Cal Ripken, Jr.:"As long as I can compete, I won't quit"

Cal Ripken is baseball’s all-time Iron Man. He retired from baseball in October, 2001 after 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. His name appears in the record books repeatedly, most notably as one of only seven players in history to achieve 400 home runs and 3,000 hits. On January 9, 2007 he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and will be inducted with Tony Gywnn on July 29, 2007. Cal received the 3rd highest percentage in history, collecting the highest votes ever by the BBWAA.

In 1995, Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played (2,130) and voluntarily ended his streak in 1998 after playing 2,632 consecutive games. Although he finished his career at third base, Cal is still best known for redefining the position of shortstop. Ripken’s name has become synonymous with strength, character, endurance and integrity. His philosophy of working hard, playing with passion and enjoying the game has made a tremendous impact on the sport and on fans everywhere. In 1999, Babe Ruth League Inc. changed the name of its largest division (5-12 year-olds) from Bambino to Cal Ripken Baseball. Presently, over 700,000 youths play Cal Ripken Baseball worldwide. (from www.ripkenbaseball.com/calripken/bio/)

Annie Sullivan Macy:"Keep on beginning and failing. . ."

. .. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember.

"Only when we have worked purposefully and long on a problem that interests us, and in hope and in despair wrestled with it in silence and alone relying on our own unshaken will—only then have we achieved education."

Known as the "Teacher" who taught Helen Keller to speak, read, and communicate - though she was blind, deaf, and mute - Anne Sullivan's own traumatic life has remained in the shadows. The eldest daughter of poor, illiterate, and unskilled Irish immigrants, she was born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts on April 14, 1866. Raised in extreme poverty, Anne was the eldest of five children, only two of whom reached adulthood. Her father, Thomas Sullivan, was an alcoholic and her mother, Alice Chloesy Sullivan, died from tuberculosis when Anne was 9 years old.

When Anne was 7 years old she developed trachoma, a bacterial infection of the eyes. This infection went untreated and affected her vision. She had almost no usable sight until she had an operation at the age of 15, which restored some of her vision, but she remained visually impaired for the rest of her life.

After her mother's death in January 1874, family life became problematic. After living with various relatives for two years, their father abandoned them and Annie and her younger brother were sent to the Tewksbury Almshouse, an institution that housed poor and needy people. Anne was just 10 years old at the time. Their sister was sent to live with an aunt. Annie's brother died three months later in the Almshouse, and it appears that Anne never saw her sister again.

Tewksbury was infamous for housing drunks, prostitutes, the insane, and the incurably ill. After many complaints, state inspectors visited, and Annie took it upon herself to plead to be sent to school; the one dream left to the blind, destitute orphan was that she would be able to get an education. She already had endured several unsuccessful eye operations to restore her sight, but she was not going to resign herself to living in an institution for the rest of her life.
"I have endured much physical pain, and I can feel real pity for any one who suffers. The misfortunes of the disinherited of the world rouse in me not only compassion but a fierce indignation," she said of her experiences at Tewksbury.

The head of the investigation team saw to it that Annie was sent to the Perkins School for the Blind. She entered at age 14 at the elementary school level and graduated at the top of her class at age 20. When she was 15, another eye operation was successful, but she had limited sight all her life.

After graduation, a teacher recommended the feisty, stubborn, gifted young woman (age 21) for a job in Alabama where a little blind, deaf, and mute child needed a teacher. Little did she know what she was getting into. Her work with Helen Keller opened the door to education and meaningful lives for people who formerly had been institutionalized because of their severe disabilities. . .

This excerpt is from the American Foundation for the Blind's Virtual Museum honoring Annie Sullivan Macy. Read more of the fascinating story . . share your knowledge of this hero with us.

Pope John Paul II: "Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."

Cardinal Karol Wojtyła of Poland was elected the 264th pope and took the name John Paul II on Oct. 16, 1978.He served as Pope until his death in 2004. "Pope John Paul II, whose 26-year papacy helped defeat Communism in Europe but left a Roman Catholic Church divided over his rigorous orthodoxy" (Reuter).

In the nearly 3 decades of his service as Pope, John Paul II took many actions that surprised, confounded, mystified, and sometimes angered the world that watched him. Conservative on many issues, he often departed radically from the "norm" or the "predictable" behavior expected of him - yet no one has ever said he betrayed his own "web of belief"
He apologized for the Catholic Church's actions (inactions) during the Holocaust. He pushed for peace, religious and political freedoms, and human rights around the globe. He was immensely popular with all ages, and he used to sneak away from the Vatican to go skiing. As his own infirmities grew, it was said he stood as an example of how to age with fortitude, faith, and grace. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the U.S. National Medal of Honor, beloved of Catholics and non-Catholics alike (work is afoot to make him a Saint), Pope John Paul II is a hero to millions for a million different reasons. If you are one of his fans, let's hear your reasons. . .

Ethical Controversy Essay Meet-up

Now there is a "forum" on the Eagle Cruiser. If it works right, you ought to be able to enter the topic you are interested in and advertise for a partner. This blog is insurance. Post a response to this blog, indicating your topic and need for a partner. Include your contact information. It should work.

Nelson Mandela -"In prison, you come face to face with time. There is nothing more terrifying"

Nelson Mandela remains one of the world's most revered statesman, who led the struggle to replace the apartheid regime of South Africa with a multi-racial democracy.
Despite many years in jail, he emerged to become the country's first black president and to play a leading role in the drive for peace in other spheres of conflict. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Since stepping down as president in 1999, Mr Mandela has become South Africa's highest-profile ambassador, campaigning against HIV/Aids and securing his country's right to host the 2010 football World Cup.

Mr Mandela - diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001 - has also been actively involved in peace negotiations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and other African countries.

He has also encouraged peace efforts in other areas of the world.

Mr Mandela, 85, explained his decision to withdraw from public life, by a desire to spend more time with his family and friends and engage in "quiet reflection". (above excerpted from news.bbc.co.uk.)

Good Links:
Time Magazine's Man of the Year 1993, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 1993 - see http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/mandela2.html

"The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela" www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/

Searching the Web of Beliefs

It's hard to know where to start: I spent my 15 minutes researching on the web and there are so many sites to explore if one is looking for background information on the Iraq Troubles. Here are some ideas for keywords to use in a google search as well as specific sites. There were many,many interesting sites on the list. Please visit more than just these.

First, "history of Iraq war" brings up many, many sites, including Wikipedia.

www.mideastweb.org/iraq.htm looks like a good one for a basic, unbiased (as far as I can tell) history of the region. I learned quite a bit just reading it. They also have interesting info on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and its history.

www.historyguy.com/no_fly_zone_war.html seems to be a more military POV history site.

I also tried "Iraq War June 2007" and got some up to date news articles.
check out www.arabnews.com using those key words.

try googling "solutions toIraq war" and you will find some interesting sites:
www.squidoo.com/Iraq_solution and www.iht.com/articles (international Herald Tribune) and www.earthfuture.com. I think the latter has "101 ways to end the Iraq war".

Think of your own keywords and let us know what you found. Get creative - be relentless - for 15 minutes.

See, lots of people are thinking about it and trying to reason out solutions. When you read these, remember to ask those questions about the sources.

Note: This fascinating photo came up when I googled "free images of islam" (don't want to steal). It first appeared on someone's blog. will try to find the source.

Carl Sagan: "We are the Way for the Cosmos to Know Itself"

Carl Sagan, one of our class heroes, possessed an extraordinary mind. Space program? He helped design it and briefed every astronaut. Writer? He won a Pulitzer Prize. Teacher? He taught astronomy and related courses and. . .critical thinking. There was a waiting list for that class. Articulate? He worked to solve the mysteries of the cosmos, then wrote about them so that Everyman and Woman could understand them. Check out this website for more information about this contemporary giant. This American hero.
www.carlsagan.com
from the above, here is Carl Sagan's "Baloney Detection Kit"

Warning signs that suggest deception. Based on the book by Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World. The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:

Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts.

Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.

Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no "authorities").

Spin more than one hypothesis - don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.

Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours.

Quantify, wherever possible.

If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.

Occam's razor - if there are two hypotheses that explain the data equally well choose the simpler.

Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable? Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result?

Additional issues are:

Conduct control experiments - especially "double blind" experiments where the person taking measurements is not aware of the test and control subjects.

Check for confounding factors - separate the variables.

Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric

Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument.

Argument from "authority".

Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavorable" decision).

Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).

Special pleading (typically referring to god's will).

Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased).

Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses).

Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes).

Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!)

Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not "proved").

Non sequitur - "it does not follow" - the logic falls down.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - "it happened after so it was caused by" - confusion of cause and effect.

Meaningless question ("what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?).

Excluded middle - considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the "other side" look worse than it really is).

Short-term v. long-term - a subset of excluded middle ("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?").

Slippery slope - a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile).

Confusion of correlation and causation.

Caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack.

Suppressed evidence or half-truths.

Weasel words - for example, use of euphemisms for war such as "police action" to get around limitations on Presidential powers. "An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public"

Begging the Question

Begging the Question is a fallacy in which the premises include the claim that the conclusion is true or (directly or indirectly) assume that the conclusion is true. This sort of "reasoning" produces conversations like this one:

nterviewer: "Your resume looks impressive but I need another reference."
Bill: "Jill can give me a good reference."
Interviewer: "Good. But how do I know that Jill is trustworthy?"
Bill: "Certainly. I can vouch for her."

or:

Tom: What makes heroes heroes?
Don: Because they are great
Tom: What makes them great?
Don: Because they are heroes.

Have you run up against this one?