The long-speculated collapse of the west Antarctic ice sheet is underway, and also appears to be on an unstoppable trajectory. According to the recently-published research documenting this (Joughin et al., 2014; McMillan et al., 2014; Rignot et al., 2014) it will likely take a couple of centuries for the ice sheets to transfer their water to the sea (in the case of land ice). Among other things, this means that already rising sea levels will accelerate (see this NASA summary discussion on past meltwater pulses and their effects on sea level: http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/gornitz_09/)

Earth surface systems are characterized by components that are adjusted, and those that aren't. By "adjusted," I mean that they have had time to respond to the most recent change or disturbance, and reach relaxation time equilibrium (Phillips, 2009), are considered to be characteristic of their environment. Non-adjusted components are inherited from past environmental conditions, or are inherently dynamically unstable, nonequilibrium phenomena that basically don't reach a stable condition. You could also add a third category--phenomena that are in the process of adjustment, but haven't have time to complete the process (this corresponds roughly to Renwick's (1992) triad of equilibrium, nonequilibrium, and disequilibrium geomorphic systems). 

The attached describes a simple method for measuring and quantifying the degree of adjustedness in environmental systems--at least the quantification is simple; determining what constitutes adjusted, adjusting, and non-adjusted could get hairy. This was the seed of what was to be a research proposal, but I doubt that I will ever have time to pursue it. Maybe you will!

Science fiction and popular science writer Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Riffing on that theme, I once gave a talk in which I proclaimed that "any sufficiently improbable event is distinguishable from the miraculous." Some definitions of "miracle" invoke the divine or supernatural, but I have in mind the definition (in this case from the Merriam-Webster dictionary) as: "an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment." The point of the argument is that, due to the inescapable, irreducible role of geographical and historical contingency in Earth surface systems, all such systems (landscapes, ecosystems, soils, etc.) are unique in some respects (a formal argument along these lines is presented in this article: Phillips, J.D.  2007.  The perfect landscape.  Geomorphology 84: 159-169.). Thus the probability of existence of any given state of any given system at a given point in time is infinitesimally low. This exceedingly low probability makes nearly any environment in some senses extremely outstanding and unusual, and thus a miracle.

I was born in Danville, KY and lived there until 2003. I moved to Lexington in 2003 after graduating Centre College where I earned my BS in Biology. I then attended the College of Public Health (’06) here at UK to earn my Master’s of Public Health (MPH).  I began working at UK in 2005 for the College of Pharmacy and last year (2013) started working for the College of Arts & Sciences.  I have been married for almost 9 years to my wife Marianne and we live here in Lexington. We have a son, Thomas, who is 4 years old.  We also have a dog named Sophie, and two cats, Bell and Alley.

1.

UK has been a large part of my life, working here since 1978.  I can truly say that it is a great place to work.  I was most excited to join Arts and Sciences in the fall of 2013 and I absolutely love being part of this learning environment. 

2. What is your favorite movie?
Toss up between Holiday House and Must Love Dogs.

A&S Staff Spotlight: Shane Barton from UK College of Arts & Sciences on Vimeo.

Can you guess who is in the picture and what his/her favorite song is from the 1970s? 

click the picture to listen to his/her favorite song. 

Guess who is in the picture and match the photo and song with the appropriate A&S Staff member.

Jessica Pennington is the Behavioral Case Specialist for A&S and also works with the residential colleges.  Before starting with A&S in June, she worked as a Research Assistant for the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development.   Jessica’s is a UK grad with both a BA in Psychology and MS in Educational Psychology.  Jessica was born in New Jersey, and grew up half in California and the other half in London, KY. She lives in Lexington with her husband of 2 ½ years, Adam.

I am a pretty serious crafter, I crafted my entire wedding everything from my garter to making over 250 paper flowers. I still love wedding crafting, woodworking and making homemade gifts for people is my favorite. Other than that I like to read and spend time with family and friends.

How many of us live by our smart phones? Who of us would not know where to be every hour of the day without our electronic reminders and alarms? I know I rely on my iPhone for more than just making phone calls and texting my teenagers to make sure plans made in the morning are still relevant in the afternoon. If I am unfamiliar with how to get somewhere, my map app gives me turn by turn directions so that I don’t waste precious time. All of the information available, day or night, comes with a potential cost that far exceeds monthly data plan rates.

Today, expectations for many are that we are accessible 24/7. Because we have our work email synced to our smart devices, we can literally start “working” as soon as we awake each morning and can answer our last email right before going to bed at night. Many of us find it hard to fall asleep thinking about the last email we received and the impact it will have on the day ahead. The result can be as severe as insomnia or such light sleep that the body doesn’t properly recharge. Over time, the problems can intensify.