The HMS Beagle, which was the vessel Darwin traveled aboard on his five year voyage around the world and through the Galapagos Islands, was smaller than the Yolita II and carried around 65-74 passengers. The Beagle was 90 feet long and 25 feet wide. It also carried 6-10 guns and seven smaller boats for surveying expeditions.

Of course the Yolita II needed room for two diesel engines, a hot water heater, a bar with leather couches, and lots of deck chairs. Take away all that and I suppose you could fit another fifty crew members on board.]]> Travel http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2210 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:40:32 -0400 http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2209

View Galapagos 1835 Darwin in a larger map

You an find out more about Darwin's voyage through the Galapagos in Estes, G., Grant, K. T., & Grant, P. R. (2000). Darwin in Galápagos: His Footsteps through the Archipelago. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 54(3), 343-368. Darwin's diary entries for that part of the Beagle's voyage are also online.


Next is the trip I took in June of 2009.


View Galapagos 2009 in a larger map

Finally, below is the itinerary for our May 2011 trip.


View Galapagos 2011 in a larger map]]> Travel http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2209 Sat, 2 Apr 2011 21:09:11 -0400 http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2205 Computer science exposed two generations of young people to the rigors of logic and rhetoric that have disappeared from far too many curricula in the humanities. Those students learned to speak to the machines with which the future of humanity will be increasingly intertwined. They discovered the virtue of understanding the instructions that lie at the heart of things, of realizing the danger of misplaced semicolons, of learning to labor until what you have built is good enough to do what it is supposed to do.

I like the idea of learning to "speak to the machine" as a call to not only learn to write code but to also consider carefully how we interact (communicate) with technologies generally.

Carey, K. (2010, November 7). Decoding the Value of Computer Science. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Decoding-the-Value-of-Computer/125266/
]]> Academia http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2205 Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:07:14 -0500 http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2201 VOTRUBRIX™ now comes in chewable tablets that are no less easy to swallow. Newly discovered side effects include scurvy, loss of vision and constipation. Ask your doctor if VOTRUBRIX™ is right for you.

This year's Convocation speech is available online and below is the Wordle word cloud.



What I should like about this talk is the obvious emphasis on "students". Of course, word clouds are primarily about words and only indirectly about the things the words refer to. So, what about students? Votruba does acknowledge our mission to provide for "our students and their education" and the importance of enhancing the student experience. But it's mostly about numbers now: graduation rates, credit hour generation, pricing.

In this Convocation speech references to quantity far out-strip any references to quality. Part of that is a sign of dire economic stress. Part of it is exhaustion and a lack of new ideas.

I welcomed the reference to a "New Era," though it is really a look back to how bad things have gotten. Higher education is a mess. It looks be to an even worse mess in the new era. American higher education is not so much unrivaled as it is unraveling. Votruba's response I found to be completely uninspiring: lacking any new strategies for attack, we are retreating, though the retreat is not quite back to ideal or even safe ground.

Thirteen years ago we aspired to be "learner-centered." This went beyond the activity of learning to a broader concern for the individuals who engaged in education and its activities. It went beyond students to include faculty, staff and community members who were also learners engaged in multi-faceted, lifelong pursuits of improvement. It was always people engaged in learning who were foregrounded. You don't hear much about being learner-centered anymore. The unwelcome turn came about five years ago, IMHO, when the rhetoric shifted to "talent development," which can lead to only one driving, mission-critical question, "Who stole my cheese?"

Now what? We are back to a narrow reading of "learner" (though the word "learner" doesn't even appear in this Convocation speech) and, though students are presumed to have experiences we will hire consultants to care about, they're quantified. Faculty are back to being teachers, members of the production line, grant winners, managers, where professional development and the pursuit of new knowledge barely deserve mention. It's not about the life of the mind; it's about life in the mine.

Harsh realities. Yes. Sweet Dreams? Not so much.

This Convocation message is about an administration on its death bed. Even President Boothe is praying for them. There is no light at the end of the tunnel and we're down to counting the heartbeats. Votruba would like us to look ahead but all he can do is reminisce about the thirteen years that led him to be the university's longest serving president.

F*cking awesome.]]> Academia http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2201 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 08:45:42 -0400 http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2199 Picasa site. Over the next few days I'll try to add some titles and descriptions.]]> Travel http://blog.rudygarns.com/index.php?blogid=1?itemid=2199 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:42:02 -0400