Archive for February 12th, 2011

February 12th, 2011

Darwin Day

by Andrew

Today we celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday. The great biologist was born 202 years ago, meaning that it has been just over 151 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species. I have written in the past about his ideas, so to avoid repeating myself I would like to focus on the state of biology education in the United States today.

On January 28th a report was published in the journal Science entitled “Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom.” The researchers sought to survey what our students are currently being taught in biology classrooms. The results were not promising.

They found that only 28% of American biology teachers instruct their students in evolution as recommended by the National Research Council, which works in conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences. In other words, only 28% of our teachers are teaching students basic biology. read more »

CategoryScience | Comment1 Comment »

February 12th, 2011

“Bend the Fed” by John Edward

by DickH

John Edward, a resident of Chelmsford who earned his master’s degree at UMass Lowell and who teaches economics at Bentley University and UMass Lowell, contributes the following column

There is an intriguing sub-plot to the Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives. Self-proclaimed Libertarian, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, has assumed the Chairmanship of the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee.

This is the same Ron Paul who while running for President, and in his book titled End the Fed, made it clear he really does want to abolish the Federal Reserve. That is not going to happen. However, Rep. Paul now has a vantage point from which he can push for reform. Now would be a good time to consider how best to bend the Fed.

Eric Rosengren, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, came to UMass Lowell this past October. His agenda was to give an insider’s report on the health of the economy and to offer testimony in support of Fed policy.

The economy, of course, is not very healthy. The recovery from the financial crisis is weak and the economy is still fragile. Mr. Rosengren offered strong support for low interest rates and other forms of “quantitative easing.”

During the question and answer period, I posed a question about inequality. In his latest book, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich makes a strong case that inequality was the root cause of the “great recession.” Further, unless we address the problem, there will be more economic crises to come. read more »

CategoryCurrent Events | Comment3 Comments »

February 12th, 2011

Removing snow banks

by DickH

When I was a kid in the 1960s, a post-snowstorm highlight was the appearance of the city of Lowell’s giant truck-mounted snow blower on our street. The above photo closely resembles the vehicle I remember: it was orange with a big box for its mechanics on the rear bed and this giant snow blower contraption attached to its front. A squad of orange-colored DPW dump trucks would accompany this vehicle, each in turn pulling alongside as together they inched down the street, swallowing up the street-edge snow banks and regurgitating the remains into the back of the dump truck. It was quite effective but I haven’t seen a comparable vehicle in the city or elsewhere since Richard Nixon became president.

Yesterday afternoon while driving down Westford Street, traffic stopped for a while as a mammoth bucket loader scooped up frozen mounds of snow from intersectional corners. With a bucket big enough to hold my entire car, this thing moved a lot of snow, depositing it in a series of dump trucks that were clearly owned by private contractors (as was the bucket loader, I assume).

A few weeks ago, there was a report that the city was to spend $120,000 on a smaller vehicle-mounted snow blower that would be used primarily to clean up sidewalks. I don’t doubt the machine is needed, but I also can’t believe the price tag. Perhaps that, plus the single-use nature of this type of equipment, explains why the truck-mounted snow blower is just a faded memory of my youth. Still, that bucket loader and those dump trucks that were on Westford Street yesterday can’t come cheap, so maybe the city should investigate obtaining more of this specialized snow removal equipment.

CategoryHistory, Lowell | Comment2 Comments »

February 12th, 2011

Uneeda Biscuit

by DickH

Tony Sampas photographed this fading wall mural advertisement for Uneeda Biscuit on Merrimack Street.

Prompted by Tony’s photos, I did some quick internet research on Uneeda, which I assumed was another Lowell-based cracker such as Bradt’s. I was wrong. According to Wikipedia, Uneeda was a late 19th Century product of the National Biscuit Company (sometimes shortened to NBC and eventually becoming Nabisco) that was the first cracker to utilize the In-Er Seal packaging which consisted of the folded wax paper and cardboard box still in use today. Before that, crackers were sold loose from a big barrel. Unfortunately for our sense of nostalgia, Nabisco discontinued the Uneeda brand cracker in 2009 (although the company seems to have stopped caring for its Lowell wall mural long before that).

CategoryHistory, Lowell | Comment8 Comments »

February 12th, 2011

Commonwealth Mag/MassINC Bangs the Gong on Workforce

by PaulM

Interested in what needs to be done to improve workforce development in the state? Read what Lowell’s John Schneider has to say. He’s vice president of MassINC and director of its New Skills for A New Economy Program as well as a moving force in the Gateway Cities initiative. John is the co-author of an article on workforce development (with Jerry Rubin of Jewish Vocational Service in Boston) in the Winter 2011 issue of Commonwealth Magazine. Here’s the article, and subscribe to “Commonwealth: Politics, Ideas & Civic Life in Massachusetts if you want more.

CategoryCurrent Events, Education, History, Lowell | CommentNo Comments »

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February 12th, 2011

E.J. Says Webb Is a Rare ‘Jacksonian’ Democrat

by PaulM

Read E. J. Dionne’s latest column from the Wash. Post, which I picked up from realclearpoltics.com. He says US Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, the one not running for re-election, is a rare political bird, a Jacksonian Democrat who measures the health of the society from the bottom up not from Wall Street down. Read Southeast Mass. native Dionne’s column here.

CategoryCurrent Events, History, Lowell, Politics, Uncategorized | CommentNo Comments »

February 12th, 2011

Egypt’s Future: Panel Talk at UMass Lowell, Feb. 22

by PaulM

The public is invited to a panel discussion about “Egypt’s Future” on Tuesday, Feb. 22,  in the O’Leary Library Auditorium, Room 222, 61 Wilder Street, on the South Campus of UMass Lowell. A reception with refreshments starts at 5 p.m, with the program follwing at 5.30 p.m.

Presenters will include UMass Lowell Provost Ahmed Abdelal, UML Political Science Prof. Deina Abdelkader, UML Prof. of Art Stephen Mishol, Gregory Aftandilian of the UML Middle East Center, and Northeastern University Prof. Dennis Sullivan, director of Northeastern’s Middle East Center. UML Prof. Paula Rayman, director of the UML Middle East Center, will moderate the discussion.

CategoryCulture, Current Events, Education, History, Lowell | CommentNo Comments »

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February 12th, 2011

In the Merrimack Valley: Fate of the Merrimack Valley Conference a Political Topic?

by Marie

Some might wonder about how elected officials take up certain topics. Lately here’s been some buzz about Senator Susan Fargo’s push to name the iconic Rex Trailer as the Commonwealth’s official cowboy. Now it’s a regional school sports league on a legislator’s radar sceen. There’s a story in today’s Eagle Tribune about State Senator Steve Baddour’s reaction to the possible break-up of the Merrimack Valley Conference – the school sports league. He was shocked and upset at a  Eagle Tribune headline from last Sunday’s edition –  ”The Death of the MVC?” As a result he contacted Merrimack Valley-area State Senators to look into the matter.

Last Monday, Baddour began contacting his fellow senators with schools in the MVC, including Eileen Donoghue, Susan C. Fargo, and Kenneth J. Donnelly. Together, the four state senators decided to set up a meeting with the superintendents from the 11 MVC schools (also Lawrence, Haverhill, Lowell, Central Catholic and Notre Dame of Tyngsborough, which competes in most sports for girls) requesting principals and athletic directors to join them.

The meeting will be Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at Middlesex Community College.

State Senator Barry Finegold (D-Andover) will not attend the meeting – noting that he hopes the MVC doen’t break-up but that it’s the decision of others.

One state senator’s name missing from the collaboration is Barry Finegold of Andover. The high schools in Andover, Lawrence, Dracut and Tewksbury are in the MVC.

“I’m not a principal. I’m not an athletic director,” said Finegold, who was a defensive lineman on the football team at Andover High. “I believe decisions like this should be up to them. Personally, I hope (the MVC) stays together. It’s near and dear to my heart.

“As for discussion about changing leagues, I believe there’s always talk about that these days,” said Finegold.

Read the full Eagle Tribune article here.

Note:

The Merrimack Valley Conference (or MVC) is a high school sports league located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is named after the Merrimack River Valley where all of the primary league schools are located. The league members are also members of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (aka: The MIAA). The MVC evolved out of the old Lowell Suburban League, which sponsored football, boys basketball and girls basketball, and the Merrimack Valley Suburban League which was a baseball only league. The Suburban Leagues were formed in the 1930s and different school participated in different sports. In 1955, the Suburban Leagues reformed in to the more organized Lowell Suburban Conference which became the MVC by the mid 1960s. More here.

CategoryCurrent Events, Education, Greater Lowell, History, Politics | CommentNo Comments »

February 12th, 2011

Lowell Folk Festival Time Machine

by PaulM

The SUN story this week about performers for the upcoming 25th Lowell Folk Festival sent me to the vault to find a non-web “log” entry before the blog days about the origin of the Festival. I  was cultural affairs director of the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission at the time. After the meeting described below, our Lowell group was treated to a fine lunch at the Marriott in Washington, D.C., courtesy of the Lowell Regatta Festival Committee, one of the key early partners in Park affairs and now known as the Lowell Festival Foundation. Sue Leggat was the liaison to the LRFC.—PM

“September 12, 1986—gray sky, mild

“I was in Washington yesterday. I flew down with Sandy Walter [then-Supt. of Lowell Nat'l Hist. Park] and two of her NPS staffers, George Price and Sue Leggat, to meet with with Joe Wilson, director of the National Council on Traditional Arts, and Vernon ‘Dave’ Dame, chief of interpretation for the Park Service. The purpose of the meeting was to convince Wilson to locate the annual National Folk Festival, which he produces, in Lowell for the next two or three years. We succeeded. Wilson and the NCTA are under contract with the NPS to produce the festival in a national park. Over the years it has been located at Wolftrap Performance Center, Cuyahoga Nat’l Park, and New York City. Joe and Dave were very enthusiastic about having the folk festival in Lowell. It’s a first-rate event.

“Joe Wilson is a fascinating character. He seems to know every folk artist in the country. He travels everywhere with NCTA programs—taking Cajun musicians to Thailand, cowboy poets to Nevada, black blues performers to Mississippi, and more.  ….”

CategoryCulture, History, Lowell | Comment1 Comment »

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