Author Archives: Ilse

I Want to Believe

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I was so glad to finally visit Fuertes Observatory last Friday. The talk by the astrobiologist was fascinating, and the many astronomical tools were beautiful and intricate. I’ve always found the search for life exciting, terrifying,and humbling. Our planet is so small and insignificant in comparison to the rest of the universe, yet we have not yet found another planet with confirmed life. We have discovered many planets that can be called “habitable,” but the criteria for this designation is surprisingly low.

In Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, he evaluates Earth as if it were an exoplanet that we were investigating to see if it had life. According to Tyson, it would be extremely difficult to detect earth from its brightness alone, as its brightness is less than one-billionth of that of the Sun. The other popular method of detecting exoplanets, looking for a “jiggle” in the motion of the star, would also be ineffective, as earth is so small that it barely alters the Sun’s motion. Aliens would likely have to use radio or micro waves in order to detect us, and even if they succeeded in noticing Earth’s transmissions, they would also have to translate them and understand that they are more than just random noise.

Despite the size of the universe and the countless planets it contains, finding new life seems nearly impossible.

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Antibodies Go Down

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I really enjoyed Ty’s explanation of his research at the Rose Cafe on Wednesday. I didn’t understand much about vaccines and modern vaccine development before the talk, so it was pretty enlightening. Most of my understanding of vaccines and the immune system was from a trip to a revolutionary war barracks in fourth grade, during which a period actor described the rationale behind the smallpox vaccine while threatening us with a needle.

It’s fascinating how the sugars on the surface of different bacteria are used as identifiers for bacteria, and can be used to create vaccines induce the body to protect itself from those bacteria. It’s also interesting how many strains of bacteria have characteristics that prevent us from using these sugars to develop vaccines against them.

I like how Ty was using his research to not only develop the specific vaccine that the Defense Department wanted but also develop new methods that would be useful to everyone. It seems unlikely that we will need to use the vaccine that the Defense Department wants him to create, but the general method of creating vaccines that he is researching sounds incredibly useful in the long term.

Monday, Monday, So Good to Me

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Overall Impression:

What Happened to Monday is a fun, action-packed romp with interesting themes of power, fear, and control. Naomi Rapace’s performance as all seven sisters is extremely impressive, on par with Tatiana Maslany’s work as the many clones of Orphan Black. She imbues each sister with different physical and verbal mannerisms that, together with the creative costuming, make them easy to tell apart. The pacing of the film is exhilarating, with unrelenting moments of suspense, action, and drama. It’s incredible impressive how the creators of the film managed to piece together an interesting, enjoyable, thought-provoking movie from a bizarre premise.

Power:

During her introduction, Graduate Resident Fellow Magdala mentioned that the actions of the government in What Happened to Monday reminded her of the writings of Michel Foucault, a French philosopher. While I can’t pretend to know anything about Foucault, or philosophy in general, I do see how Foucault’s writings can be used to analyze the dystopian regime of What Happened to Monday. Foucault focused on mechanisms of power, and he emphasized the connection between knowledge and power. In the film, the government used a registry on individuals, regional checkpoints, reproduction limits, propaganda, doublespeak, and reproduction restrictions to control the people. The government hid the truth about “cryosleep” and dominated the discussion of the subject using euphemisms and relentless propaganda. Through these actions, it controlled the people’s knowledge, and therefore controlled the people, preventing resistance.

Moral Dilemmas:

My primary frustration with this film was its failure to fully explore the interesting moral dilemma posed by cryosleep. If the Earth were dangerously overpopulated, should we freeze some of the population so that they may live their lives in a better, future world? Would it be selfish to keep our children with us at the cost of forcing them to live in our own resource-starved world? How would we even determine when the world was in a good enough state for us to awaken them? Because the cryosleep machine is revealed to be an execution chamber, the film avoids actually having to deal with this question, cheaply justifying the protagonists’ point of view. This practice of dodging tough questions is frustratingly prevalent in science fiction. One recent example of this phenomenon is the superhero film Black Panther. In the film, the antagonist, Erik Killmonger, does make good arguments for violent resistance against oppressors. However, this point of view is never given a fair treatment, because the character espousing it is consistently murderous, cruel, and selfish. His own villainous behaviors mean that the writers never have to morally justify T’Challa’s prevention of the violent resistance. One series that consistently approaches these difficult questions head-on is Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, a science fiction anthology that explores the relationships between humans and technology. Each episode explores different technology- related moral dilemmas without these types of gimmicks.

The Life of a Pilot

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While it was fascinating to learn about airport operations and pilot licenses, the part of the Rose Cafe that I found most interesting was learning about pilots’ lifestyles. Instead of working nine to five, like most Americans, they have shifts of several days with multi-day breaks in between. There are strict restrictions on when they can work so that they do not become fatigued, as an impaired pilot could pose a huge safety risk. However, even with these restrictions it seems that pilots are still really pushed to their limits. Getting ten hours for a hotel stay really doesn’t seem like much. Assuming that a pilot needs eight hours of sleep to be operating at 100%, that only leaves 2 hours for changing, eating, showering, exercising, or relaxing. From how Mr. Comella describes his lifestyle, a pilot’s obligations can also leak into their time off the clock, as he has to work out and eat healthy in order to ensure that he is in peak physical condition and can handle the long, sedentary hours better.

The social conditions also seem less than ideal. Flight crews are randomized, so a pilot generally flies with a different crew every trip. Mr. Comella mentioned that talking to one’s coworkers can feel like Harold Ramis’s Groundhog Day. He finds himself asking every coworker the same questions as he gets to know a new person each flight.

Personally, I don’t think I would be able to handle a pilot’s lifestyle. I would enjoy being able to visit new places, and I do like the technical aspect of the job. However, going on multiple-day shifts with strangers and spending so many nights in hotels would break me. In addition, the stress of being responsible for passengers’ lives and and the time-sensitivity of the job would be too much.

House 5

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Dr. Blalock’s talk on Rose House’s history and tour of the tunnels were both quite enlightening.

I had never noticed that West Campus’s houses were not named after donors. I knew that Flora Rose had been a professor here, but I had assumed that she or her estate had made some sort of donation to the university, and that was why “House 5” was named after her. I love how these dormitories built to sustain a type of living-leaning community are named after professors, people who promoted learning at this institution.

Dr. Blalock also brought up an important point when discussing the controversy surrounding the (very expensive) construction of West Campus. While luxurious dorms for upperclassmen are far from a necessity for a university, they are necessary in order for Cornell to compete with other universities of similar academic caliber. If Cornell wants to convince the best and brightest to come here, it needs to have attractive housing options that can compete with those of MIT, Stanford, and the Ivy League.

I was most disappointed to hear that West Campus’s landscaping budget had been cut in order to finish its construction quickly at a lower cost. Before Dr. Blalock had mentioned it, I hadn’t really noticed that West Campus’s grounds were somewhat… sparse in comparison to North Campus’s. Now that I think about it, I do miss the colorful beds of flowers and huge trees that surrounded Balch Hall. I would love to see benches for reading and for enjoying the incredible view of Ithaca. Whenever I want to read outdoors, I normally have to go lie on the grass in the shade of a spindly little tree west of Becker. Now it’s going to bug me every time I walk around West.

The “behind-the-scenes” tour of Rose was also pretty fun. I was really impressed by how clean Rose’s kitchen is. Nearly every restaurant kitchen I’ve seen has been somewhat filthy, so the dining hall’s spotless facilities were pretty stunning.

Ithaca’s Next Top Chili

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Even though I have never missed a single Apple Fest, I had never even considered attending Ithaca’s Chili Cook-Off before I saw the Rose event this week. I had assumed that there wouldn’t be much for me to eat there. Much to my delight, there were so many delicious plant-based options, and even a competition category for Best Vegan/Vegetarian Chili!

Luna’s Street Food

The first chili I tried was Luna’s. It had roasted sweet potatoes and dried fruit to add a hint of sweetness. The sweet potatoes were a nice touch but not that flavorful. I actually disliked this chili, as the (non-sweet) potatoes in the chili tasted a bit off.

Greenstar Co-Op

Greenstar’s chili was actually the second place winner. The shop named it the “Vegan smoky tempeh bacon chili.” The tempeh had a fantastic, chewy texture. I didn’t really notice a “smoky” flavor but it was quite savory and rich. I enjoyed this one.

Ithaca Soy

I was actually so excited to try Ithaca Soy’s chili that I forgot to take a picture of it. They topped it with a soy-based cream sauce, and I was so excited by this feature that I practically inhaled the chili. Ithaca Soy’s chili was actually the spiciest one I tried at the Cook-Off, so the cream was a actually a wonderful complement to the chili’s burn. This was my favorite chili.

Cornell Catering

The story behind Cornell Catering’s lack of picture is the same as that of Ithaca Soy’s. They topped their veggie chili with fried onions, and, as a fried onion-fiend, I finished off the chili before I could even think about taking a picture. While the friend onions were delicious, their flavor actually did not pair that well with the chili’s flavor, which was like a very sweet barbecue sauce. It was nice, but not my favorite.

Moosewood Restaurant

Moosewood won third place in the vegetarian chili category. They described their chili as a “maple bourbon chili with sour cream scallion and tofu bacon.” I enjoyed the texture of their chili, and I liked that it had maple bourbon flavoring without being too sweet. The tofu bacon tasted a bit bland to me – I would have preferred tempeh or rice paper bacon instead.

Collegetown Bagels

While I love CTB, this chili was certainly the worst that I had tried at the Chili Cook-Off. It was supposedly tomatillo-based, yet it had none of the salsa’s signature spice. The chili itself was soupy, with very few beans. It was topped with a vegan cream that tasted very much like cream cheese – I suspect that it was just Tofutti cream cheese squeezed out of a condiment bottle, since CTB generally has it in stock. I can definitely see why this chili didn’t win any prizes.

Overall, I really enjoyed Ithaca’s Chili Cook-Off. The people were friendly, the chilis were delicious, and it was refreshing spending time in the local community after being trapped on campus all week. My number one regret is not venturing off the commons to try Gorger’s chili, which ending up winning first place.

I would have preferred to watch a Superb Owl, but this was fine too.

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I don’t know the rules of football. I’ve never watched a game in full. I can’t name more than five NFL teams. As a result, Shiv’s talk on the Super Bowl was extremely enlightening. I hadn’t realized that the Patriots and Tom Brady were such a dominant force in the NFL, and that the media had created an “underdog” narrative around the Eagles’ success this season.

I’ve always heard of the incredible marketing value and absurd prices of Super Bowl commercials. What was new to me was how the marketing techniques employed during the Superbowl have changed in recent years. During the pre-show spots, one ad asked viewers to tag their home videos on twitter so they could be used in another spot during the game. Later, in one of the most shocking advertising stunts of the year, Netflix released the first trailer for its exclusive film, The Cloverfield Paradox, and announced that the entire film would be released hours later, immediately following the game. The way that we consume media has changed, and the biggest marketing event of the year has adapted to take advantage of this.

Anothing thing that surprised me the extent of the gambling related to the Super Bowl. That people place bets on who would win is to be expected, but for the Super Bowl people can place bets on even the most minor of details, such as the color of the winner’s gatorade and how much Donald Trump will tweet.