My Little Garden

The first 60 degree day of the year always puts me in a fever of excitement for being outdoors: picnicking, swimming, playing, and gardening.

I love a garden. As a child we had a wonderful big one with tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots, zucchini, eggplants, parsley, strawberries, peppers, and probably more. I started one last year, but ended up letting it die of thirst. I expect this was mostly a case of out of sight, out of mind. This year I put my garden right next to my door so I can't fail to feel guilty if I neglect it. Here it is:

Okay, it's a modest little garden, but it's mine and I love it. There are snap peas in back, strawberries in front, and two kinds of tomatoes on the right. If I don't manage to kill them, I'll write later about how they get on :)

Vote Today!

How lucky are we that we live in a country where each of us has a voice in shaping our government by voting?  

Today is the special U.S. Senate election primary in Massachusetts to chose the Republican and Democratic candidates that will compete for John Kerry's vacated Senate seat next month. Please get out and vote today - the polls are open until 8pm. Remember that Unenrolled (i.e. "independent") voters can vote in either primary.

Your voting location is probably the same as it was in November, but check here:

I'm registered Unenrolled, and I'll be voting for Representative Ed Markey in the Democratic primary. I'm voting for Markey because he's focused on the future: on education, science and technology, climate change, and clean energy. It's critical that the present gridlock in Washington doesn't prevent us from planning for the future, and I believe Markey can help shift the focus from today's bickering to tomorrow's challenges and opportunities.

The candidates are:  

Democratic Primary: 

Stephen Lynch

Ed Markey

Republican Primary: 

Gabriel Gomez

Mike Sullivan 

Dan Winslow

New Adventure #10: Online Course

About a year after I graduated college, I started to feel the organized education itch. I didn't miss college life (much), but I missed formalized learning. I wish I had the self discipline to compel myself to study all the topics I'm interested in on my own time without outside encouragement, but I find that I don't. I really need guidance and deadlines to make more than fitful progress. I'm not ready to embark on the obligation or expense of grad school, so I was delighted to discovered that I can take courses from prestigious universities free online.

 

One excellent website for this is Coursera. It offers select courses from dozens of universities around the world, modified for a massive online student enrollment - though not for credit. Professors record lectures, set homework, assign quizzes, and provide discussion forums. Some of the more invested arrange Google+ hangouts and spend lots of time responding to student questions on the forums.

 

Each class is run a little differently depending on the subject matter, University, and professor. Some courses are just lectures and quizes. Others have programming assignments, peer-reviewed writing assignments, or exams, or requirements to engage in the discussion forums. They range from 1-2 hours of work per week to many many more.

 

A very select few courses can now be taken for actual University credit. Many more provide a signed certificate of completion for students who finish the course with a certain level achievement. Others are taken just for the joy of learning.

 

I recently completed "Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" offered by the University of Edinburgh via Coursera. It was very low workload, just 1-2 hours of lectures and 2 quizzes per week for 5 weeks, but very rewarding. For such a small investment, I feel that I learned a lot about the definition of life, theories on possible origins, extremes of conducive environments, the "habitability" of other planetary bodies, and the measures being used to search for life elsewhere in the universe. I had no idea, for example, that there is a chance of finding past or present life in our own solar system on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, or Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Fascinating! I'm looking forward to taking more courses in the future.

 

Here are a few starting soon that look really good:

 

An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python (starting April 15th)

 

Greek and Roman Mythology (starting April 22nd)

 

Rationing and Allocating Scarce Medical Resources (starting May 20th)

New Adventure #9: Canvassing

So, I tried political canvassing! Let me just say that this was WAY outside my comfort zone. Knocking on strangers' doors and asking them questions is not something I would ever have pictured myself doing. As recently as the November elections, I refused a friend's invitation to join the get-out-the-vote effort for Elizabeth Warren because it just sounded so uncomfortable. However, I've been wanting to get more involved in my community and I feel strongly about Ed Markey's Senate campaign, so I pushed myself to try it.

 

 

The experience was...interesting. The jury is still out on how I feel about it, though I'm certainly glad I tried it.

Backing up, political canvassing involves making direct contact with potential voters, usually by going door-to-door. The purpose is generally to determine who is likely to vote for your candidate, in order to prepare for a get-out-the-vote effort to encourage them to actually get to the polls on election day. Volunteer recruiting is often also a goal.

 

I had feared that I would be expected to try to convince people to vote for Markey by explaining his views and record, but the focus was much more on raising awareness that an election is coming and identifying people's present inclinations. Thank goodness!

 

I met up with the local organizer for my town and a couple other volunteers. They set me up with a stack of pamphlets and a handy smartphone app that provided me with a list of likely voters' names and addresses in a localized area. Apparently, which primary you voted in and the address you're registered at are public information - didn't know that.

 

I drove to the area and spent about 2 hours canvassing. In that time I knocked on about 40 doors. Most people aren't home on Saturday mornings, it turns out, and only about 15 of those knocks were answered. I spoke to a couple enthusiastic Markey supporters, one firm Lynch supporter, and a number of folks who either hadn't been aware of the election or hadn't decided who to vote for. I left pamphlets with everyone I spoke to, as tucked more into the doors of the people who weren't home. I also recorded in the app who I'd made contact with, whether they were inclined to vote for or against Markey, and whether they were interested in volunteering.

 

The first hour or so was more fun than I had expected. Talking to the folks who were enthusiastic about Markey was affirming, and informing people who weren't aware that there is an election coming up was rewarding. I started to flag after an hour or so though. I suspect it would be a lot more sustainable if I had a partner to work with. If anyone's interested in canvassing with me, let me know!