Climate of fear Anti-science protestors led to the closure of the High Flux Beam Reactor at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US 25 years ago using tactics that are widespread today. (Courtesy: iStock/DanielVilleneuve) Topics: Biology, Cancer, Carl Sagan, Civilization, Climate Change, Philosophy, Physics I typically don’t comment on articles, but this one resonated with myContinue reading “Brookhaven and Fake News”
Category Archives: Civilization
Bedlam, Swatting, Terrorism…
Image source: CSO online – Swatting Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Existentialism, Fascism, Star Trek Bedlam is a scene of madness, chaos, or great confusion. The term bedlam comes from the name of a hospital in London, “Saint Mary of Bethlehem,” which was devoted to treating the mentally ill in the 1400s. Over time, the pronunciation ofContinue reading “Bedlam, Swatting, Terrorism…”
Curated, Created Realities…
Image source: Facebook meme Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Democracy, Existentialism, Fascism What is lost in the above Facebook meme: 5:00 – 5:30 pm was typically your local news. 6:00 – 6:30 pm, before “Bewitched,” was your international news, the Walter Cronkites, Mike Wallaces, and Harry Reasoner’s time to scare the living crapContinue reading “Curated, Created Realities…”
Births, Stats, Mathematics…
Source: Brookings Institution Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Democracy, Existentialism, Fascism Cate Cox and Brittany Watts: Their last names rhyme, but their circumstances couldn’t be more diametrically different from one another. Cate Cox is a married suburban mother with two children. She previously lived in a suburb of Dallas, Texas, but due to her condition,Continue reading “Births, Stats, Mathematics…”
The Red Road…
Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Democracy, Existentialism, Fascism I can hear an irritated counterthrust already. The president has not driven the United States into a recession during his almost seven years in office. Unemployment stands at a respectable 4.6 percent. Well, fine. But the other side of the ledger groans with distress: a tax codeContinue reading “The Red Road…”
Power and Resources…
French economist Thomas Piketty compares the US economy to Europe in the Gilded Age. Oregon Live, 2014 Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Democracy, Existentialism, Fascism Thomas Piketty wrote “Capital in the 21st Century” in 2013 centered on the wealth inequality we can see all around us. I can see more house-less citizens onContinue reading “Power and Resources…”
Oxymoron…
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists shifted the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight at a news conference in January 2023. From left, Siegfried Hecker, Daniel Holz, Sharon Squassoni, Mary Robinson and Elbegdorj Tsakhia (Photo credit: Patrick Semansky). Topics: Astrobiology, Civilization, Existentialism, Science Fiction, SETI, Space Exploration A few weeks ago, I posted “Wine of Consciousness”Continue reading “Oxymoron…”
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once…
The Flood by Antonio Marziale Carracci Topics: Civilization, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Existentialism, Global Warming Another week, another catastrophic, record-setting, history-making flood, this time in Kentucky. Preliminary assessments indicate rainfall in Graves County last week likely set a new record for most precipitation in a 24-hour period, with 11.28 inches of rain. This would make it yetContinue reading “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once…”
Pattern Recognition…
“Last Battlefield,” 47 years later, StarTrek.com, January 10, 2016 Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Existentialism, Fascism, Human Rights, Star Trek The Cleve Cartmill affair, source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadline_(science_fiction_story) I admit I had heard of this before, but I didn’t know the government gave it his name. It figures because Cleve was clever (see what I did there?)Continue reading “Pattern Recognition…”
A Cult of Ignorance…
Asimov image: https://karsh.org/isaac-asimov/ Sagan image: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755981/ Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Democracy, Existentialism Note: The Nobel Prize will be awarded starting Monday in Physiology, then Physics (my admitted favorite), Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Economics the following Monday. Thus, the concentration of the postings will be Nobel as they post. I will be “nerdingContinue reading “A Cult of Ignorance…”
Physics and Nano 