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"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957
In 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered an address that would become known as the "I Have a Dream" speech. Above, Dr. King waves to the crowd of 250,000 that had come to witness his speech. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Marion S. Trikosko/Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
MONDAY, JANUARY 20—The holiday's official name is "Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.," but many people also refer to this annual milestone as: National Day of Service.
The main federal website to get involved—and connect with others—is the National Service website. That site offers a lot of information about regional events and opportunities. On the site's front page, you will find a link to add information about your own local events. Plus, there's a helpful link to free lesson plans for kids, courtesy of Scholastic. Inside, there's an index to a host of webinars and other resources for adults who want to encourage community service. Want tips on joining in—or organizing your own—community event? Check out this National Service page, which is full of helpful links.
Many adults alive today recall the long and bumpy journey to establishing this milestone of the civil rights leader. And the story isn't over …
King was born January 15, 1929. He became a Baptist pastor and helped to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, serving as its first president. In 1963, King helped to organize the March on Washington and, there, delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.
When a bill was introduced for a federal holiday in honor of Dr. King, some representatives argued that an additional paid holiday would be too expensive and that Dr. King, having never held public office, was ineligible. Supporters of the bill began rallying the public, and when Stevie Wonder released "Happy Birthday" in 1980 to raise awareness of the campaign, 6 million signatures were collected. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill that established a federal holiday on November 2, 1983. The holiday was first observed in 1986.
However, it took until 2000 for all 50 states to actively participate. To this day, a handful of states still officially insist on using alternative names and perspectives on the holiday.
KING'S LIFE AND LEGACY
ReadTheSpirit.com online magazine has lots of resources for reflecting on Dr. King's life and legacy …
PROFILE—Peacemaker and author Daniel Buttry writes this overview of Dr. King's life.
FEED THE SPIRIT—Journalist, author and activist Desiree Cooper writes this FeedTheSpirit column about one of Dr. King's favorite foods—sweet potato pie—and includes a delicious recipe.
THE MOVIE—Faith and film writer Edward McNulty wrote this review of the movie, Selma.
(Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)
Columbus Day: Italian-Americans and Native Americans both celebrate
A float in an earlier Columbus Day Italian Heritage Parade in San Francisco. (Used via Wikimedia Commons.)
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14: All year long, celebrations across North America reflect the colorful facets of America's growing cultural diversity.
But few holidays expose the friction in U.S. history as much as Columbus Day, which celebrates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in what is now called the Americas in 1492. For more than a century, the holiday has been championed by Italian-Americans as showcasing their many contributions to the U.S. But some regions of the country now decline to celebrate this national observance, questioning whether Columbus's arrival is something Native people should celebrate.
PEW RESEARCH MAPS THE DIVIDE
NEW IN 2019, Pew Research has published an in-depth look at the varying approaches to this annual milestone across the U.S.
The Pew report begins: "Depending on where you live and whom you work for, Columbus Day may be a paid day off, another holiday entirely, or no different from any regular Monday. Columbus Day, the second Monday in October, is one of the most inconsistently celebrated U.S. holidays. It's one of 10 official federal holidays, which means federal workers get a paid day off. And because federal offices will be closed, so will most banks and the bond markets that trade in U.S. government debt (though the stock markets will remain open). Beyond that, it's a grab bag."
Here is a link to the entire Pew report—with accompanying maps so you can see how your part of the U.S. compares with others.
2 CITIES BY THE BAY CELEBRATE 2 WAYS
Proud Italian-American communities on the East Coast host parades, parties and other events—but San Francisco claims to host the nation's oldest and biggest Columbus-related bash. In fact, the celebration started several days ago around the Bay Area. The San Francisco-based group claims that in 1869: "San Francisco's first Columbus Day Celebration marked the first time in America that Italian-Americans gathered and held a parade to honor the accomplishments of Italians, as well as the first Italian-American, Christopher Columbus."
That first parade "took place in San Francisco's downtown featuring the bands and marching units of Italian fraternal organizations, including the Garibaldi Guard, Swiss Guards and Lafayette Guards. Four floats were showcased: the first hosted the statue of Christopher Columbus, the second featured two girls representing Isabella of Spain and America, the third depicted the Santa Maria with a sailor dressed as Christopher Columbus; and the fourth honored Italian gardeners featuring their agricultural achievements."
In nearby Berkeley, California, an alternative celebration, Indigenous People's Day or Native American Day took off in the 1990s.
Labor Day: Americans celebrate, but Labor Day is about far more than picnics
REMEMBERING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT: Sociologist Lewis Hine took this photo in 1908, showing some of the doffers with their superintendent. A doffer tended the spindles on the machine, removing full ones and replacing with empty; ten small boys and girls about this size would be employed in a force of 40 employees. Catawba Cotton Mill. Newton, N.C.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2: Travel, parades and picnics are abundant this Labor Day weekend, but alongside the festivities, consider giving this holiday the merit it really deserves: a look at the history and relevance of labor in the lives of American workers.
Our opening photo, above, is one of many preserved by sociologist Lewis Hines. Consider creating your own Labor Day-themed media. You could share a message with friends on social media—or perhaps put together a discussion for your small group or class. Wikimedia Commons provides many of Hine's classic images that you are free to use.)
Labor Day is the result of the long struggle for recognition of workers' rights by the American labor movement. The first Labor Day celebration, observed in 1882 in New York City, attracted more than 10,000 workers who marched through the streets. Beyond recognizing the social and economic achievements of American workers, Labor Day makes us aware of the countless workers who have, together, contributed to the strength and prosperity of their country.
John Wesley drew the fury of many critics for preaching in public places, wherever crowds of working people and their families could gather to hear him.
LABOR AND FAITH
The value of human labor is echoed throughout the Abrahamic tradition, including stories and wisdom about the nature of labor in both the Bible and the Quran. Biblical passages ask God to "prosper the work of our hands" (Psalm 90), while the Quran refers to the morality of conducting oneself in the public square.
The Catholic church has been preaching on behalf of workers for more than a century. The landmark papal encyclical Rerum Novarum ("Of revolutionary change") was published in 1891 and has been described as a primer on the rights of laborers who face abusive conditions in the workplace. This became one of the central themes of Pope John Paul II's long pontificate. In 1981, he published his own lengthy encyclical, Laborem Exercens ("On human work"). Then, a decade later, John Paul returned to this milestone in Catholic teaching in Centisimus Annus ("Hundredth year").
For 2019, the United Methodist Church published a nationwide appeal to church leaders to remember the central issues still faced by workers around the world. Titled "Labor Day Is Not Just a Day Off," the text says in part:
Did you know The United Methodist Church has been a part of the labor movement throughout history and is committed to fairness and justice in the workplace? In the early 20th century the church was working to end child labor. And in the '50s, during our country's civil rights movement, we were fighting for fair wages and better working conditions. We were dedicated to fairness and justice in the workplace then, and we still are today.
When John Wesley founded the Methodist movement during the 18th century, there was no "worker movement" the way we'd understand it today. But Wesley preached to and cared for coal miners and other oppressed workers. He also opposed slavery. After Wesley died, his followers continued to work against workplace injustices in rapidly industrializing England, adopting the first Social Creed, in 1908, that dealt exclusively with labor practices.
It may be hard to tell at first glance, but these miners also were child laborers documented by Lewis Hine in 1908.
FROM 12-HOUR DAYS AND DANGEROUS CONDITIONS TO UNIONS
At the end of the 19th century, many Americans had to work 12-hour days every day of the week to make a living. Child labor was at its height in mills, factories and mines, and young children earned only a portion of an adult's wage. Dirty air, unsafe working conditions and low wages made labor in many cities a dangerous occupation. As working conditions worsened, workers came together and began forming labor unions: through unions, workers could have a voice by participating in strikes and rallies. Through unions, Americans fought against child labor and for the eight-hour workday.
Some labor demonstrations turned violent—such as the Haymarket Riot of 1886, which is remembered, to this day, in May 1 labor holidays around the world. Instead of a May holiday, however, American leaders preferred to remove "our" holiday from that tragedy by four months, in the civic calendar. Instead, American holiday planners encouraged street parades and public displays of the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations in each community—including cheerful festivities and recreation for workers and their families.
Oregon became the first state to declare Labor Day a holiday, in 1887, and by 1896, Labor Day was a national holiday.
LABOR IN 2019
For Labor Day weekend 2019, the Pew Research Center published 10 Facts about American Workers. That list includes these top-line conclusions:
Over the past 35 years, the share of American workers who belong to labor unions has fallen by about half.
Americans generally like unions and broadly support the right of workers to unionize.
Most American workers are employed in the service sector.
About 16 million Americans are self-employed, according to BLS data from July of this year.
American women earn 85 cents on the dollar compared with men, but that gap is narrower among younger workers.
The wage gap between young workers with college degrees and their less-educated counterparts is the widest in decades.
More older Americans are working than in previous decades.
Independence Day: Americans wave red, white and blue for the Fourth
Fourth of July fireworks in Boston. Photo by John Tammaro, courtesy of Flickr
THURSDAY, JULY 4: It's the Fourth of July, and in America, the Stars and Stripes fly high: Today, on Independence Day, Americans celebrate freedom with parades, picnics, reunions with family and friends and fireworks exploding in the night sky. Though the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain took place on July 2, 1776, it was two days later—July 4—when the Second Continental Congress gave its approval, and Americans observe this day in grand ceremony. So fire up the grill, deck out your yard (or yourself) in red, white and blue, and enjoy summer's all-American holiday!
Trump on the Mall? Sorry to say, most national news agencies have reported few details of what President Trump is planning for his controversial appearance on the Mall. One example is this Associated Press story in mid-June about the confusion among government event planners. Trump supporters likely will cheer. Trump foes will jeer.
Want to simply switch your viewing to another city? Tune in to CBS for the live webcast of the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, which is attended by a half million people annually. This year, the headliner will be Queen Latifah and the lineup of performers will include singer and songwriter Arlo Guthrie, who will perform a musical tribute a half-century in the making—Summer of '69—commemorating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock.
Originally entitled Yankee Doodle, this is one of several versions of a scene painted by A. M. Willard that came to be known as The Spirit of '76. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
INDEPENDENCE DAY: A HISTORY
With the fledgling battles of the Revolutionary War in April 1775, few colonists considered complete independence from Great Britain. Within a year, however, hostilities toward Great Britain were building and the desire for independence was growing, too.
In June 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a five-person committee to draft a formal statement that would vindicate the break with Great Britain: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, considered the most articulate writer in the group, crafted the original draft. A total of 86 changes were made to the draft before its final adoption on July 4 by the Second Continental Congress. On July 5, 1776, official copies of the Declaration of Independence were distributed.
Which Founding Father would you vote for? Take quizzes and test your Constitution knowledge at ConstitutionFacts.com.
One year following, in 1777, Philadelphia marked the Fourth of July with an official dinner, toasts, 13-gun salutes, music, parades, prayers and speeches. As the new nation faced challenges, celebrations fell out of favor during ensuing decades. It wasn't until after the War of 1812 that printed copies of the Declaration of Independence again were widely circulated, and festivities marked America's Independence Day. Congress declared July 4 a national holiday in 1870.
FOURTH OF JULY RECIPES, PARTY TIPS & MORE
Nothing sets the stage for a summer party like the occasion of the Fourth of July! Dig up those red, white and blue decorations and recipes, and invite neighbors and friends over for a birthday bash for the nation.
From the perfect juicy hamburger to a towering red, white and blue trifle, find recipes from Martha Stewart, AllRecipes, Food Network, Food & Wine, Taste of Home, Rachael Ray and Real Simple.
For party and decor tips, check out HGTV's Americana style suggestions and backyard party tips.
Looking for finger foods ideas? The Today Show has 15 ideas and recipes for any July 4 party—including marshmallow pops perfect for kids.
Reader's Digest offers fun party games ideas fit for a celebration of the Fourth.
Father's Day: Celebrate Dad—and the dads in your life
Photo courtesy of Pexels
SUNDAY, JUNE 16: Take Dad fishing, make dinner on the grill and take a minute to say "Thanks." It's Father's Day! Across the United States, more than 70 million fathers qualify for recognition on this special day.
Fortune magazine reports that Americans' focus on Father's Day has been growing in popularity over the last decade, at least as analysts judge the amount American families spend on Father's Day gifts. Each year, Americans spend about $25 billion on Mother's Day, Fortune reports, but Father's Day spending now is up to $16 billion.
"That figure has grown 70%, or $6.6 billion over the last decade," Katherine Cullen, senior director of Consumer and Industry Insights at the National Retail Federation, tells Fortune.
SONORA SMART DODD:
A FATHER'S DAY IN THE US.
The official holiday has been in effect for nearly half a century in the United States, although similar celebrations have been in existence around the globe for much longer. In traditionally Catholic countries, fathers are popularly recognized on the Feast of St. Joseph.
The American Father's Day began in Spokane, Washington, in 1910, with the daughter of a widow. When Sonora Smart Dodd heard a Mother's Day sermon in church, she approached her pastor, believing that fathers like hers—a Civil War veteran and single father who had raised six children—deserved recognition, too.
Following the initial few years, Father's Day was all but lost until Dodd returned to Spokane, once again promoting her holiday. Despite support by trade groups and the Father's Day Council, Father's Day was rejected by both the general public and Congress until 1966. President Richard Nixon signed the holiday into law in 1972.
CELEBRATING FATHER'S DAY: GRILLING, MOVIES & MORE
Photo courtesy of pxhere
Stumped on how to celebrate Dad today? Look no further! We've rounded up plenty of ideas to please dads of any age:
Cooking dinner for Dad? Whether you're taking food to the grill or to the oven, get inspired with recipes from Food Network, Martha Stewart and AllRecipes.
Spending time with Dad may be the best gift of all, and if you're stumped for activity ideas, Reader's Digest and Parents.com dole out suggestions on what to do (mini golf, anyone?).
From the Silver Screen: If it's too hot to go outside on Father's Day, take to the air conditioning with popcorn and a dad-centered flick. Our favorite list is from Screen Rant, which recognizes fathers from Darth Vader to Mr. Incredible to Bryan Mills in "Taken."
From the Kids: Young children can craft gifts, cards and more with ideas from here.
Memorial Day: After 154 years, Americans still recall the Civil War and honor our fallen in many wars
MONDAY, MAY 27: It's as American as apple pie: hometown parades, ceremonies for fallen soldiers and the smell of barbecues firing up across the country.
It's Memorial Day. The unofficial start of summer in America began, less than two centuries ago, as a solemn observance for the war that had consumed more lives than any other U.S. conflict. While memorial services still abound, the national holiday also means picnics, beaches, fireworks and, of course, travel, as Americans enjoy a three-day weekend.
AAA's travel forecast for 2019 says that nearly 43 million of us will hit the road this weekend.
Scroll down in this story to read our best 2019 holiday tips. However, before we list those links, let's celebrate a tireless historian who helped Americans recover our history of this more-than-150-year-old observance.
A PULITZER FOR THE HOLIDAY'S HISTORIAN
Memorial Day began as an annual, grassroots practice of sprucing up the gravesites of the countless Americans who died during the Civil War. That's why, for many years, the observance was called Decoration Day, describing the flowers and colorful flags that seemed to sprout across cemeteries each spring.
For much of the 20th Century, however, the painful early roots of this observance were forgotten as proud civic boosters across the country tried to claim their own unique slices of this history. Then, Yale historian David W. Blight researched and corrected the record, finally honoring the fact that the courageous pioneers in observing this holiday were former slaves in the South who dared to decorate Yankee graves. In his history, Race and Reconciliation, Blight writes: "Decoration Day, and the many ways in which it is observed, shaped Civl War memory as much as any other cultural ritual."
Blight continued to research race and American memory in that era and, this spring, he has been honored with the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in history for his in-depth biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.
MEMORIAL DAY and CIVIL RELIGION
The famed sociologist of American religion, Robert Bellah, also shaped the evolution of Memorial Day's meaning in a landmark article he published in a 1967 issue of Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He called his long article "Civil Religion in America," taking the centuries-old concept of "civil religion" and kicked off decades of fresh research into how our civil religion defines our American culture. You can read Bellah's entire original article online.
A few lines from Bellah's article about Memorial Day …
Until the Civil War, the American civil religion focused above all on the event of the Revolution, which was seen as the final act of the Exodus from the old lands across the waters. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were the sacred scriptures and Washington the divinely appointed Moses who led his people out of the hands of tyranny.
Then—The Civil War raised the deepest questions of national meaning. The man who not only formulated but in his own person embodied its meaning for Americans was Abraham Lincoln. For him the issue was not in the first instance slavery but "whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure." … With the Civil War, a new theme of death, sacrifice, and rebirth enters the new civil religion. It is symbolized in the life and death of Lincoln. Nowhere is it stated more vividly than in the Gettysburg Address, itself part of the Lincolnian "New Testament" among the civil scriptures.
MEMORIAL DAY? ISN"T THAT A SALE?
The vast majority of Memorial Day news stories in 2019 cover two themes: Travel advice for the millions of American families who hit the road each spring over the holiday weekend—and tips on where to find the biggest bargains in annual "Memorial Day Blowout" sales.
NBC News has an example of the latter in a story headlined The Best 2019 Memorial Day Sales and Deals. What does the holiday mean? You can save tons of money on everything from fancy rugs and mattresses—to egg cookers. NBC is hardly alone! The New York Post's holiday story zeroes in on the best deals in fashion and accessories. Then, naturally WIRED focuses on deals in "Tech and Gaming." Esquire follows suit with an overview of electronics you can snap up on Amazon at holiday discounts. And, FORTUNE has a long list of businesses and public institutions that are closing for the holiday—and those making a point of staying open.
Check local media, or search Google News for your destination, to find up-to-date travel advice. Some National Parks are bracing for massive crowds. Others may not be entirely open yet, due to snow in high elevations. The National Park Service directs visitors interested in Memorial Day to this page.


This programme is a pathway-based MSc degree, with a strong vocational content, that is designed to develop skills in the management and implementation of archaeological projects. It is intended for those preparing for a career in commercial archaeology or as continuing professional development.
Students will acquire expertise in a range of skills and techniques, from survey and excavation, to post-excavation analysis of objects and materials, archiving, reporting, publication and heritage management. Through project-based activities, and field- and laboratory-based elements, they will learn about the structure and organisation of archaeological practice within the UK, how to design and manage archaeological projects, and how to write and prepare reports.
The programme has a strong practical component and aims to replicate real-world situations. Students have full and unlimited access to the facilities in the Department of Archaeology, including dedicated archaeological survey, computing and imagine facilities, lithics, ceramics and osteology labs, and extensive teaching collections. Southampton is located in close proximity to some of the UK's premier archaeological sites and landscapes, including the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site.
Archaeology at the University of Southampton has close links to industry and national heritage bodies such as Historic England through its Coastal and Offshore Archaeology Services, Centre for Applied Human Origins Research and Archaeological Prospection Service. Its staff work in collaboration, and have held formal roles, with many of the big commercial archaeological units in the UK, including the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, Cotswold Archaeology, Oxford Archaeology and Wessex Archaeology.
Southampton Archaeology is a global leader in research with fieldwork projects across the globe including Spain, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, Hungary, Sudan, Egypt, USA, Canada, Denmark and the UK and students frequently participate in these.
The specialism in Higher Archaeological Practice includes elements that familiarise you with key methods and techniques from survey, excavation, post-excavation analysis of objects and materials, to archiving, reporting and heritage management. This is a strongly vocational specialism that will help you to develop new and existing skills in preparation for a career in the commercial sector or as continuing professional development.
The specialism in Higher Archaeological Practice focuses strongly on practical elements, including learning activities designed to replicate real-world situations in the field and in post-excavation. You will have the opportunity to work with a wide range of archaeological materials, and activities will include project-based work, field- and laboratory-based elements, and reporting and publication.


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In ufology, the psychosocial hypothesis, abbreviated PSH, argues that at least some UFO reports are best explained by psychological or social means. It is often contrasted with the better-known extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), and is particularly popular among UFO researchers in the United Kingdom, such as David Clarke, Hilary Evans, the editors of Magonia magazine, and many of the contributors to Fortean Times magazine. It has also been popular in France since the publication in 1977 of a book written by Michel Monnerie, Et si les ovnis n'existaient pas? (What if UFOs do not exist?).

UFOlogists claim that the psychosocial hypothesis is occasionally confused with aggressive anti-ETH debunking, but that there is an important difference in that the PSH researcher sees UFOs as an interesting subject that is worthy of serious study, even if it is approached in a skeptical (i.e. non-credulous) way.

The psychosocial hypothesis builds on the finding that most ufo reports have mundane explanations like celestial objects, airplane lights, balloons, and a host of other misperceived things seen in the sky which suggests the presence of an unusual emotional climate which distorts perceptions and the perceived significance and anomalousness of merely terrestrial stimuli. In the more exotic situation where people claim direct contact with extraterrestrials, the need for a psychosocial approach seems obligated by the presence of at least 70 claims of people meeting Venusians and at least 50 claims of meeting Martians; both worlds now known to be uninhabitable and devoid of any advanced civilization. Hoaxing seems to explain some of these contactees claims, but visionary dreams, hallucinations, and other mental processes are clearly implicated in such myth-based material. By generalization, the other material suggesting the presence of extraterrestrial entities from elsewhere is hypothesized to be explainable by similar means.  The observed presence of surreal dream-like activity and imagery or themes based in the cultural environment and historically understood sources reinforces the proposition that the extraterrestrial hypothesis is unnecessary and, by Occam's razor, probably incorrect.

Origin

In the English UFO literature, the term psycho-social hypothesis first achieved prominence in April 1984 when the cover of Magonia featured "The Rise of the Psycho-social hypothesis" by Jacques Scornaux and Peter Rogerson.  Scornaux's use of the term traces back to French UFO controversies spawned by Michel Monnerie whose book Le Naufrage des Extra-terrestres (1979) presented "le modèle socio-psychologique" as a direct challenge to the extraterrestrial hypothesis.  Claude Maugé had exposed Magonia readers to a brief outline of "the socio-psychological model" emerging from French studies in 1983, but flipping the syllables made the term more conventional to existing academic vocabulary.  Rogerson's adopting the term represented to him an evolution and de-escalation of exotic hypotheses he had been entertaining that originally included paranormal notions like psi, collective hallucinations, and the collective unconscious.  The term marked the embrace of a fully normal system of psychological processes that included dreams, hallucinations, fantasy interpretations of materially real stimuli, distortions of perception, and metachoric experiences.  These were things influenced by cultural myths, social conditioning, and historical context.  Since 1968, the circle of writers who wrote for Magonia had been exploring alternatives to the ETH under a general sense that it had failed to account for much of what was being seen in the high strangeness cases.  Roger Sandell spoke of being a nuts and bolts ufologist until he realized that the UFO reports he had gathered from a 1905 Welsh wave made little sense and were part of a larger complex of ghost stories and religious visions.  He notes that ufological thought had once been dominated by theories that Venus and Mars were the source of ufos, but the space program had shown they were in fact quite lifeless.  Add in the apocalyptic and demonological material of then contemporary ufo thinking and the need for a major re-think seemed obliged.  Could it all be mundane products of the human mind such as dreams, rumors and hoaxes?  Peter Rogerson had similarly become convinced we are seeing the rise of a contemporary mythology and advocated for a comprehensive search for historical antecedents of ufo rumors.  He began the search for the social factors driving ufo flaps and social panics.  Magonia writers would point to "a relationship between ufo waves and times of radical social change" with Rogerson offering that the 1954 French flap had occurred at "a time of national defeat and government crisis." In one striking piece, he offered a lengthy meditation on the social resonances and ideological influences shaping the varying beliefs found among ufo writers over the course of ufo history. Allen Greenfield confessed in Magonia in 1979 he had become disenchanted with the divisive emotionality and groupthink of ufo culture and worried about the influence of belief he eventually saw in his early work advocating the ETH.  He was starting to think the bigger mystery was not what ufos were, but "What are we to make of the whole world-wide rumor complex…what are we to make of the rumor – the ufo mythos?" What was the meaning of all the mythologizing that attends the spread of the ufo rumor?

Science fiction aspects of the UFO mythos

Bertrand Méheust, a French sociologist, began a study of the science fiction parallels to ufo mythology when he stumbled upon a copy of the 1908 novel The Lightning Wheel by Jean de la Hire in his family's attic.  He opened it and began reading how the central characters find themselves being lifted up by a ray into a flying disc that hums and glows with a halo of light. The discovery stimulated a search for parallels between ufo experience narratives and pre-1947 science fiction literature. Meheust found dozens of them, many of the more impressive including such wondrous effects as invisible force-fields, mesmeric mental effects, materializations and dematerializations, teleportation, traveling through walls, levitating entities, and engine-stopping rays. One could also find humanoids visiting earth for a range of motives that parallel later UFO thought: wanting to spy on humans, experiment on us, breed with us, create a multi-generational program to shape humanity, deal with their dying world, invade our world, and teach us lessons about cosmic history and the need for peace.  While some of this can be relegated to coincidences driven by similar reasoning and expectations about the future, often these wonders are more reminiscent of supernatural and old occult mythology than what is really reasonably expected to be created using future technology.  Michel Monnerie wove Meheust's study into his larger historical critique of what shaped ufo mythology.  Michel Meurger deserves special mention for expanding Meheust's thesis into an impressive compendium of parallels brimming with nearly 800 footnotes and a set of dozens of illustrations.  One subsequent paper, in English, presents a focused historical study, showing a continuum between the nightmarish medical horrors experienced in modern ufo abduction narratives, back through the mad scientists of pulp science fiction, that built in turn upon anti-vivisection propaganda and rumors circulating in the 19th century.

Jacques Vallee was among the first ufologists to note that electromagnetic effects associated with ufos could be found in earlier fiction such as a play written by Arthur Koestler and the first flying saucer novel – Bernard Newman's The Flying Saucer (1948).  This observation has been expanded in one study published in Magonia that traces a continuum of anti-machine machines back through wartime rumors about Marconi developing engine-stopping rays and a sizeable culture backdrop of films, film serials, and pulp stories imagining future wars and the superweapons that would fight them.

Meheust early saw that the more common species of aliens in ufo experiences were well represented in the Hugo Gernsback era (1926–36) pulps. This insight has been followed up in increasing detail by subsequent researchers. Grays, in particular, are now well understood as having been a stereotype in large part because Gernsback specifically asked his writers to do stories where future evolution caused beings to develop large brains but atrophied bodies caused by technology making muscles irrelevant to survival. Gernsback loved H.G. Wells's writings, reprinted his work, and it was Wells who first developed the logic of such degenerative evolution which he inserted into his masterwork War of the Worlds (1898).  Important modifications to the stereotype were introduced by the creative team that built the aliens appearing at the climax of Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Completely black eyes and thin pencil necks soon appeared on bald brainy aliens in ufo encounters in mimicry of film imagery.  While the public was given the impression that the aliens would be based on those found in ufo investigations; the CE3K alien design team had never been given drawings to base their work on. They were only given a brief verbal directive that they should be large-headed and short.

Some work has also been done on the cultural back-stories to insectoids, reptoids, and some lesser horror clichés. Even precursors to alien fashions have been looked into in a light-spirited manner.

A number of other pieces in this tradition explore such science fictional saucer esoterica as doorway amnesia, miraculous ascension by lifting light, the physics of travelling through walls,  magnetic propulsion, and aliens taking nutrition through the skin along psychosocial and historical lines.

The saucer rumor

Arguably the most far-reaching and surprising mystery solved by psychosocial research was the puzzle posed by J. Allen Hynek in 1977: "Why flying saucers? Why not flying cubes or flying pyramids, or for that matter, why not flying pink elephants or even flying buildings, reported from a hundred different countries? Indeed if UFO reports were entirely the result of excited imaginations, why not hundreds, possibly thousands, of totally and radically different types of reports as people of different cultures let their locally conditioned imaginations loose?" Ufo historian David M. Jacobs, phrased things somewhat differently in 1987: "there was no precedent for the appearance or the configuration of the objects in 1947" in popular science fiction films, popular science fiction or popular culture in general. They did not resemble the fanciful rocketships or earthly space travel contraptions in the SF literature.  In 1988, Martin Kottmeyer observed a colleague trying to speculate that the source of saucer imagery lay in a certain art movement.  While the notion immediately struck him as wrong, he began to think about what might be a better approach.  He soon began gathering together what writings he could find about the Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting in 1947, typically pointed to as the start of the modern ufo phenomenon.  One of the first things he turned to was a memoir given as a speech before the First International UFO Congress in 1977. His eye soon fell on a statement by Arnold that the objects he sighted "were not circular." Arnold also complained the flying saucer label arose because of a "great deal of misunderstanding" on the part of the reporter who wrote the story up for the Associated Press. Bill Bequette asked him how the objects flew and Arnold answered that, "Well, they flew erratic, like a saucer if you skip it across the water." The intent of the metaphor was to describe the motion of the objects not their shape.  Bill Bequette would later insist the fault was not with him, but Arnold himself but, ultimately it does not matter who is to blame for it.  The only salient fact is that a mistake was definitely made somewhere.  Any doubt about this is eliminated by turning to the first document written by Kenneth Arnold, the report he wrote and sent to Air Force mere days after his sighting nine mystery objects speeding across the face of Mount Rainier.  It includes a drawing of the shapes made by one of the objects.  It certainly confirms the memoir.  It isn't circular or round as a saucer properly ought to be.  Shoe heel or beetle might better express the awkwardly inelegant form.

The logical implications of saucers being a mistake had the feel of a paradigm shift- to Kottmeyer, like suddenly learning that one of the axioms one learned in school forming the base of Euclidean geometric reasoning had just changed.  One was not living in a Euclidean universe, but a Riemannian one where a straight line was no longer the shortest distance between two points.  All those people in 1947 who reported seeing circular, disc-shaped, saucer-shaped crafts (82% of the 853 cases collected by Ted Bloecher) had based their expectations on a mistake, a rumor with journalistic credentials. They weren't seeing what Arnold saw, only what they were told he saw.  Similarly the rumor shaped the ufo phenomenon for decades afterwards keeping the shape dominant throughout the culture, shaping film imagery, saucer photography, ufo illustration, contactee tales, and high strangeness abduction experiences.  By one tally 82% of the craft descriptions in alien abduction reports fall into the flying saucer category.  It can be found in nearly all the well-known cases: Betty & Barney Hill's interrupted journey, Herb Schirmer, Travis Walton, the Andreasson affair, Whitley Strieber

Kottmeyer first reported his discovery in a letter to Saucer Smear published April 25, 1988.  It was more widely disseminated when the finding was published as part of an article titled "Entirely Unpredisposed" that appeared first in Magonia in 1990. There he spelled out its full argumentative significance: "The implications of this journalistic error are staggering in the extreme. Not only does it unambiguously point to a cultural origin of the whole flying saucer phenomenon, it erects a first-order paradox into any attempt to interpret the phenomenon in extraterrestrial terms: Why would extraterrestrials redesign their craft to conform to Bequette's error?"  In 1993, he offered a fuller account of the significance of the finding in a piece titled "The Saucer Error."  Some ETH skeptics embraced Kottmeyer's arguments and tried to expand it with additional material concerning Arnold's writings.  The cover of Arnold's 1950 memoir of the 1947 incident The Saucer As I Saw It has been pointed to as showing a more crescent-shaped craft than that drawn in the AF report.  A photo of Arnold holding a sketch showing yet another subtly different shape has also been pointed to as significant.  While not uninteresting flourishes to the story, one should not ignore that historical investigation always privileges the earliest documents of a case and those generated by the witness over later and second-hand journalistic quotes.  Late images and writings are vulnerable to a range of doubts concerning both memory and distortions arising from revisions shaped by late arriving issues and fluid fashions of interpretation, reason enough to ignore them.

The principal counterargument advanced to save the ETH is that flying saucers were seen before Kenneth Arnold's story hit the headlines and those could not have been shaped by the rumor.  Many of these reports were never published, let alone investigated, before Arnold became news and so are vulnerable to errors of memory and suggestion.  Even if any are eventually found with a satisfactory pedigree, the argument overlooks that Hynek and Jacobs only offered the questions they did because saucers are the dominant shape of ufos after 1947.  No amount of research is ever go change the fact that saucers make up only a trivial percentage of things seen in the sky before 1947 and will never be proven to be dominant.  The fallacy of this approach is demonstrated by imagining what a Hynek-like thinker, immersed in the reports of the airship era (1896/7), asked and answered, "Why cigar-shaped and not globes or cubes?" and then was told that reports of a slow, low-flying cigar-shaped object in 1347 A.D. meant he had not found the source of the problem.  He would clearly dismiss the report as irrelevant – the implicit issue is explaining the dominance of the shape.  The rumor generated by Arnold's report is the clear answer to Hynek's question, regardless of minor cases that were exceptions to the dominants of their own era.

Flaps of flying phantoms

One of the more striking failures of the ETH has been in the realm of offering explanations of UFO flaps.  In the first couple decades of the saucer controversy, several researchers sought to argue that flaps were generated by saucers timing their arrival to the proximity of Mars.  Predictions were generated, but notably failed. One 1962 study remarked, "If one works with data limited to the period 1950 to 1956 one can argue a correlation as strong as one in a thousand against chance existed." Outside this limited set, however, it is clear no correlation can be found.  Charles H. Smiley, Chairman of the Department of Astronomy at Brown University computed 14 ideal minimum energy orbits for transportation from Mars to Earth and Venus to Earth between 1956 and 1965 and determined the likely arrival times plus and minus ten days.  He then looked at the number of ufo reports to Blue Book for these periods.  They were self-evidently insignificant and corresponded to no flaps.     Other researchers argued flaps were indications of phased operations, indications of the construction of bases, or ways of desensitizing humanity to the extraterrestrial presence before overt Contact or a Mass Landing, which would culminate in the imminent future. These predictions clearly failed as well.

British researchers, puzzled by the failures decided to take things in new directions: Peter Rogerson would write, "There should be a major co-operative effort at a systematic search for pre-1947 'waves,' involving, if possible, full scrutiny of national and local newspapers, and scientific and popular magazines, starting with flap periods, then other periods." Attention should be paid to "the social, religious, political and scientific background."  Roger Sandell's work on a 1905 outbreak of ufo sighting in Wales had already suggested that these earlier flaps had odd facets, some of the high strangeness material echoed modern cases, but not in the ways might hope if one thought them extraterrestrial.  Mary Jones encountered a sinister black clad man she identified as Satan, but would probably thought an MIB had it not been 1905 Wales. Other Men in Black were seen and one figure turned into a black dog before one witness's eyes. Noting such things only add to the complexity of the ufo phenomenon he urged progress could only be made by detailed research conducted with no preconceptions.

Nigel Watson, in time, began reporting on his research into a March–May 1909 panic involving the belief that German airships were spying on Britain. Phantom airship flaps would eventually be catalogued from a diverse set of places like New Zealand in 1909,   Russia & Poland in 1892, Canada in 1896, Washington state in 1908, Denmark in 1908, South Africa in 1914, and Norway in 1914-16.    These flaps generally involved cigar-shaped craft more reminiscent of Zeppelins than extraterrestrial spacecraft and were attended by rumors of foreign spies and spy networks.  They often had their own forms of physical evidences, multiple witnesses to crafts with improbable details, and surreal close encounters.  The rumors all had idiosyncratic aspects which pointed to a need to interpret them in terms of the contemporary societal backdrop – often tensions about impending war, sometimes political conflicts within the society.

By the 1930s, the imagery of phantom airships was replaced by phantom aeroplanes – 'ghost fliers' in places including Scandinavia and Britain.  Later phantom flier imagery transmutes into Foo-fighters and ghost rockets, in accordance with new rumors and newer facts of evolving modern technology.

One researcher would point out that a mid-1600s boom in prophecies accompanied rumors of the imminent overthrow of King and Church.  The aligning of aerial phenomena and political events had been alleged as early as John Aubrey, the antiquary, concerning events in 1647.  A series of sightings of second suns, second moons, and marching of armies in the sky, it was assumed significantly, preceded the 1662 Act of Uniformity and the revival of the Church of England.

The imagery of these earlier flaps give little ground to broad extraterrestrial interpretations: they no longer look futuristic in the slightest with their Zeppelin shapes, propellers, flapping wings, masts, ship decking, and humans in contemporary attire. It seems irrefutable that social forces are necessary to account for them.  Whatever the ultimate explanations of individual modern ufo flaps prove to be, it is blatant that social forces can be a sufficient cause in creating emotional climates favorable to frequent sightings of things in the sky that are not fully real.

In the spirit of being engaged in "a long, slow process of trial & error studies", variations in these explanations have been experimented with.  The 1905 Wales flap occurred at a time that the traditional values were under assault from the modern world. The religious revival associated with the sightings maybe were generated by the tensions of rapid, unprecedented social change.   Psychosocial researchers have looked into other notions like Phil Klass's notion that media is the primary driver of flaps but they find it so scandalously error-riddled, it is difficult to accept it has anything like the sizeable role he alleges.  Media doubtless contributes imagery, but the emotional component of the rumors associated with flaps relies on larger aspects of the social environment.

It is necessary to add that researchers in the psychosocial tradition have not held much respect for glib notions of flaps like mass hysteria e.g. as when expressed back in 1954 by the French psychiatrist George Heuyer.  By the time they were writing, doubts had already been expressed.   Mark Rhine in the Condon report and Robert Hall for the 1969 AAAS symposium on UFOs looked at certain classic episodes of mass hysteria or hysterical contagion like the June bug epidemic, the Seattle windshield pitting epidemic, and the Mad Gasser of Mattoon, to see how well they could serve as explanatory models for what is going on with the ufo phenomenon.  Neither developed the idea very far and Hall discerned several difficulties in comparing these phenomena, probably the most notable being the fleeting character of those model social epidemics. Michael Swords later offered additional observations that essentially killed it for researchers on both sides of the debate.  In a recent discussion of Great Britain's Warminster flap of the 1960s, the researchers echo these developments and prefer to discuss the flap as a collective delusion maintained by rumor and gossip. Given the general decline of respect for the broader concept of hysteria in modern psychology; this seems just as well.

The Modern Myth of Jung

With his essay Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies (1958), Carl Gustav Jung can be seen as one of the founding fathers of the PSH. Some also say that because of his use of the concept of synchronicity in this book, he is also one of the founding fathers of paranormal explanations of the UFO phenomena. ETH advocates sometimes say that while Jung approached UFOs psychologically because he was a psychologist, he was also on record as stating that some might be true physical objects under intelligent control, citing in particular radar corroboration. They say Jung truly seriously considered the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis. The Associated Press quoted him in 1958 saying, "a purely psychological explanation is ruled out." The flying saucers were real and "show signs of intelligent guidance and quasi-human pilots. I can only say for certain that these things are not a mere rumor, something has been seen. ...If the extraterrestrial origin of these phenomena should be confirmed, this would prove the existence of an intelligent interplanetary relationship. ... That the construction of these machines proves a scientific technique immensely superior to ours cannot be disputed."  Disciples of Jung have offered thoughtful rebuttals.

Jung risibly complained about that 1958 newspaper piece for making him look like someone who believed UFOs were physically real.  "This report is altogether false."  Jung was completely uncommitted on the issue of whether they were real or unreal.  He tried to set the record straight.  "I was quoted as a saucer believer.  I issued a statement to the United Press and gave a true version of my opinion, but this time the wire went dead: nobody, so far as I know, took any notice of it, except one German newspaper… one must draw the conclusion that news affirming the existence of Ufos is welcome, but that skepticism seems to be undesirable.  To believe that Ufos are real suits the general opinion, whereas disbelief is to be discouraged… This remarkable fact in itself surely merits the psychologist's interest."

See also
Extraterrestrial hypothesis
Interdimensional hypothesis
Cultural tracking

References

Further reading
 Abrassart, J-M (2011). UFOlogy, a contemporary folklore. SUNLite, vol. 3, num. 3, p. 17-18.

  Available on Kindle

External links
 UFO (unidentified flying object) in the Skeptic's Dictionary
 Gauche Encounters: Bad Films and the UFO Mythos - By Martin Kottmeyer

Scientific skepticism
Ufology

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Syracuse man accused of drowning 3-year-old son indicted on murder charge
Published: Feb. 27, 2014, 5:35 p.m.
Marcell Washington with his son, Ameen.
Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com
Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man accused of murdering his 3-year-old son in the shower in 2011 was indicted earlier this month after a lengthy mental health evaluation, his lawyer said.
Marcell Washington, now 27, has remained in custody since his arrest after the Nov. 5, 2011 death of his son, Ameen.
His mother said Washington was hearing voices a week before the boy's death.
"He said, Mom, have you heard anybody whispering,'" recalled his mother, Marcena Davis, in a January 2012 interview. ''He said he just felt paranoid and everybody was against him and out to get him. It was like he wasn't my son."
Washington is accused of drowning his 3-year-old son in the shower, putting the body in bed and going to a friend's house. After the boy's body was discovered, police said, Washington ran away. Washington's sister later brought him to the police station.
Courtesy of Syracuse PoliceMarcell Washington
"This is the most heinous and severe act of violence that anyone can do," Police Chief Frank Fowler said at the time. "We're talking about a 3-year-old child dying at the hands of an adult - his own father." The chief would not speculate as to a motive, saying drugs did not appear a factor.
Washington's lawyer, Thomas Ryan, said today that his client underwent a lengthy series of psychiatric exams in jail. Usually, prosecutors have a limited time to indict someone for a crime, but the process was delayed by the tests, the defense lawyer said.
Now Washington is indicted, the case can proceed to County Court, where the results of those tests could influence the outcome of the case.
There are a few basic mental health issues for a court to consider:
• Whether the defendant is mentally competent to understand the proceedings.
• Whether the crime was committed by a defendant with a "mental defect." Generally, that could be as simple as someone "snapping," but could include other defenses.
A man accused of killing two women in a Liverpool home is exploring a mental defect as a defense. So is Krystal Thomas, accused of stabbing her 2-year-old son in the groin.
In Washington's case, Ryan would not speculate as to how the case would proceed. Washington is due back in court March 11 for arraignment.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Some analysts, like Maynard Um of UBS, see Nokia's action as a preemptory move against a possible infringement suit from Apple aimed at Nokia's own multitouch handsets.
The endgame here? Most likely an out-of-court settlement and cross-licensing agreements–assuming Apple's willing. After all, Nokia is on record admitting its fondness for Apple's technology.


Jazz on The Pantiles is a hugely popular event that runs from May to September each year in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Book an alfresco table in a nearby restaurant or dance the night away along the famous historic colonnaded walkway to the sensational summer night time tunes. There's nothing to compare to listening to live music from talented artists in the open evening air.
Winner of a silver award for Tourism Festival of the Year from Tourism South East in 2018, you'd better get down there early to avoid missing the memory of a lifetime!


text:
Hubble detects a mysterious ghostly glow surrounding our solar system
This artist's illustration shows the location and size of a hypothetical cloud of dust surrounding our solar system. Credit: NASA, ESA, and Andi James (STScI)
Exhaust from blazing comets makes space a dusty place
Imagine entering a room at night, turning off all the lights, and closing the curtains. However, a strange glow comes from the walls, ceiling, and floor. The light is dim, barely enough to see your hands in front of your face, but it continues.
Sounds like a scene from "Ghost Hunters?" No, this is the real deal for astronomers. However, looking for something close to nothing is not easy. Astronomers searched 200,000 archival images Hubble Space Telescope Tens of thousands of measurements were made of these images, looking for any remaining background glow in the sky. Like turning off the lights in a room, they subtracted the light from the stars, galaxies, planets, and even the zodiacal light. (The zodiacal light is the faint glow of diffused sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust.) Surprisingly, a faint ghostly glow was left behind. It is equivalent to the steady light of ten fireflies scattered across the sky.
Where does this come from?
One possible explanation is that a shell of dust envelops our solar system all the way[{" attribute="">Pluto, and is reflecting sunlight. Seeing airborne dust caught in sunbeams is no surprise when cleaning the house. But this must have a more exotic origin. Because the glow is so smoothy distributed, the likely source is innumerable comets – free-flying dusty snowballs of ice. They fall in toward the Sun from all different directions, spewing out an exhaust of dust as the ices sublimate due to heat from the Sun. If real, this would be a newly discovered architectural element of the solar system. It has remained invisible until very imaginative and curious astronomers, and the power of Hubble, came along.
This artist's illustration shows the location and size of a hypothetical cloud of dust surrounding our solar system. Astronomers searched through 200,000 images and made tens of thousands of measurements from Hubble Space Telescope to discover a residual background glow in the sky. Because the glow is so smoothly distributed, the likely source is innumerable comets – free-flying dusty snowballs of ice. They fall in toward the Sun from all different directions, spewing out an exhaust of dust as the ices sublimate due to heat from the Sun. If real, this would be a newly discovered architectural element of the solar system. Credit: NASA, ESA, Andi James (STScI)
Hubble Space Telescope Detects Ghostly Glow Surrounding Our Solar System
Aside from a tapestry of glittering stars, and the glow of the waxing and waning Moon, the nighttime sky looks inky black to the casual observer. But how dark is dark?
To find out, astronomers decided to sort through 200,000 images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and made tens of thousands of measurements on these images to look for any residual background glow in the sky, in an ambitious project called SKYSURF. This would be any leftover light after subtracting the glow from planets, stars, galaxies, and from dust in the plane of our solar system (called zodiacal light).
When researchers completed this inventory, they found an exceedingly tiny excess of light, equivalent to the steady glow of 10 fireflies spread across the entire sky. That's like turning out all the lights in a shuttered room and still finding an eerie glow coming from the walls, ceiling, and floor.
This photo shows the zodiacal light as it appeared on March 1, 2021, in Skull Valley, Utah. The Pleiades star cluster is visible near the top of the light column. Mars is just below that. Credit: NASA/Bill Dunford
The researchers say that one possible explanation for this residual glow is that our inner solar system contains a tenuous sphere of dust from comets that are falling into the solar system from all directions, and that the glow is sunlight reflecting off this dust. If real, this dust shell could be a new addition to the known architecture of the solar system.
This idea is bolstered by the fact that in 2021 another team of astronomers used data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft to also measure the sky background. New Horizons flew by Pluto in 2015, and a small Kuiper belt object in 2018, and is now heading into interstellar space. The New Horizons measurements were done at a distance of 4 billion to 5 billion miles from the Sun. This is well outside the realm of the planets and asteroids where there is no contamination from interplanetary dust.
New Horizons detected something a bit fainter that is apparently from a more distant source than Hubble detected. The source of the background light seen by New Horizons also remains unexplained. There are numerous theories ranging from the decay of dark matter to a huge unseen population of remote galaxies.
"If our analysis is correct there's another dust component between us and the distance where New Horizons made measurements. That means this is some kind of extra light coming from inside our solar system," said Tim Carleton, of Arizona State University (ASU).
"Because our measurement of residual light is higher than New Horizons we think it is a local phenomenon that is not from far outside the solar system. It may be a new element to the contents of the solar system that has been hypothesized but not quantitatively measured until now," said Carleton.
Hubble veteran astronomer Rogier Windhorst, also of ASU, first got the idea to assemble Hubble data to go looking for any "ghost light." "More than 95% of the photons in the images from Hubble's archive come from distances less than 3 billion miles from Earth. Since Hubble's very early days, most Hubble users have discarded these sky-photons, as they are interested in the faint discrete objects in Hubble's images such as stars and galaxies," said Windhorst. "But these sky-photons contain important information which can be extracted thanks to Hubble's unique ability to measure faint brightness levels to high precision over its three decades of lifetime."
A number of graduate and undergraduate students contributed to project SKYSURF, including Rosalia O'Brien, Delondrae Carter and Darby Kramer at ASU, Scott Tompkins at the University of Western Australia, Sarah Caddy at Macquarie University in Australia, and many others.
The team's research papers are published in The Astronomical Journal and The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"SKYSURF: Constraints on Zodiacal Light and Extragalactic Background Light through Panchromatic HST All-sky Surface-brightness Measurements: II. First Limits on Diffuse Light at 1.25, 1.4, and 1.6 µm" by Timothy Carleton, Rogier A. Windhorst, Rosalia O'Brien, Seth H. Cohen, Delondrae Carter, Rolf Jansen, Scott Tompkins, Richard G. Arendt, Sarah Caddy, Norman Grogin, Scott J. Kenyon, Anton Koekemoer, John MacKenty, Stefano Casertano, Luke J. M. Davies, Simon P. Driver, Eli Dwek, Alexander Kashlinsky, Nathan Miles, Nor Pirzkal, Aaron Robotham, Russell Ryan, Haley Abate, Hanga Andras-Letanovszky, Jessica Berkheimer, Zak Goisman, Daniel Henningsen, Darby Kramer, Ci'mone Rogers and Andi Swirbul, 4 October 2022, The Astronomical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac8d02
"SKYSURF: Constraints on Zodiacal Light and Extragalactic Background Light through Panchromatic HST All-sky Surface-brightness Measurements. I. Survey Overview and Methods" by Rogier A. Windhorst, Timothy Carleton, Rosalia O'Brien, Seth H. Cohen, Delondrae Carter, Rolf Jansen, Scott Tompkins, Richard G. Arendt, Sarah Caddy, Norman Grogin, Anton Koekemoer, John MacKenty, Stefano Casertano, Luke J. M. Davies, Simon P. Driver, Eli Dwek, Alexander Kashlinsky, Scott J. Kenyon, Nathan Miles, Nor Pirzkal, Aaron Robotham, Russell Ryan, Haley Abate, Hanga Andras-Letanovszky, Jessica Berkheimer, John Chambers, Connor Gelb, Zak Goisman, Daniel Henningsen, Isabela Huckabee, Darby Kramer, Teerthal Patel, Rushabh Pawnikar, Ewan Pringle, Ci'mone Rogers, Steven Sherman, Andi Swirbul and Kaitlin Webber, 15 September 2022, The Astronomical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac82af
"SKYSURF-3: Testing Crowded Object Catalogs in the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field Mosaics to Study Sample Incompleteness from an Extragalactic Background Light Perspective" by Darby M. Kramer, Timothy Carleton, Seth. H. Cohen, Rolf Jansen, Rogier A. Windhorst, Norman Grogin, Anton Koekemoer, John W. MacKenty and Nor Pirzkal, 18 November 2022, The Astronomical Journal Letters.
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac9cca
"SKYSURF-4: Panchromatic Full Sky Surface Brightness Measurement Methods and Results" by Rosalia O'Brien, Timothy Carleton, Rogier A. Windhorst, Rolf A. Jansen, Delondrae Carter, Scott Tompkins, Sarah Caddy, Seth H. Cohen, Haley Abate, Richard G. Arendt, Jessica Berkheimer, Annalisa Calamida, Stefano Casertano, Simon P. Driver, Connor Gelb, Zak Goisman, Norman Grogin, Daniel Henningsen, Isabela Huckabee, Scott J. Kenyon, Anton M. Koekemoer, Darby Kramer, John Mackenty, Aaron Robotham and Steven Sherman, 13 October 2022, Astrophysics > Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics.
arXiv:2210.08010
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble and Webb science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.
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Uncle Luke responds to Fat Joe, saying he's wearing trick dad and pitbull


Argamon researches computational methods for style-based analysis of natural language using machine learning and shallow lexical semantic representations, exploring applications in intelligence analysis, forensic linguistics, biomedical informatics, and humanities scholarship. He currently works on connecting ideology and personality to language use and on extracting and analyzing the meaning of metaphors. He is particularly interested in elucidating the relationships among linguistic structures, individual reasoning, and social context.
Argamon is a Professor of Computer Science and the Director of the Master of Data Science Program at Illinois Tech and the Chief Scientist of Taia Global, Inc. In addition, Argamon holds courtesy appointments as a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (Washington, DC), and a fellow at the Brain Sciences Foundation (Providence, RI). He received his B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon (1988) and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Yale University (1994). He received a Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Doctoral Research Fellowship (1991-94), a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at Bar-Ilan University (1994-96), and an Israel Science Foundation Immigrant Scientist Fellowship (1999-2002). He was the 2014 Distinguished Visitor in Forensic Linguistics at the Centre for Forensic Linguistics, Aston University, Birmingham, UK, and is a Fellow of the British Computer Society.


text:
Flemish Parliament okays family-allowance reform
The Flemish parliament approved on Wednesday evening family-allowance reforms scheduled to enter into effect in 2019 in Flanders. The majority coalition, comprising the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) the Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) party and Open-Vld, voted in favour. The opposition Groen (Ecologist) Party and Socialistische Partij-Anders (Sp-a, Socialist Party-Differently) voted against, while Vlaams Belang abstained.
Currently, the size of a family's allowance depends on the number and ages of children in the household. Families receive 92 euros a month for the first child, 170 euros for the second, and so on. The allowances are also higher for older children. However, this system will change come 1 January 2019. From then on, Flanders will offer households a fixed rate of 160 euros per month for each child, plus additional allowances for needy families and education grants.
The opposition Socialists and Ecologists feel the Government should have used the global annual budget of 3 billion dollars earmarked for these allowances to fight child poverty more effectively. The ruling coalition, on the other hand, feels that the new system will help reduce the risk of people sinking into poverty.
Structurally, Flanders will have, from next year, a public operator and four private institutions in charge of ensuring fast, accurate payment of allowances.
The latest state reform has transferred responsibility for family allowances to the regions. The new system takes effect in Brussels and Wallonia in 2020.
Wallonia's parliament was the first, in February last, to approve the new system of payment, licensing of private disbursement agencies and organizing of public funds.
Wallonia plans to introduce a flat rate of 155 euros for children up to 18 years old and 165 euros for those above the age of 18, plus additional allowances depending on two income ceilings: 55 euros per child for households earning less than 30,000 euros per year, and 25 euros for those grossing 30,000 to 50,000 euros annually.
Other additional allowances are planned for large families, households with a disabled parent, children with disabilities, orphaned children etc.
In Brussels, the partners in the majority coalition agreed before the Easter vacation on a system that will take effect in 2020. Unlike the other two regions, Brussels will switch all children to the proposed new system of allowances. The base rate will be 150 euros, a little less than in Flanders and Wallonia, but the additional social and age-related allowances will be larger and more varied. A stand-still arrangement will be built in to make sure no beneficiary ends up worse off that he or she currently is.


There was definitely no time for April foolery at the Glasgow Robertson Trust offices on the 1st April 2016. Representatives from 21 Scottish charities had devoted valuable time at the end of their working week to learn more about how they and their Boards could together, secure and improve service provision.
There were no practical jokes or hoaxes, there was no need for icebreakers or introductions, all delegates got actively involved in meeting each other, debating and discussing issues, seeking common ground and identifying best practises.
Stay Calm, Focused and to Plan.
The hum around the room was evidence of fervent discussions around the organisation's purpose; "to address a common need", "to survive and guarantee essential services can continue" to align our mission, constitution, communications, plans and deliver against these". All delegates agreed times are turbulent. The need to stay calm, focused and to plan, are key to organisational sustainability and in many cases, since demand is great, to grow their businesses.
The role Trustee Boards need to play and the relationship between CEO and Chair are vital to success. There needs to be transparency and trust between the Board and Operations, as well as clearly defined structures and processes that guide everyone towards their objective outcomes.
Constant focus on Purpose is key to consistent and continuous improvement. Making sure that the decisions taken by the Board, and Senior Management Team support the Purpose, deliver the correct outcomes without jeopardising quality and timeliness. Of course it's important to plan for the future but equally important to look back, review and learn from the past: What went well? What didn't? How can we change? What further information do we need? Can we challenge the status quo or new decisions?
Checklist for Board formation and Function.
Interview Board Members for their fit and skill set – what will they bring to your Board?
Schedule expectation of meetings, reading papers etc.
Have processes in place to provide communications, and enabling "challenge"
Have a Declaration of Interests process and register.
Communication and Diversity are Key.
This was a lively and interactive workshop. All interests were raise and explored in true collaborative style. Overwhelming it was clear that a good communication structure and style are a necessary to engage and influence within the organisation and externally. These skills are critical to an effective, functioning Board, look for them amongst your mix of requirements when selecting Trustees. It's also worth looking at diversity. Diversity is widely agreed to be a good thing: leading to better decision making, greater innovation , and more competitive and effective organisations.
Diversity of Stakeholders: It can be hugely helpful to look at a problem through a different lens, particularly when reviewing or developing services.
Length of service: A balance across the board is the ideal with both the wisdom of experience and fresh look.
Diversity of skills: lastly but importantly skills – both functional HR, finance, marketing, legal and softer skills of communication, partnership working, acting as an ambassador for your organisation.
Are there written role descriptions for trustees/board members?
Have all board members had an induction pack that includes details of the role of Trustees outlined in the 2005 Act?
How frequently does the Board meet? Is it often enough?
Is there an annual calendar of Board meetings, setting out the priorities for particular meetings, the timing of reports from any sub-committees and the relationship to any external events or meetings?
Are there clear expectations for the production and circulation of papers, agenda-setting and distribution of minutes, so that Board members can read papers and prepare for meeting in advance?
Is there a robust search process to identify suitable Board members?
Is there a good selection process with criteria, related to the role description and Board requirements?
Are there clear expectations of attendance at Board meetings? What happens if there is poor attendance?
Is the organisation explicit about the limitations of 'shadow trustees' and who may remove or replace such attendees at meetings?
Are there succession plans in place for Board members, Chair and officers?
Does the Board regularly review itself and its activities? Is training available for Board members individually and as a group?
Is there a CEO appraisal schedule and process in place?
"It's been very useful to hear different people's perspectives and share practices and ideas."
"I'm going to take the knowledge from this class to the Board and produce a Board handbook"