word of the day

I thought this one would appeal to some of you... ;)

sciential

adj 1: relating to or producing knowledge or science
*2: having efficient knowledge : capable

*On the value of having a library at hand, Coleridge wrote: "“There is no way of arriving at any sciential end but by finding it at every step.”"

Source: Page-A-Day calendar e-mail. The * indicates which meaning the sentence is illustrating.

Martin Luther King Jr Day

From the Episcopal Lectionary, in celebration of Martin's life:

Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last:

Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Feast days such as today include Bible readings specific to the person or event being celebrated. The Bible readings are from Exodus and Luke for the Rev King are especially appropriate.

Working out.

It's work.

Satanists for Intelligent Design

You could hypothesize, for example, that a Satanist could step forward to support ID. Yes, the world shows evidence of an intelligent designer, but one with a sick sense of humor. Therefore, the Satanist might conclude, Intelligent Design is correct, and we should worship the Devil, since the world seems more like his handiwork than the Other Guy's.
- J. M. Tyree writing in the revealer

Hee.

Do you know where the stairs are?

What do you do when a plane hits your office building?

What some people did on 9/11 was freeze. Most milled around a bit, asking others what to do. Over 1000 survivors took the time to shut their computers down. According to one survivor quoted in Time, "What I really wanted was for someone to scream back, 'Everything is O.K.! Don't worry.'" Fortunately for her, a with-it co-worker yelled "Get out!"; she did. Per the experts quoted in the article, intense disbelief is a common stage in the face of disaster. The article ("How To Get Out Alive" from the May 2 2005 issue) is archived on the Time pay site, but I thought some notes worth typing in here.

In a disaster:
10% to 15% of people stay calm and can act immediately & efficiently.
15% freak.
70% to 75% freeze.

( Another example: airplane evacuations )

From the "Survival Tips" sidebar:

• Be a nerd   People who obey fire drills and read safety diagrams on airplanes have programmed their brains to escape. In a real disaster, your vision and thinking will most likely be impaired, so you will need the help. Why don't more people do these things? They think it's not cool, surveys show.
  
• Think vertically   Humans don't intuitively understand skyscrapers. Imagine working at one end of a long building in which the exits are four football fields away. If you're on the 60th floor, rescuers won't reach you for at least an hour and a half.
  
• Travel light   In airplane evacuations (which actually happen fairly often), people lunge for their carry-on bags before escaping. Don't do it. If you work in a skyscraper, keep flat shoes nearby. In the Trade Center, hundreds of women ditched their heels on the stairs.

As for the title of this post, a lot of office buildings are built to funnel you to the elevators. Stairs are relatively hidden. Some of this is changing to encourage walking (Msft buildings frequently have the stairs front and center by the windows and elevators hidden away) but if you're in a building where the stairs aren't obvious...might be a good idea to be familiar with 'em. Earthquakes happen, you know. So do fires.