Stars in their eyes
The Economist – June 26
…William Keel, an astronomer at the University of Alabama, took another picture of the voorwerp and suggested that the human eye would probably see it as green, rather than blue as in the original picture. It also has a giant hole at its centre. What this object might be was a complete mystery at first. It was initially thought to be a distant galaxy, says Chris Lintott, an Oxford University astronomer involved in the project. But after further study astronomers realized that there were no stars in it, and so it must be a cloud of gas. But why the gas was so hot (about 15,000ºC) was a mystery, because there seemed to be no stars to heat it up. Now, in a posting on the Galaxy Zoo blog, Dr Keel and Dr Lintott suggest that the galaxy right next door to the voorwerp used to be a quasar (a very bright active galactic nucleus) that has since eaten up all its fuel…
The father, the son and the trilogy
Miami Herald – July 1
…Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and professor of writing at the University of Alabama, Bragg tracks his own journey as a writer as methodically as he uncovers his family’s past. He recognizes that in his first book, which he wrote when he was in his early 30s, he wielded his father as ”nothing more than the sledge” to pound out his mother’s story. A decade later, he acknowledges that there might be more to the man from Jacksonville, Ala., who quit school in sixth grade, picked fights all his life, fought in a war and betrayed his wife and children over and over…
Book review: From mutual aid to the welfare state
ImmigrationDaily.com – July 1
David T. Beito has written a book of significance to many subdisciplines of history, including urban history, social history, African-American history, and immigration history. Concentrating on the oft-ridiculed fraternal lodges, Beito argues that Americans have gone from a welfare system of mutual aid based on reciprocity to one of paternalistic dependency based on hierarchy…Beito, professor of history at the University of Alabama, argues that the fraternals’ popularity grew out of their ability to provide important welfare services to their members in a personal and noncondescending manner…The book is wise, civil, and thoughtful throughout, but especially in its conclusion. As the author suggests, “instead of mutual aid, the dominant social welfare arrangements of Americans have increasingly become characterized by impersonal bureaucracies controlled by outsiders.”
New findings enrich Cuban archeological heritage
Cuban News Agency – June 30
…The findings were the result of ongoing excavations in the locality known as Chorro de Maita, in the Holguin municipality of Banes by experts with the local office of the Cuban Ministry of Science and with the US University of Alabama…
UA student starts ESL jumpstart program
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – June 30
…the Hispanic Jump Start Program is underway right now at Alberta Elementary in Tuscaloosa. The program was created by University of Alabama junior Laura Dover. Its purpose is to help Hispanic students achieve success in the Tuscaloosa City Schools by breaking down language barriers.
Education briefs
Birmingham News – July 1
William H. Rabel, the John & Mary Louise Loftis Bickley Endowed Teaching Professor of Insurance and Financial Services at the University of Alabama, is the first faculty recipient of the John Bickley Innovation and Creativity Award for 2008. — The University of Alabama recently awarded scholarships to four outstanding participants at the 2008 American Legion Boys State convention. The honorees were Daylan Woodall of Vincent, Judge O.L. “Pete” Johnson Scholarship; Matthew Sedenik of Jacksonville, Lewis McCary Scholarship; Cody Walker of Dothan, Charles P. Thompson Scholarship; and Jeffrey Bolan of Hazel Green, Charles Hayes Scholarship. — The University of Alabama’s College of Human Environmental Science recently held Camp Cash, a summer camp for middle school students introducing the importance of money management and budgeting. The event was led by UA assistant professor of consumer sciences Jan Brakefield…