1. Muckrakers: Thanks to a lot of colleagues who apply large brains and big hours to sorting out the truth from the BS in Science and Environment.
2. The Web: God Bless the web. Just like TV fifty years earlier, the web makes it easier for us to be smarter. Or stupider.
3. Crazy Inventors: Note to Dean Kamen: The Segway probably didn't “change life as we know it.” But inventing a water purifier for developing-world villages just might. And the annual “First” student robotics competition could help develop plenty more world-changers.
4. Park Rangers: Underpaid and underappreciated, they keep an eye on the places we go to take refuge from modern life.
5. My Favorite Refuge: Yosemite National Park, activities and sightseeing are all about the great outdoors and everything you can do to immerse yourself in its wonders.
6. Historians: The hardy band of people who are trying their best to have us not repeat our mistakes. A special shout-out for the season goes to Nathaniel Philbrick, whose book “Mayflower” busts through the Thansgiving myths we've constructed and gives a real picture of 17th Century Colonial America as a pretty hairy place.
7. Rocket Scientists: It may not exactly be brain surgery, but thanks for letting us explore beyond the bounds of Earth.
8. Bees: Thanks for pollinating our plants and flowers. Maybe we'll stop killing you off someday.
9. Politicians: Okay, it's a very limited thanks. But thanks at least for providing and funding parklands and trails. Since this is a happy blog, I'll let my other thoughts on politicians go for now. Maybe you could pay the Park Rangers something beyond a subsistence wage.
10. Science Teachers: The one that sticks out for me is the late Dr. George Marchesi, a former vaudeville magician who would work his magic act into Physics lectures. Thanks, Doc, it was the only way I could have ever gotten through Physics, let alone actually remember some of it.
11. Forecasters and Engineers: There are a couple of hundred dead and missing from Hurricane Ike, the worst storm to hit the U.S. this season. That's awful, but a century ago, a similar storm in a similar place killed over 6,000 in Galveston. Thanks to those who send out the warning, those who build the buildings and seawalls, and the ones who work Public Safety jobs. You're all lifesavers.
OSL