Monday, November 6, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Keep the home fires burning.

The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave to take care of family medical issues. However, studies find either small or insignificant effects of the legislation on employment, work, leave-taking and wages. Dr. Charles Baum, economics and finance, says, “Perhaps employees are unable to use the leave because it is unpaid or they do not need family leave because they already may take off work via vacation, sick leave and disability leave policies. If so, then family leave legislation may have increased employer-provided family leave without corresponding effects on employment-related outcomes.” In an upcoming academic paper, Baum examines family leave legislation’s effects on employers’ family leave policies, finding positive effects.

Contact Baum at 615-898-2527.
cbaum@mtsu.edu

Mercury rising

On WEDNESDAY, Mercury will slide slowly across the face of the Sun during an event known as a transit. A transit of Mercury is relatively rare—there are only about a dozen in a century. The planet will be seen in silhouette against the Sun for the first time since 2003. Our next chance to observe Mercury transit the Sun will be in 2016. The Department of Physics and Astronomy, weather permitting, will have solar telescopes with special filters available for safe viewing of the transit, which will start at 1:12 p.m. CST. Come by the Uranidrome between 1:12 p.m. and 3 p.m. In case the weather doesn’t cooperate, checkout the Exploratorium’s Webcast of the entire event, a live five-hour, telescope-only feed beginning at 1 p.m. CST at http://www.exploratorium.edu/transit.

Contact the Department of Physics and Astronomy at 615-898-5946.

What a long, strange trip it’s been!

While many think LSD is a relic of the psychedelic ‘60s, a nonprofit organization named for the man who discovered the chemical compound in 1938 has been active for the past 18 years. The Albert Hofmann Foundation’s purpose, according to its Web site, is to record the uses of mind-expanding substances and “to further the understanding and responsible application of psychedelic substances in the investigation of both individual and collective consciousness.” Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says Hofmann accidentally ingested the drug himself in 1943. “Of the ensuing effects, he wrote in his notebook, ‘Everything I saw was distorted, as in a warped mirror.’ Three days later, he intentionally tested a larger dose, using himself as the guinea pig, but had a far different experience. His neighbor ‘was transformed into a witch,’ and he ‘was filled with an overwhelming fear that (he) would go crazy.’” Whatever happened to Albert Hofmann? He turned 100 years old on January 11.

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

OLDER AND WISER--The Adult Services Center, the Older Wiser Learners (OWLs) student organization and the Pinnacle Honor Society will pay tribute to adult learners with several events during National Nontraditional Student Week Nov. 6-10. “At MTSU, we figure approximately 10,000 of the 22,800 students are nontraitional students—married, with families, working full-time and attending classes as well,” Baily says. Events on tap include a Night Owls Open House from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Nov. 6, 7, and 8 at the Adult Services Center in Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. Additional events that week include informational tables and a traditional potluck holiday dinner. For more information, contact Baily at 615-898-5989 or cabaily@mtsu.edu

A WHOLE NEW WORLD--Your children can be transported to Japan, China and Indonesia without flight reservations. A new exhibit at the Discovery Center enables youngsters to play dress-up with sarongs and kimonos, view animated superhero Astro Boy or learn about Japanese folklore on a 20-inch DVD player, construct their own colorful kites, make origami figures, work challenging tangram puzzles, stage their own hand puppet theatre and hold Japanese tea parties. The interactive exhibit is made possible by generous donations from Toshiba, Nissan, the Foreign Ministry of Japan and the Japan-U.S. Program of MTSU. The Discovery Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5 for anyone age 2 and up. Contact Steve Hoskins at the Discovery Center, 502 SE Broad Street, Murfreesboro, at 615-890-2300.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN--While President Dwight Eisenhower gets much of the credit for the creation of the interstate highway system because it happened during his administration, frequently overlooked is U.S. Sen. Albert Gore Sr.’s co-authorship of the Federal Highway Act of 1956, the legislation that made the interstates possible. Dr. Tony Badger, Paul Mellon Professor of American History at Cambridge University and Master of Clare College, Cambridge, will deliver a formal presentation on “Albert Gore Sr., the Interstate Highway Act, and the Modern South” at 7 p.m. THURSDAY in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building. Badger also is writing a biography of the elder Gore. Dr. Lisa Pruitt, director of the Albert Gore Research Center at MTSU, says, “The late Senator Gore’s papers are a rich source of historical documentation on the highways.” Contact Pruitt at the Gore Center at 615-898-2632 or lpruitt@mtsu.edu