Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Democracy, Existentialism September 11, 2001, was on a Tuesday. We were a year from a contested election decided by the Supreme Court. We were scrambling to make sense of the senseless, and trying mightily, not to individually, or collectively go insane. I remember President George W. Bush being told thatContinue reading “Post-Trauma Citizens…”
Category Archives: Existentialism
Authenticity…
James Carter, the 39th President of the United States, https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/james-carter/ Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Democracy, Education, Existentialism, Nobel Peace Prize, Nuclear Power James Earl Carter Jr. was the 39th President of the United States. In 1980, I voted for the first time as an eighteen-year-old for his re-election. He lost to Reagan,Continue reading “Authenticity…”
Retreat and Aftermath…
Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Democracy, Existentialism Like many people after the election, I retreated from corporate media, which is anything on television and in print now. GE/Comcast, News Corps/Fox, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS: six corporations control 90% of what we passively consume after long hard days of work on whatContinue reading “Retreat and Aftermath…”
40 Years To Now…
Image Source: University of Notre Dame Topics: African Americans, Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Existentialism Update on what I’ve been doing: I was on the workgroup out of Washington for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) on this project. Perchloroethylene (Perc) is a common solvent for dry cleaning, selected for its low flashContinue reading “40 Years To Now…”
Entropy and Empires…
Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Entropy, Existentialism The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival, Sir John Glubb, Abe Books In these inspiring essays, Sir John Glubb examines the human race over 4,000 years and finds the same patterns of rise and fall of national greatness on the same timescale. I. Pioneers –Continue reading “Entropy and Empires…”
The End of History…
Topics: African Americans, Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Democracy, Existentialism, Fascism, History “The End of History and the Last Man,” by Francis Fukuyama “a 1992 book of political philosophy by American political scientist Francis Fukuyama argues that with the ascendancy of Western liberal democracy—which occurred after the Cold War (1945–1991) and the dissolution of the SovietContinue reading “The End of History…”
Wages of the Thermal Budget…
Topics: Applied Physics, Astrobiology, Astrophysics, Civilization, Climate Change, Existentialism, Exoplanets, SETI, Thermodynamics Well, this firmly puts a kink in the “Fermi Paradox.” The Industrial Revolution started in Britain around 1760 – 1840, and there was a colloquial saying that “the sun did not set on the British Empire.” The former colony, America, cranked up itsContinue reading “Wages of the Thermal Budget…”
Antarctic Greenbelt…
Hummocks of moss cover Ardley Island off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Credit: Dan Charman Topics: Antarctica, Civilization, Climate Change, Existentialism, Global Warming A fast-warming region of Antarctica is getting greener with shocking speed. Satellite imagery of the region reveals that the area covered by plants increased by almost 14 times over 35 years — aContinue reading “Antarctic Greenbelt…”
Amber, Candi, and Eugenics…
Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Democracy, Diaspora, Existentialism, Fascism Eugenics is the scientifically inaccurate theory that humans can be improved through selective breeding of populations. Eugenicists believed in a prejudiced and incorrect understanding of Mendelian genetics, which claimed abstract human qualities (e.g., intelligence, and social behaviors) were inherited in a simple fashion. Similarly, they believedContinue reading “Amber, Candi, and Eugenics…”
Faith and Misconduct…
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan Statue, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Democracy, Democratic Republic, Existentialism Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I join my colleague Mr. Rangel in thanking you for giving the junior members of this committee the glorious opportunity of sharing the pain of this inquiry. Mr. Chairman, you are a strongContinue reading “Faith and Misconduct…”
Physics and Nano 