Dear Uncle Ezra - Questions for Thursday, March 27, 2003

Dear Uncle Ezra,
I see so many unhappy women everyday everywhere. Please post the following so those who read it can realize how BEAUTIFUL they truly are (and maybe spread the word). Thanks! -Your niece Facts on Figures: There are 3 billion women who don't look like supermodels and only eight who do. Marilyn Monroe wore a size 14. If Barbie was a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.
The average woman weighs 144 lb. and wears between a 12-14. One out of every four college aged women has an eating disorder. The models in the magazines are airbrushed -- not perfect! A psychological study in 1995 found that three minutes spent looking at a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty, and shameful. Models twenty years ago weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today they weigh 23% less. ~Beauty of a Woman~ The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, The figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from her eyes, Because that is the doorway to her heart, The place where love resides. The beauty of a woman Is not in a facial mole, But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, The passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman With passing years -- only grows. An English professor wrote the words, "Woman without her man is nothing," on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it correctly. The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing." The women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing." The Images of Mother 4 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mommy can do anything! 8 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot! 12 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mother doesn't really know quite everything. 14 YEARS OF AGE ~ Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either. 16 YEARS OF AGE ~ Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned. 18 YEARS OF AGE ~ That old woman? She's way out of date! 25 YEARS OF AGE ~ Well, she might know a little bit about it. 35 YEARS OF AGE ~ Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion. 45 YEARS OF AGE ~ Wonder what Mom would have thought about it? 65 YEARS OF AGE ~ Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

Dear Uncle,
last week I was staring at the-two-winged-two-headed-two-booped sculture between Uris and Olin library with a friend. We could not figure out why it is there, what is symbolizes and who made it. The day before yesterday, I was on the Princeton campus in NJ, and you may not believe it but they have the exact same two-winged-two-headed-two-booped sculture. Could you shed some light on this big mystery? sincerely, wing-head-and-boop confused

Dear winghead,

Lovely, isn't it? That statue is called Le chant des voyelles -- The Song of The Vowels. It's by the sculptor, Jacques Lipchitz and was the gift of Harold D. Uris and Percy Uris to the Library in 1962. There are others at Princeton, UCLA, Stanford, Kykuit Gardens in Tarrytown, NY, et la musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris -- and maybe more.

Jack Squier's Web site http://www.aap.cornell.edu/AapWeb/Art/Faculty/Squier/ includes the following information:
Jacques Lipchitz Retrospective Exhibition
Squier's energies at Cornell extended not just to the art department but also to the Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art, where he served as curator of sculpture from 1959 to 1962. During those three years, he organized a major retrospective exhibition of the work of Jacques Lipchitz, on the occasion of the artist's seventieth birthday. Squier had admired Lipchitz's sculpture for a long time and had watched much of it being created, when both artists worked at the Modern Art Foundry, in New York City, during the 1950s and 1960s. The exhibition was a major retrospective of Lipchitz's most important pieces, and the artist came to Cornell for the gala opening. Afterward, Squier suggested to William R. Keast, then vice president for academic affairs, that Cornell acquire a Lipchitz sculpture for the campus. Keast broached the subject to brothers Harold and Percy Uris, major benefactors of the university. They decided to purchase Song of the Vowels, for a spot outside Uris Library. Persuaded by Lipchitz himself, they also purchased The Bather, for a site inside Olin Library.

"Song of the Vowels" illustrates the symbiosis of the human body and a harp. A human couple becomes a harp, their union becomes music. According to a Princeton Web site: "It is one of a series of sculptures by Jacques Lipchitz that explores his "obsession" with the harp. The name of the sculpture refers not to the poem by Rimbaud but to an ancient Egyptian legend which refers to a prayer used to "subdue the forces of nature.'"

Uncle Ezra

DUE,
Why has Baker flag been at half mast recently? - Your humble servant

Dear Uncle Ezra,
To all those readers who have been deploring your leftist tendencies, here is something to show them that you are capable of looking at both sides. Please post. -A Proud American Point of View No matter what your views on President Bush's statements about an upcoming war, this piece, from an English journalist, is very interesting. Just a word of background for those of you who aren't familiar with the United Kingdom's "Daily Mirror" newspaper. This notoriously left-wing journal normally is not supportive of the Colonials across the Atlantic. By Tony Parsons for the "Daily Mirror"... September 11, 2002 One year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting - the mass murder of thousands, live on television. As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Poll Pot's Mountain of Skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps. An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing-nobody deserves this fate. Surely there could be consensus: The victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil. But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's come uppance. Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year. There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country [England]; too loud, too rich, too full of themselves, and so much happier than Europeans--but it has become an epidemic. And that seems incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach. America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language and blood. A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon? And exactly a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children--not just Americans, but from dozens of countries--were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray these victims? What touched the heart about those who died in the Twin Towers and on the planes, was that we recognized them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands, wives and children, some unborn. And these people brought it on themselves? Their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter? These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan. The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission. The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11. Remember... remember... remember... the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive. Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers. Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive. Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with her mum.. Remember...remember...And realize that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have. So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked up without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex. So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semiautomatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame but maybe next time they should stick to confetti. AMERICA could have turned large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength. American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq--that's what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination? When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that--and America didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism." A real war. The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell" if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe. The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth. The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived. But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand - assuming you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting. I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be, rich, free, strong, open, optimistic. Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that. Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers. Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper. And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department. To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein. Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Remember... remember... September 11th. One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America. No, do more than remember: Never forget.

DUE -
Re: March 11 2003 Q15. When I was at Cornell, I used the Ithaca Airline Limousine Service to get to Amtrak in Syracuse a few times. I'd hesitate about recommending it, though: on one occasion, the van ran out of gas halfway there. On another, despite having made my reservation in advance, and called to confirm it, I was left stranded at the Amtrak station on returning to Syracuse. I took a cab from there to the airport, where finally - some five hours after my train arrived - I found an Ithaca Airline Limo van. The driver gave me a hard time, and it was only because I had my receipt that I was able to get back to Ithaca that night. Buyer beware. - Trainer

Dear Uncle Ezra,
Is there any way to improve the acoustics in the recently renovated Kinkeldey room of Uris library. While the new vaulted ceiling is much more aesthetically pleasing, I find that the old drop ceiling must have dampened noise because now you can’t so much as place a book down without it resonating through the entire room. If you haven’t been there since the renovation, you should check it out, its pretty impressive. Needless to say however, that makes it kind of hard to study since there’s always someone going in or out and making noise. Missing the Kinkeldy room

Dear Missing the Kinkeldy,

John Hoffman, Director of Facilities Planning (jah9@cornell.edu) was very involved in the design and construction of the Kinkeldey Reading Room and is happy to fill you in on some of the details regarding the acoustics of the space. "We were aware that the room would be a bit livelier after renovation, given the removal of the '60's style acoustical ceiling tiles. That is why we installed an expensive, padded carpet. The carpet reduces the noise of the constant movement of chairs and the sound of shoes on a hard floor surface. Those were complaints that we received prior to the renovation. Now, with the room completed, we are aware of how voices reverberate within the space, as well as noise from the opening and closing of the door. Part of that is a problem with many if not most grand old reading rooms, and although we did anticipate that during the design we felt it was important to the aesthetic to have a hard plastered ceiling. However, we would like to think we can do better. Right now we are looking at installing a rubber gasket material on the door frame to reduce that noise. We have also discussed the possibility of installing acoustical panels within the niche openings on the south wall (where exterior windows had been prior to the stack addition in 1937). Unfortunately, the panels are expensive and I cannot promise that they will be installed any time soon. We also will soon be installing some soft seating at the west wall which will have at least a small positive impact." He says you can contact him if you have other concerns or questions.

Meanwhile, we all have to learn some mental focus in this busy world in order to concentrate on what we are doing. Try to train your mind, the way a meditator does, to filter out distractions and focus on what you are studying. It's a good skill to practice!

Uncle Ezra

dear ezra,
how come the ivy room doesnt serve stir fry anymore when the demand for it in the past has been so high? not every student is on meal plan and the option of having stir fry at okies is not possible. And why has the price of fajitas gone up at the ivy room while the portions has gone down?

DUE,
I've applied for a position that requires a background check. I know criminal activity can be found, but I wonder about information such as going to a therapist or bouncing a check. How much can they really find out? -Worried Job-Hunter

Dear Worried,
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 refers to a person's "bona fide occupational qualifications" as the legal criteria for hiring selection. If you have been convicted of criminal behavior, it is on your accessible record, which is sealed after a certain number of years. Your mental health records are strictly confidential, and no employer can access them unless you given written consent. It is illegal for employers to ask, but the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm) protects those who do have physical or mental health disabilities from employment discrimination. As for a credit check, that is part of some employers' screenings. You can check your own credit record for free through many internet sites. This can also give you the opportunity to clear up any misinformation (or unpaid past due accounts) that may be there.
Your questions are especially salient in this day of more careful monitoring of all citizens. One caveat is that if an employer also controls the health insurance plan which one uses for mental health treatment,
the fact of the visits may be accessible, although therapists would not share actual records.

Uncle Ezra

Dear Uncle Ezra,
Perhaps you'll be able to provide me with some good advice. I started a new job a little more than 2 months ago in an all-female office. The women I work with, who are mostly around my age (in their 20s), have never once attempted to be welcoming with me. They go to get lunch or go on walks without asking if I'd like to join them. They have conversations at either end of the hallway and never walk past my office (which is in the middle of the hallway). I try to make every effort to talk about things I know interest each of them, but they just don't seem to care. Part of me hopes that they just don't realize their lack of collegiality with me. The other part of me, however, feels hurt, left out, and lacking peers in the workplace. Are there any resources or strategies out there for dealing with workplace (or any type of) ostracism? Thank you so much for your help. --Ostracized for no apparent reason

Dear for no apparent reason,

Workplace politics are sometimes tough to negotioate. But just remember that is true for everyone, so don't take it personally. Just like any group, a group in the workplace takes on a life of its own, with its own rules and symbolic language and boundaries you must traverse.

You must be patient while you try to break the ice. Try to find small ways to interact with each person or a few people so that they start to have a relationship with you. Then casually let them know that you're trying to get more exercise - would they mind if you join them when they walk, or you forgot your lunch, where do they go?

Understand that the "group" may be threatened by your "invasion." That is not because of anything about you, but because a group has its own equilibrium, its own power structure which must change when a new member joins. Be aware of the subtle balance and try not to destabilize by dethroning a leader or introducing too much newness right away.

Make yourself useful to the group in order to build trust. Bring some bagels to share or buy a round of coffee. Say you're celebrating your dog's birthday. Make yourself real to them, but keep a balance so they are real to you, too. Once they trust you, they'll start leaving the door open for more bagels, or to feed you some of theirs.

A good webpage to visit is http://www.has.vcu.edu/group/gdynamic.htm. Browse your library or bookstore for Group Dynamics or Organizational or Social Psychology.

While-U-Wait for the group to open up, try to get your social needs met outside, in an activity or class or just keeping up with family or old friends. Good luck.

"Wild ducks make a lot of noise, but they also have the sense to benefit from occasionally flying in formation."

Uncle Ezra

Hi Uncle Ezra,
My mother is interested in buying a hybrid electric vehicle, but since it's a relatively new car, I haven't found very much safety information about them. I know they're lighter and probably not as safe but might be ok for around town travel. Are the Toyota Prius and Honda Hybrid Civic the only available HEV's? Do you know if there is a website that compares the two? Thank you!

Answer to Question 12,
March 20 This one never seems to go away. I think the right way to understand the Ivy League is to realize that it is an athletic conference composed of some outstanding schools that are also very different from each other. It's tempting to benchmark them by such statistics as admissions selectivity but using this least common denominator to compare them doesn't do justice to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of any of these schools. In the end, the best school is the one - Ivy or non-Ivy - that best fits the needs and interests of an applicant. Cornell is a more diverse institution with more educational resources than most of the other Ivies and may be a better choice for a lot of applicants than one of its competitors. The name brand stuff - in my view - only gets in the way. Ancient Arts Alum

Dear Uncle Ezra,
If Cornell is an institution of learning, and unlike a private firm, does not maximize profit, what does it maximize? Dismal Scientist

To Wannabe Nightclub Owner,
Q8 on 3/25: I know very well what it's like to have seemingly conflicting ambitions/goals. But I just wanted to reiterate the point that anything is possible. That's what inovation is about! After graduating, I moved to Southern California and am very happy to say I haven't had to enter a building with cigarette smoke in it since. Its illegal here to smoke in or even near a public building. I now love to go hear bands and dance knowing that I won't feel and smell disgusting from smoke - and I don't ever want to tolerate it again. I just offer this as an example of the different norms that exist creating different demands. In Southern California there are certainly plenty of people who smoke. But there are also a large majority of people who care immensely about their health and physique. Here, there is a demand for fresh, top-quality, organic products even in bars and nightclubs. So why not be able to go out with your friends, not have to breathe second-hand smoke, and pick your pleaure: shot of vodka or wheatgrass?

Dear Uncle Ezra,
Some friends and I have noticed that while guys tend to be human furnaces, females shiver regularly. Does it have something to do with body composition? Circulation? Does science have answers to this odd difference in the sexes?

Dear friends,

The following is courtesy of http://oregonscuba.com/dive_myths.htm:

Several studies show women may generate less (and sometimes more) total heat than men depending on work load, fitness, body size, and other variables, and have greater ability, on average, to limit heat loss. Men, on average, usually lose more total heat from higher skin temperatures due to their lesser vasoconstrictor response (hence warmer hands),
and from their larger total skin surface area, and for that reason, must counter with increased heat production from typically greater mass and metabolism. It takes more calories and metabolic work to keep up such heat production. Evidence is strong that women protect their core temperature in the cold as well or more than men.
Men's warm hands indicates that women are losing less heat through their periphery; men's hands pour heat out into the environment. Your skin temperature is not 98.6F (37C), the average temperature of your core. Skin temperature is far cooler than core temperature. One of the ways your body resists heat loss through your periphery is by reducing warm blood flowing to your skin surface. In the cold, your skin temperature quickly drops to that of (or close to) the surrounding air or water. If skin surface temperature is close to surrounding temperature, the gradient is small, so heat loss is small. (Heat travels down gradients from high to low)
People with cooler skin in the cold have a smaller skin-to-environment gradient to lose heat. An analogy is if you stand outside your house in cold weather, touch the exterior wall and find it warm, you would notice the expensive loss of heat and know your home needed better insulation. You may even wonder who designed such an inefficient structure.
Now what does surface area to mass ratio mean? It's the amount of surface that can lose heat compared to the internal mass that holds and, in animals, generates heat. Car and home heat redistributors are built to have long thin shapes so their high surface area to mass ratio gives off, or radiates, lots of heat. Imaginatively, they are called radiators.
Spaghetti cools rapidly. Baked potatoes stay hot. Like spaghetti, your fingers and ears are relatively long and thin with much exposed surface. Fingers and ears chill faster than your torso. Your torso, very much like a potato, has relatively high internal mass compared to its outer surface of skin giving it a lower surface area to mass ratio. Even though fingers have less total surface than your body they have a higher ratio, and more capacity to radiate heat.
Do women have a larger surface area to mass ratio than men? The ratio is only one star in a constellation of temperature regulating mechanisms. The ratio is also not determined by gender.
A tall thin man's ratio often exceeds that of a shorter heavy woman. Short thin men have a high ratio compared to large men. A large man will also lose more total heat from his larger skin surface area than a smaller man or woman. If a given woman has a higher ratio than a man, like all warm blooded creatures women have more than one protective mechanism against cold.
The statement that women have more curves than men and therefore increased surface area to mass ratio to lose heat, and consequently higher susceptibility to chilling should be taken with a millimole of NaCl. For one thing, curves don't always increase the ratio. As moderate math can show, both the surface area and the mass increase with curves. The ratio could stay the same or change in either direction. A sphere, for instance, can have a lower surface to mass ratio than a cylinder. Then too, men's bodies are full of curves, from muscles to other normal structures. Men's genitals don't fare well in the cold for similar reasons as fingers and ears. Here is where surface area to mass ratio comes home to the, ahem, heart. "Frostbite Shorts," under various names, is a documented medical malady.

Uncle Ezra