each fall, I ask long-range forecasters and weather experts how much rain they think the coming winter will bring to San Diego. I figure, more than one of them must be wrong. But every year, they're all wrong. None has ever come up with the right total. Some years, they've all been way off. (Quotes Dan Cayan, a researcher for the U.S. Geological Service and for UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

Nonprofit Group Takes on Math Problem
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 5 -- Organizing her students in groups of three, Escondido High School teacher Susan Amoroso focused the chatty teenagers on algebra. The goal for the day: Students will be able to look at graphs and describe what they see. “They're all graphs of speed over time,” Amoroso said as she handed out a work sheet. “You want to see what this line is telling you about how the speed of a car, in this case, is changing over time.”  (Quotes Guershon Harel, a UCSD math professor) More

VA Scrambles To Get GI Bill Checks Out
KPBS, Oct. 1 -- The Veterans Administration has missed its October 1 deadline to issue checks to students enrolled under the new G.I. Bill. The Agency plans to open the doors of its Mission Valley Headquarters tomorrow morning to issue emergency checks. The VA has failed to process the applications for benefits under the new Post-9/11 G.I. Bill in time. Students who relied on the money to pay the rent are still waiting for a check. For the last week the VA has been scrambling to come up with a stop-gap solution.
San Diego Congressman Bob Filner said the VA has known about the deadline for months. (Mentions UCSD) More

Electronic Instruments take Center Stage at Museum, Shows
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 3 -- Bonnie Wright and Tatiana Sizonenko have never met or communicated with each other. But they are both fascinated by the evolution of synthesizers, the high-tech electronic instruments that have transformed nearly every style of popular music over the past 40 years by creating an array of sounds, via increasingly sophisticated electrical signals. (Mentions Susan Narucki, a professor in UCSD’s Department of Theatre and Dance) More

Manny Farber: Critic 'Who Opened other Critics' Eyes'
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 4 -- When Manny Farber, local painter extraordinaire, died in 2008, he hadn’t done any writing on films for some 31 years. But the tributes for Farber the film critic came forth at a rate that surprised even his wife, Patricia Patterson, a highly accomplished artist and a collaborator on the later film writings. (Mentions UCSD) More

10 Years Later, Latino Oral History Project Expands
Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 3 -- As it celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend, the U.S. Latino and Latina World War II Oral History Project at the University of Texas is expanding its mission to include the Korean and Vietnam wars. Ignacio Garcia Gonzales of Austin, 76, (pictured here) a veteran of both conflicts, welcomes the broadened scope. “It’s going to leave a legacy for our kids and our grandkids,” he says. So does Jorge Mariscal, a Vietnam veteran and a professor of literature at UCSD who will speak at a symposium Saturday on the Korean and Vietnam wars, part of the history project’s 10th anniversary events. More

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