The reality of math

Is math real? The question seems absurd: Doesn%u219t two and two equal four? Can%u219t we describe the details of the universe in precise mathematical terms? Of course math is real! But Mario Livio, a senior astrophysicist at the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, isn%u219t so convinced.

In his fourth book, Is God a Mathematician?, Livio explores mysteries that have long perplexed theologians, philosophers, and mathematicians alike: Are mathematical concepts woven into the very fabric of the cosmos? And if they are, did a divine weaver put them there?

The answers, Livio tells us, are yes %u214 and no. Mathematical concepts %u214 like the golden ratio, or Euclidian geometry %u214 are useful fictions that don%u219t exist in the natural world. (In other words, the circle and the square are make-believe.) But mathematicians who work within these invented languages can discover concrete truths about the nature of the universe. As for God . . . let%u219s just say that He%u219s very, very improbable.

Source: http://www.veryshortlist.com/science/daily.cfm/review/958/Book/is-god-a-mathematician/

Good News: Bad Economy Killing Abusive Teen Programs

Maia Szalavitz
Posted January 30, 2009 | 05:48 PM (EST)

There is a silver lining to this bleak economy: Abusive and ineffective “tough love” programs for teens are failing right and left.

In just the last few weeks, the notorious Tranquility Bay program in Jamaica, Spring Creek Lodge in Montana, and Pathway Family Center in Detroit and Ohio have all been shuttered.

Tranquility Bay was known for making kids kneel on concrete for days and using “restraint” so harsh that it broke bones. Both Tranquility Bay and Spring Creek Lodge were part of a network called the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP or WWASPS)–and the group’s philosophy involves constant use of emotional attacks and humiliation in a rigid, structured day in order to break teens’ spirits.

Spring Creek was notorious for a frigid, small isolation room called “the Hobbit”–sometimes teens were left there for months.

From Pathway–which was descended from the infamously abusive Straight Inc.–I received two separate accounts of suicide attempts by girls which were not reported to their parents, and many stories of the usual attack therapy and humiliation. Unfortunately, neither WWASP nor Pathway is completely dead yet: WWASP still has centers operating in the US and abroad, and Pathway has sites in Indiana: Porter and Indianapolis.

I-Team: Drug Center Closes

HELL YEAH!

A controversial drug treatment program the I-Team profiled several years ago has shut its doors to patients. But that doesn’t mean the controversy is over. The I-Team’s Hagit Limor says the teenagers have just been moved to another state.

Kids Helping Kids presented itself as the treatment of last resort when the I-Team got an unprecedented look inside four years ago. No cameras had been allowed before. The treatment the I-Team saw called for complete isolation of newcomers, who don’t go to their home or to school for months, sometimes longer. They aren’t allowed to listen to music or TV. They can’t talk to each other, and must get permission to speak at all.

The executive director of the facility in Milford, Ohio told us in 2005, there’s a reason for this tough love. Penny Walker said, “We deal with difficult kids and sometimes difficult families, and we’re not going to please everybody.” Walker no longer works for Kids Helping Kids.