What's New Robert L. Park May 7, 2010

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, May 7, 2010   Washington, DC

1. FIRST AMENDMENT: OBAMA APPEALS NATIONAL PRAYER DAY RULING.
One week ago Pres. Barack Obama proclaimed May 6, 2010 to be a National D=
ay=20
of Prayer in accordance with his responsibilities under Public Law 82-324=
. =20
I heard no pealing of church bells yesterday, nor were throngs of the=20
faithful seen gathering to give thanks.   The only indication that=20
yesterday was National Prayer Day was a full-page ad in the New York Time=
s=20
announcing that Federal District Court Judge Barbara Crabb had ruled that=
=20
the law is an unconstitutional call to religious action.  However, Judge=20
Crabb put enforcement of her ruling on hold pending appeal, allowing=20
already scheduled prayer events to go on.  The ad in the NYT, and perhaps=
=20
in other newspapers as well, was placed by the Freedom From Religion=20
Foundation, which initiated the court action by suing.  It is no accident=
=20
that the Bill of Rights begins with the establishment clause; many of the=
=20
framers of the Constitution, having seen the pernicious effects of state=20
religions in Europe, were determined to produce a religion-free document.=
  =20
They would have been shocked that the Rev. Billy Graham, a Southern Bapti=
st=20
evangelist from North Carolina, could show up at the United States Capito=
l=20
164 years later and instruct Congress to pass a law directing the Preside=
nt=20
to urge citizens to pray; Congress dutifully obliged.   Moreover, althoug=
h=20
the law was a clear violation of the establishment clause of the First=20
Amendment, it was allowed to stand unchallenged for 58 years.  It require=
d=20
the President of the United States to set aside a day each year as a=20
National Day of Prayer and every President since has meekly complied; it=20
would be political suicide to do otherwise.  Likewise, the President can=20
not publicly thank U.S.  Federal District Court Judge Barbara Crabb for=20
upholding the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  I'm not the=20
President, but What's New thanks her.

2. THE TRIP: JUST DO THE CALCULATION.
A hundred years ago, more or less, I had a professor whose response to=20
every question was: "Do the calculation."  His point was that I knew more=
=20
than I thought I did. Last week I did the calculation of the energy per=20
gram to get something to the nearest star. Right there in front of the=20
world, I knew less than I thought I knew.  I still have trouble convertin=
g=20
units.  I got 317MJ/g.  The correct answer, I think, is 317GJ/g.

3. RARE-EARTHS: THEY ARE NOT THAT RARE IN CHINA.
The 15 metals in the lanthanide series of the periodic table (57-71)plus=20
scandium(21)    and yttrium(39) are hot.  They play an important role in=20
many high-tech applications ranging from hybrid automobiles to missile=20
defense.  An excellent article by David Kramer in the May issue of Physic=
s=20
Today focuses on the area of concern: they are fairly abundant in the=20
Earth's crust, as long as the crust is called China.  Before 1950 if you=20
were interested in rare-earths you bought a bucket of them from China, al=
l=20
mixed together.    But the Ames laboratory in Ames, Iowa became the world=
=20
center of the chemistry and properties of the rare earth metals. There ar=
e=20
plenty of rare-earths outside China and there is now motivation to find=20
them.=20

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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