Lessons I'd forgotten...now remembered

A lot has happened over the last few days, to make me reconsider where I am in my life and what I want to do with it...

Cheryl went away this weekend to visit a close friend who is in hospital, and who has come very close to dying. He's still not out of the woods, but we are cautiously optimistic.

Mark is a person who has struggled against Crohn's disease for almost 50 years - and has had first-hand experience of our health-care system which will term as SHAMEFUL.

I can't help but feel that it would be a great injustice if he died. He's not the kind of person you'd think as being courageous, and I'm sure he would laugh if I would suggest it; but I can't help but feel a great deal of respect for what he has accomplished with his life in spite of his condition. Through several times where our families vacationed together, he somehow put me back in tune with love I had of nature, and for some reason years ago Ihad let go...and for that reconnection I am thankful to him.

Mark's sudden illness, coupled with the "traffic accident" that I witnessed a close friend have at her workplace, and which I related in this blog earlier, got me to thinking.

Not the kind of rational, down-on-paper kind of thinking, but rather a sub-verbal dialogue.

Here, these two individuals, facing very different circumstances, struggle to live their lives according to their convictions. I find this admirable - and I now realize that I have not had the courage to live the same way. Not to live according to my own convictions, but to have allowed myself to be led by illusions, either my own or someone else's.

So it was in this frame of mind that I stumbled across an old song by Men Without Hats on YouTube, entitled "I Sing Last." Somehow, when I listened to these lyrics, it described pretty much where I feel I am:

We've been told lies. We've been herded around
Taken for rides, told that this is the one
We've learned all the steps and where do they lead
Right back to zero or not far I believe
Making history as we open our eyes
And no one's quite sure so we... We improvise
And wherever it leads us is wherever we'll go
I'd dance forever if they'd let me, you know

Wearing our hair up in anger we cry
The revolution's dead, it went out in style
The children are learning much faster than we
Soon they'll be older, but then again, so will we

Time has come for each of us to decide
To follow blindly or to step out of line
The party is over it has been for years
Let's use the water to wash up, not for tears

Seems such a pity
It seemed we had the same dream
And thinking of things past
You sang first I sang last
You sang first I sang last
You sang first I sang last

...and time has come for me to decide.

YouTube - Organic Chemistry Music Video "Resistant to Base"

While taking a few minutes away from ORSF stuff, I spent a few minutes cruising YouTube and I stumbled across this little gem....

For those of you who remember Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love", us science geeks might get a kick off a cover on the song: Check the YouTube - Organic Chemistry Music Video "Resistant to Base"

Hilarious!!!

Science vs. Corporate Communications

Ever witness a traffic accident?

Well, I have, kinda, it's an accident that a friend of mine had in posting on their blog something related to their workplace that was better left unsaid. A Bad Thing happened, and there were repercussions. I got that kinda queasy feeling of witnessing an accident, and it got me to thinking about a whole sordid mess of office politics and what seems to me the basic incompatibility of mindsets of Science and of Corporate Communication. (My emphasis added.)

It seems to me that one of the basic premises of Science is the free exchange of communication, of revealing the truth (as facts), and the thrashing out of explanations.

On the other hand, Corporate Communications has as its fundamental premise the communication of selected information (not necessarily fact), the "spinning" of the message (whether these are, at best, truths or half-truths), and the overriding importance of getting the message across as opposed to thrashing out of opinions to getting to the truth.

This gets worse as person trained in science (as I am) tries to embrace the world of corporate communications (as I did) and tries to reconcile the two. I tried, and failed.

While I don't argue that it is possible for the concepts of Science and Corporate Communications to co-exist, what I contend is that these mindsets are fundamentally opposed to each other, and that it is only by one mindset compromising a core value that the two can co-exist. And it is for each person to decide how far they are ready to compromise their core value in order for these two things to co-exist in the same brain - and incidentally how far one is willing to compromise their core value to "get ahead" in the organization. On this last point, I know of what I speak. 'Nuff said.

I have seen examples of individuals in several workplaces that refuse to compromise their integrity in the face of pressure to do so. They choose to do or say what they believe in - and they suffer the consequences of that because it doesn't fit in the mold of Corporate Communications or in the stated values of the organization.

Now, if what I have just said offends someone, then they'd better try and sue "Dilbert." I suspect that the very same people that would laugh at the comic strip and comment that it's true to life would be deeply offended if "open secrets" of their own organization were made plain in a blog or a comic strip and if it implicated them. I understand the concept of confidentiality, but I think that we've gone too far on the PC route if we can't state our own opinions without fear of corporate reprisal.

Just look at this story of the interference of American scientists by the American administration. And we in Canada shouldn't think that this hasn't happened already!

I, personally, wish I had the guts to speak out the way some of my colleagues and some scientists have from their own convictions. But I haven't, and don't, because I have a mortgage to pay and kids to take care of. I'm too in love with my income and my way of life to risk change and to have the courage to live my live the way I think I really believe in...

It's sad. It's so sad.

:-(

Canada 'must act' to curb global warming: Harper

re: Story that Canada 'must act' to curb global warming (Sympatico / MSN)

Finally, our Prime Minister may have gotten the message. If he didn't get the message from his scientists, he might have gotten the message in yesterday's annoucement that humans are 'very likely' to have caused the average increase in temperature observed since 1750 (aka global warming). And if he doesn't act on that message, then I suspect, or rather hope, that the voters will remember.

I'm not optimistic that our present government will really do what is needed. I find it VERY hard to believe that our Prime Minister, who five years ago was dead-set against the Kyoto protocol and called it a "socialist agreement that would only suck money out of the world's wealthier economies" will turn around and embrace that environmental cause. Sorry, but that particular leopard will NOT change its' spots...

And if I thought all this was bad, but then a friend sent me a story which made it worse: it appears that scientists were offered money to "undermine" the climate change report published yesterday.

I'll have more to say about that when my blood pressure goes down...

Réchauffement climatique : Baird ne l'aurait pas cru | National | Radio-Canada.ca

Bordel! MAIS QUELLE SURPRISE!!

N'importe que plusieurs de nos chercheurs canadiens ont dit IL Y A DES ANNÉES que le réchauffement de la planète soit réalité, il fallait que M. Baird, le ministre fédéral de l'environnement aille en France entendre la même conclusion de la bouche de quelqu'un d'autre... voir Réchauffement climatique : Baird ne l'aurait pas cru National Radio-Canada.ca

Ceci n'inspire pas à la confidence!

Buying bottled water is WRONG!

This made my day.

Finally, a scientist who has the cojones to stand up and take a stand AGAINST the use of bottled water!

I always thought it was a "yuppie" thing to do, which made NO environmental sense... Read: Buying bottled water is wrong, says Suzuki.

AAARGHHH - U.S. urges 'fivefold expansion' in Alberta oilsands production

With apologies to my American friends, this is VERY scary. The CBC reports that a meeting was held in January 2006 where the U.S. urges 'fivefold expansion' in Alberta oilsands production. Now, this may seem like a GOOD THING, but what happens if Canadians don't want to increase their own dependence on fossil fuel production and want to invest funds in the development of alternate fuels? Canadians have always rated the environment highly when polled, and while less-mainstream parties like the Greens and the NDP have traditionally been the political parties which have advocated the environment, the Liberals have now staked their claim in this area: Witness Stéphane Dion's pro-nvironmental stance, and in particular, Dion's endorsement of the Kyoto protocol, which places the Liberals at odds with the Conservatives.

Smart move, Stéphane. By claiming the environmental agenda, you'll garner support from disaffected Greens and NDP, and your position has the support of the majority of the Canadian population - even more in Québec.

Bien pensé, Monsieur Dion!

;-)