Friday, October 29, 2010
Home from the hinterland
We got back from our anual walkabout, last night. This one included Greece, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Montenegro, Malta, Italy and probably a few others I can't think of at the moment. Lovely trip and very enlightning about history back to 5,000 BCE. I will post some of my thoughts when I get organized and hopefully some of the photo's I took. Need to take care of personal family matters so it may be a while before I get back to it
Thursday, September 9, 2010
This is an open letter to Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf
Your efforts to build the Cordoba House near Ground Zero have set back relations with the US non Muslim population in a way as to cause irreparable harm. You see this as a way of demonstrating Muslim tolerance but most of us see it as Muslim arrogance. You look at it as a way of bringing people together and we see it as an attempt to build a “Victory Temple at Ground Zero”. I don’t expect you to understand this but most Americans experience their understanding of Islamic beliefs on the evening news.
We see daily bombings carried out world wide in the name of Islam. Women stoned to death for what we would consider to be a civil matter. Beheadings of innocent people simply because they were non Muslims or God forbid Jews. Muslims dancing in the streets of Gaza because four Israeli Jews were murdered. On a daily basis Muslim extremists bent on murdering their fellow American citizens are arrested in the US. And of course the murder of 3,000 innocent people on Sept 11, 2001; which resulted again in Muslims dancing in the streets worldwide chanting Allah Akbar. Our experience of Islam is as a “barbaric, alien stone age religion” that is the primary cause of world wide strife and it rightly scares the Hell out of us.
We do not see the tolerance in Islam that you proclaim and your actions are interpreted by many of us as arrogance. Wake up before any more harm is done: Apologize to the American people and build the dam center out of sight of Ground Zero.
We see daily bombings carried out world wide in the name of Islam. Women stoned to death for what we would consider to be a civil matter. Beheadings of innocent people simply because they were non Muslims or God forbid Jews. Muslims dancing in the streets of Gaza because four Israeli Jews were murdered. On a daily basis Muslim extremists bent on murdering their fellow American citizens are arrested in the US. And of course the murder of 3,000 innocent people on Sept 11, 2001; which resulted again in Muslims dancing in the streets worldwide chanting Allah Akbar. Our experience of Islam is as a “barbaric, alien stone age religion” that is the primary cause of world wide strife and it rightly scares the Hell out of us.
We do not see the tolerance in Islam that you proclaim and your actions are interpreted by many of us as arrogance. Wake up before any more harm is done: Apologize to the American people and build the dam center out of sight of Ground Zero.
Monday, September 6, 2010
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Climate Change Crusade Falters
George Will’s article (Hartford Courant 9/06/2010) on the cause of the recent failure to enact climate change legislation in the US neglects a fundamental trait of present society and that is: we have become a society of scientific “Denialists”. I was fortunate to have done my undergraduate work in Physics in the 1950’s and to have worked in the Aerospace community in the 1960-1970’s. The success of the Manhattan Project in the 40’s and the amazing success of the Space Race had clearly demonstrated the achievements of modern science. We didn’t know it at the time but this would be the hay day of our success.
In the early 60’s Crick and Watson showed that the mechanism for transmitting genetic information was the DNA structure; the classic twisted helix. This was the last remaining bit of information needed to unequivocally prove Evolution and yet it seemed to do the opposite. Recent polls indicate that 40% of the US population does not believe in Evolution and yet the scientific evidence for it is overwhelming.
Scientific Denialism is evident when we see in the grocery store the exponential growth of aisles containing “organic foods” yet there is no scientific evidence of its superiority. Genetically engineered foods are looked on with dread both in the US, Western Europe and even some places in Africa where it is desperately needed to fend off starvation. Bottled water is now a staple of our society yet there is no evidence of it being superior or tasting better than tap water. We have an epidemic of families refusing to vaccinate their children despite the risks to society. Opponents of nuclear power are aghast that we could possibly consider it a partial solution to global warming.
At one time I believed the explanation for this disbelief resulted from the complexity of modern science; but I no longer believe that to be the total answer. Science is based on skepticism and uncertainty and we live in a society that appears to demand certainty. Certainty however is the province of religion and many of the beliefs of Denialists appear to me to take on a religious nature. That is they are not amenable to skepticism or uncertainty. Perhaps the likely ascendancy of China will have more to do with their scientific belief; rather than economic success.
In the early 60’s Crick and Watson showed that the mechanism for transmitting genetic information was the DNA structure; the classic twisted helix. This was the last remaining bit of information needed to unequivocally prove Evolution and yet it seemed to do the opposite. Recent polls indicate that 40% of the US population does not believe in Evolution and yet the scientific evidence for it is overwhelming.
Scientific Denialism is evident when we see in the grocery store the exponential growth of aisles containing “organic foods” yet there is no scientific evidence of its superiority. Genetically engineered foods are looked on with dread both in the US, Western Europe and even some places in Africa where it is desperately needed to fend off starvation. Bottled water is now a staple of our society yet there is no evidence of it being superior or tasting better than tap water. We have an epidemic of families refusing to vaccinate their children despite the risks to society. Opponents of nuclear power are aghast that we could possibly consider it a partial solution to global warming.
At one time I believed the explanation for this disbelief resulted from the complexity of modern science; but I no longer believe that to be the total answer. Science is based on skepticism and uncertainty and we live in a society that appears to demand certainty. Certainty however is the province of religion and many of the beliefs of Denialists appear to me to take on a religious nature. That is they are not amenable to skepticism or uncertainty. Perhaps the likely ascendancy of China will have more to do with their scientific belief; rather than economic success.
Glen Beck Needs to Understand History.
Glen Beck needs to read some history before he lectures others about it. I think Beck provides a useful addition to our understanding of the beliefs of the leadership of the Revolutionary War but his limited historical knowledge and understanding prevent him from understanding why New Englanders and others thought they could stand up to the British Imperial Might. It was the New Englanders who started the War and they would not have done it if they did not believe they could somehow prevail. Wars are started by individuals with both a grievance and a belief that they can prevail.
The religious among us tend to describe the Mayflowers passengers as all Pilgrims however only half of them were. The half that were not; were a mix of tradesmen, farmers and some soldiers. It was the soldiers such as Miles Standish who brought them through the first winter in Provincetown and who provided their leadership. As we now know the Indian population had been decimated by disease introduced earlier by traders and others who came before the Pilgrims; this meant the Pilgrims only had to deal with the harsh environment and by their poor choice of location at Plymouth were poorly prepared for it.
The transition in belief from English Colonists to American Colonist began to occur during King Philips War. By this time it had become evident to most of the colonists that “living with the savages” was not possible. The Indians had arrived at a similar conclusion and were almost successful in driving the colonists from New England. Again it was the colonial military leadership who prevailed and was able to defeat the Indians although it could very easily have gone the other way. This was the greatest loss of life on a per capita basis in any war the US has ever engaged in. Unfortunately the animosity against the Indians eventually resulted in the destruction of most of the Indian tribes of New England south of what is now Maine.
The 1704 raid by the French and their Indian allies on the town of Deerfield had a harrowing effect on all of the New England settlers. It demonstrated unequivocally that the outlying settlements were incapable of defending themselves from the Indian raiders and that knowledge prevailed along the whole length of the spine of the Appalachian Mountains. The later experience of George Washington at Bradford’s defeat was probably the basis for Washington’s realization that the English Army was incompetent and incapable of defending the colonists. A glimmer of hope came with the defeat of the Iroquois and the defeat of the French by New Englanders at the Fortress of Louisburg in 1745.
In both cases the colonialists had prevailed against almost impossible odds and in both cases where the British military leadership thought it was impossible. At the same time the young conscript colonialists, who had experienced the British brutality to its soldiers and grew to resent it. These were the young men who’s prior experience was primarily as independent farmers. They not only didn’t like it; they refused to be placed under British Military leadership and instead chose to elect their own officers. These young men later became the mature colonial leadership of 1785 and they believed based on their military experience, they could prevail over the British..
I believe the men of the colonial leadership: Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Franklin, Hamilton and even Washington were men of The Enlightenment. This was especially true of Jefferson and Franklin. Franklin’s experiments with electricity were vitally important in understanding the basis of electric charge and Jefferson’s library showed he was familiar with all of the main ideas of the Enlightenment. All of them were skeptics of European ideas of nobility but understood intrinsically that the historic dominance of the churches of Europe was as dangerous as the nobility. We sometimes forget but it was Christianity that brought us the “Dark Ages”, and it was the Enlightenment which brought us out. Some historians ascribe to the invasion of the Visgoths as the cause of the decline of the Roman Empire; but the conversion of the empire to Christianity had as much or more to do with the loss of the military ethos; which ultimately resulted in the inability of the Roman Legions to defend the Empire from the hostile invaders.
Franklin had personal knowledge of the Quaker beliefs about the Indians, which had sadly resulted in the massacre of thousands of settlers on the Western border of Penn. Even Adams the most religious of the lot was knowledgeable of the Pilgrims murder of countless witches and other poor souls who did not meet the Pilgrims definition of piety. He was also knowledgeable about the hanging of Quakers by the Pilgrims because they chose to evangelize among the Pilgrims.
Jefferson after his election was proclaimed the “Spawn of the Devil” by ministers of “enlightened New England” for his Deist beliefs. Freedom of Religion probably had its basis not in the knowledge of persecution of the Pilgrims but in the distrust of the founding fathers for an established religion controlled by the government. They were totally cognizant of what happens when religion comes to dominate society. A quick perusal of Islamic society today should bring that home to both the believers and non-believers alike.
If you would like to check my sources see the following:
“Captive Histories, English, French, Native Narratives of 1704 Deerfield Raid”
‘White Savage”, William Johnson
“King Philips War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict, Eric Schultz,”
“The name of War: King Philips War and the Origins of American Identity”, Douglas Leach
“The Mayflower”, Nathanial Philbrick
There are a number of other references but most are long out of print. The ones I reference are both well written and reflect serious scholarship. You can Google the “Seige of Lousbourg” for information on that critical bit of history and when I can find it I will list what I believe to be the most definitive source I have been able to find..
I got it when I was at the Fortress of Lousbourg’s celebration of that famous battle.
The religious among us tend to describe the Mayflowers passengers as all Pilgrims however only half of them were. The half that were not; were a mix of tradesmen, farmers and some soldiers. It was the soldiers such as Miles Standish who brought them through the first winter in Provincetown and who provided their leadership. As we now know the Indian population had been decimated by disease introduced earlier by traders and others who came before the Pilgrims; this meant the Pilgrims only had to deal with the harsh environment and by their poor choice of location at Plymouth were poorly prepared for it.
The transition in belief from English Colonists to American Colonist began to occur during King Philips War. By this time it had become evident to most of the colonists that “living with the savages” was not possible. The Indians had arrived at a similar conclusion and were almost successful in driving the colonists from New England. Again it was the colonial military leadership who prevailed and was able to defeat the Indians although it could very easily have gone the other way. This was the greatest loss of life on a per capita basis in any war the US has ever engaged in. Unfortunately the animosity against the Indians eventually resulted in the destruction of most of the Indian tribes of New England south of what is now Maine.
The 1704 raid by the French and their Indian allies on the town of Deerfield had a harrowing effect on all of the New England settlers. It demonstrated unequivocally that the outlying settlements were incapable of defending themselves from the Indian raiders and that knowledge prevailed along the whole length of the spine of the Appalachian Mountains. The later experience of George Washington at Bradford’s defeat was probably the basis for Washington’s realization that the English Army was incompetent and incapable of defending the colonists. A glimmer of hope came with the defeat of the Iroquois and the defeat of the French by New Englanders at the Fortress of Louisburg in 1745.
In both cases the colonialists had prevailed against almost impossible odds and in both cases where the British military leadership thought it was impossible. At the same time the young conscript colonialists, who had experienced the British brutality to its soldiers and grew to resent it. These were the young men who’s prior experience was primarily as independent farmers. They not only didn’t like it; they refused to be placed under British Military leadership and instead chose to elect their own officers. These young men later became the mature colonial leadership of 1785 and they believed based on their military experience, they could prevail over the British..
I believe the men of the colonial leadership: Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Franklin, Hamilton and even Washington were men of The Enlightenment. This was especially true of Jefferson and Franklin. Franklin’s experiments with electricity were vitally important in understanding the basis of electric charge and Jefferson’s library showed he was familiar with all of the main ideas of the Enlightenment. All of them were skeptics of European ideas of nobility but understood intrinsically that the historic dominance of the churches of Europe was as dangerous as the nobility. We sometimes forget but it was Christianity that brought us the “Dark Ages”, and it was the Enlightenment which brought us out. Some historians ascribe to the invasion of the Visgoths as the cause of the decline of the Roman Empire; but the conversion of the empire to Christianity had as much or more to do with the loss of the military ethos; which ultimately resulted in the inability of the Roman Legions to defend the Empire from the hostile invaders.
Franklin had personal knowledge of the Quaker beliefs about the Indians, which had sadly resulted in the massacre of thousands of settlers on the Western border of Penn. Even Adams the most religious of the lot was knowledgeable of the Pilgrims murder of countless witches and other poor souls who did not meet the Pilgrims definition of piety. He was also knowledgeable about the hanging of Quakers by the Pilgrims because they chose to evangelize among the Pilgrims.
Jefferson after his election was proclaimed the “Spawn of the Devil” by ministers of “enlightened New England” for his Deist beliefs. Freedom of Religion probably had its basis not in the knowledge of persecution of the Pilgrims but in the distrust of the founding fathers for an established religion controlled by the government. They were totally cognizant of what happens when religion comes to dominate society. A quick perusal of Islamic society today should bring that home to both the believers and non-believers alike.
If you would like to check my sources see the following:
“Captive Histories, English, French, Native Narratives of 1704 Deerfield Raid”
‘White Savage”, William Johnson
“King Philips War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict, Eric Schultz,”
“The name of War: King Philips War and the Origins of American Identity”, Douglas Leach
“The Mayflower”, Nathanial Philbrick
There are a number of other references but most are long out of print. The ones I reference are both well written and reflect serious scholarship. You can Google the “Seige of Lousbourg” for information on that critical bit of history and when I can find it I will list what I believe to be the most definitive source I have been able to find..
I got it when I was at the Fortress of Lousbourg’s celebration of that famous battle.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The Technology we need for Tomorrow is here.
On the way back from Hartford yesterday I turned on PBS because Fridays generally feature a science program. The program was about climate change and the person being interviewed was the Associate Director of the Sierra Club. The topic revolved around the present political situation and the consensus that very little is likely to occur in the next few years due to the lack of credibility of science in today’s political world. Up until this point I agreed with his analysis and awaited the disclosure of what the Sierra Club intended to push over the next few years.
I should state that I am a former member of the Sierra Club and was a member for a number of years. I left when I felt they had become to radicalized and had lost touch with reality. A number of others left including the former Chairman Ansel Adams who was a founding member. Having said that I still felt they still were a positive force for the environmental movement.
He stated their primary goal was to prevent the construction of new “dirty coal plants” and he talked about the health problems of breathing the contaminated air from their smokestacks. He then went on to say we have to replace these plants with “Green Energy” from solar and wind; totally ignoring nuclear power and natural gas. He chose to ignore the fact that photovoltaic solar plants are still not cost competitive and wind power is feasible in only a few areas of the country. Even where photovoltaic is feasible; the desert southwest for example we have to deal with the problem of power storage. The sun does not shine at night and we do not have a way to store large amounts of power for nighttime use.
From an engineering point of view the solutions to excess carbon dioxide generation and air pollution are economically and environmentally feasible NOW. If we were to build no new coal fired power plants and replace them with gas fired and nuclear plants we can reduce carbon dioxide emission by 60-70% and not increase our cost of generation. Over the last ten years we have discovered enough natural gas to keep its cost low for the foreseeable future. Nuclear power plants are expensive to construct because of the regulatory process not because of the cost of power generation. Standardizing the design of the nuclear core, and building smaller generators would go a long way to lower the total cost of nuclear power.
The gorilla in the room is the states with large amounts of coal and the enormous economic cost to them if we simply discontinued the use of coal. Again there is a straightforward engineering solution which will both reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increase the efficiency of auto engines. Coal can be converted to diesel fuel using a process which was originally developed in Europe in the 1930”s. Modern clean burning diesel engines are 40% more efficient than gasoline engines and when combined with the new generation of 6 speed transmissions are capable of lowering fuel consumption by 50%.
These are all steps we can take now using proven technology while we develop the technologies for the future. Modern construction techniques allow us to build environmentally friendly home with energy use a small fraction of what we were able to accomplish just a few years ago. Combine this with commonsense home size and we can dramatically reduce our carbon footprint without sacrificing comfort.
The solutions Proposed here are being used primarily in Europe although China has undertaken a massive Coal to diesel plant and they are just starting to build a new generation of nuclear power plants. Biofuels will become an important source of future transportation and ultimately fusion power will be our power of the future. At that time when power is truly cheap electric cars will make sense. Today’s expensive electric cars depend on inefficient power generation and like ethanol are mindless solutions to a very serious problem.
I worked on the design of thermoelectric and thermionic power generators for space applications and worked on the design of two advanced technology nuclear power generators.
I should state that I am a former member of the Sierra Club and was a member for a number of years. I left when I felt they had become to radicalized and had lost touch with reality. A number of others left including the former Chairman Ansel Adams who was a founding member. Having said that I still felt they still were a positive force for the environmental movement.
He stated their primary goal was to prevent the construction of new “dirty coal plants” and he talked about the health problems of breathing the contaminated air from their smokestacks. He then went on to say we have to replace these plants with “Green Energy” from solar and wind; totally ignoring nuclear power and natural gas. He chose to ignore the fact that photovoltaic solar plants are still not cost competitive and wind power is feasible in only a few areas of the country. Even where photovoltaic is feasible; the desert southwest for example we have to deal with the problem of power storage. The sun does not shine at night and we do not have a way to store large amounts of power for nighttime use.
From an engineering point of view the solutions to excess carbon dioxide generation and air pollution are economically and environmentally feasible NOW. If we were to build no new coal fired power plants and replace them with gas fired and nuclear plants we can reduce carbon dioxide emission by 60-70% and not increase our cost of generation. Over the last ten years we have discovered enough natural gas to keep its cost low for the foreseeable future. Nuclear power plants are expensive to construct because of the regulatory process not because of the cost of power generation. Standardizing the design of the nuclear core, and building smaller generators would go a long way to lower the total cost of nuclear power.
The gorilla in the room is the states with large amounts of coal and the enormous economic cost to them if we simply discontinued the use of coal. Again there is a straightforward engineering solution which will both reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increase the efficiency of auto engines. Coal can be converted to diesel fuel using a process which was originally developed in Europe in the 1930”s. Modern clean burning diesel engines are 40% more efficient than gasoline engines and when combined with the new generation of 6 speed transmissions are capable of lowering fuel consumption by 50%.
These are all steps we can take now using proven technology while we develop the technologies for the future. Modern construction techniques allow us to build environmentally friendly home with energy use a small fraction of what we were able to accomplish just a few years ago. Combine this with commonsense home size and we can dramatically reduce our carbon footprint without sacrificing comfort.
The solutions Proposed here are being used primarily in Europe although China has undertaken a massive Coal to diesel plant and they are just starting to build a new generation of nuclear power plants. Biofuels will become an important source of future transportation and ultimately fusion power will be our power of the future. At that time when power is truly cheap electric cars will make sense. Today’s expensive electric cars depend on inefficient power generation and like ethanol are mindless solutions to a very serious problem.
I worked on the design of thermoelectric and thermionic power generators for space applications and worked on the design of two advanced technology nuclear power generators.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
How to Close the Educational Achievement Gap
The commission appointed by the governor is again going to release its recommendations on closing the educational achievement gap and guess what? They will recommend vast expenditures of funds and will criticize the educational establishment for failing to achieve this noble goal. And what is likely to be the result; in ten years the situation will be worse and we will then appoint another commission to reexamine the issue.
There are two fundamental facts which are ignored in these studies and yet they both fundamentally impact the results. The most important predictor of IQ in society is choice of mate and the second predictor of IQ is the educational achievement of the parents. In a meritocracy IQ is the most important indicator of success, whether in school or the workplace. If we normalize the achievement gap to measured IQ we find the gap disappears!!! Parents instinctively know this and generally use school choice as prime criteria for home selection
What we are trying to change is inherent in the very nature of the society we have chosen to live in. The overwhelming failure of Marxist ideology in modern society is further proof of this insanity. We cannot dictate any desired outcome no matter how noble the outcome would appear to be.
There are two fundamental facts which are ignored in these studies and yet they both fundamentally impact the results. The most important predictor of IQ in society is choice of mate and the second predictor of IQ is the educational achievement of the parents. In a meritocracy IQ is the most important indicator of success, whether in school or the workplace. If we normalize the achievement gap to measured IQ we find the gap disappears!!! Parents instinctively know this and generally use school choice as prime criteria for home selection
What we are trying to change is inherent in the very nature of the society we have chosen to live in. The overwhelming failure of Marxist ideology in modern society is further proof of this insanity. We cannot dictate any desired outcome no matter how noble the outcome would appear to be.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Welcome to the New Normal Temperature
As we set new all time records for heat and humidity in the East this summer; I thought is this the new normal? If the climatology scientists are right; this is what will be the new normal temperature range at some time in the not to distant future. I am not saying this was proof of global warming because the time frame is too small and there is far more real climatology data which is indicative of global warming. For example the worldwide retreat of glaciers is almost impossible to explain without resorting to global phenomena. I have personally witnessed this all over the world; from the Artic to the Antarctic. If someone had told me in 1977 when I first saw the glaciers near the Eiger in Switzerland that in 33 years they would have shrunk by 60% I would have laughed. That however is the new reality.
I am sure my grandchildren will adjust to the new normal but think of what they will have lost. I live in New England by choice, the lovely fall weather, and the new snow in December and the new wildflowers in early spring are all going to change and unfortunately not for the better. We will have to devote more of our scarce resources to staying cool in the summer much as our neighbors in the south now do. Much of the grain production in the US will likely move north to the prairies of Canada. Maybe we will find other things to export or more likely our grandchildren will find their new normal lifestyle to be less than that of their grandparents.
Unfortunately most of these changes will now occur because we either did not make the changes that were necessary or we failed to recognize what was happening. The truth is a species of dominant apes on this planet overcame the natural stability of the planet and we will suffer the consequences for countless generations in the future.
I am sure my grandchildren will adjust to the new normal but think of what they will have lost. I live in New England by choice, the lovely fall weather, and the new snow in December and the new wildflowers in early spring are all going to change and unfortunately not for the better. We will have to devote more of our scarce resources to staying cool in the summer much as our neighbors in the south now do. Much of the grain production in the US will likely move north to the prairies of Canada. Maybe we will find other things to export or more likely our grandchildren will find their new normal lifestyle to be less than that of their grandparents.
Unfortunately most of these changes will now occur because we either did not make the changes that were necessary or we failed to recognize what was happening. The truth is a species of dominant apes on this planet overcame the natural stability of the planet and we will suffer the consequences for countless generations in the future.
Are We Alone?
When I recently read of the discovery of two Saturn size planets orbiting a sun size star 2,000 light years away I was absolutely amazed. The existence of the planets did not surprise me but simply the fact that we could detect them at these distances. For those of you who do not normally think of distance in light years; that is 63,000,000,000 miles from earth. We were not only able to detect them but to determine their approximate mass. That is truly amazing and also humbling for a number of reasons.
The universe is estimated to be 4,730,000,000,000,000,000 miles in diameter therefore the distance to the planets is 1/77,000,000 of the diameter of the universe. We have now detected over 500 exo-planets and have only been able to detect them for the past 10 years. With the new (2009) Kepler telescope now in orbit we are likely to expand the number of planets detected by several orders of magnitude and yet we will still have only been able to see extremely close stars.
Are we truly alone in this universe? The scientific data seems to point in the direction of life existing in multiple places in the universe, but because of the immense distances involved we may never interact with any other life forms. Steven Hawking thinks that is a good thing and points to the destruction of the Native American population after Columbus. I would like to live long enough to see that question answered definitively but I think that highly improbable. Hopefully my grandchildren will know with certainty, but they and all of mankind will have to integrate that knowledge with our present primitive religious beliefs.
The universe is estimated to be 4,730,000,000,000,000,000 miles in diameter therefore the distance to the planets is 1/77,000,000 of the diameter of the universe. We have now detected over 500 exo-planets and have only been able to detect them for the past 10 years. With the new (2009) Kepler telescope now in orbit we are likely to expand the number of planets detected by several orders of magnitude and yet we will still have only been able to see extremely close stars.
Are we truly alone in this universe? The scientific data seems to point in the direction of life existing in multiple places in the universe, but because of the immense distances involved we may never interact with any other life forms. Steven Hawking thinks that is a good thing and points to the destruction of the Native American population after Columbus. I would like to live long enough to see that question answered definitively but I think that highly improbable. Hopefully my grandchildren will know with certainty, but they and all of mankind will have to integrate that knowledge with our present primitive religious beliefs.
Stupidity Reigns in the Lame Street Media
Just when I conclude the dopes in the Lame Street Media have bottomed out in their stupidity, I open my Sunday paper and what are the lead stories? A laid off art teacher in New Britain is going to be hired back and a Murder trial in New London will start jury selection Sept 7 after an eight year delay. Then on page 4, I find that their were two rallies in Washington DC one lead by Glen Beck and one by Rev. Al Sharpton of Tawana Brawley fame. The two rallies are intercom pared as if they were comparable; except for one glaring difference, one is attended by at most 2,500 and one is attended by over 300,000+. This may in itself be a record for attendance at any event in Washington’s history.
Given the attendance at Beck’s rally (300,000 +) there was obviously something important that the crowd expected to hear. The article sums this up by stating “Beck makes a call for renewal while Sharpton decries setting, timing”. Is that all there was; or are we once again treated to shameless media bias of the Lame Street Media? I suppose the same reporter would have proclaimed, “The Ford theatre performance was sold out and President Lincoln was shot.
It is becoming more and more evident that the disconnect between the so called media elites and the population is such that one side finds itself totally incapable of comprehending what the other believes. That is a sad state of affairs in that we do need a vigilant media to maintain the trust of the population for the government. When that fails we are likely to experience a change for the worse in our Republic. Unfortunately I see no evidence that is likely to change any time in the future and given the publics mistrust of the media; that does not bode well for our future.
Given the attendance at Beck’s rally (300,000 +) there was obviously something important that the crowd expected to hear. The article sums this up by stating “Beck makes a call for renewal while Sharpton decries setting, timing”. Is that all there was; or are we once again treated to shameless media bias of the Lame Street Media? I suppose the same reporter would have proclaimed, “The Ford theatre performance was sold out and President Lincoln was shot.
It is becoming more and more evident that the disconnect between the so called media elites and the population is such that one side finds itself totally incapable of comprehending what the other believes. That is a sad state of affairs in that we do need a vigilant media to maintain the trust of the population for the government. When that fails we are likely to experience a change for the worse in our Republic. Unfortunately I see no evidence that is likely to change any time in the future and given the publics mistrust of the media; that does not bode well for our future.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Islam and the Lame Street Media
The LAME street media has determined that 75% of Americans are dupes and bigoted for their opposition to a Mosque at Ground Zero. I personally am amazed at the tolerance of Americans in the face of Islamic idiocy. What face does Islam present to us on a daily basis? The murder of 3,000 citizens because a group of Islamic nut cases were incapable of killing more. A US Army major who murders his fellow soldiers in the name of Islam. A daily indictment of home grown Islamic terrorists. How about the public beheading of Danny Pearl or the weekly parade of honor killings by good Muslims who felt the daughter or wife’s behavior brought shame on their family.
How about the daily murder of people in Iraq and Afghanistan by so called suicide bombers carried out in the name of Allah; with the belief that they will go to heaven and be given a bevy of virgins. Unfortunately it is not simply our problem but a world wide problem. A young girl in Iran is hanged at age 15 for having sex with an older man. In the US we would have arrested the man and sought treatment for the girl. In Iran today there is a woman awaiting a Sharia sentence of being stoned to death. Last week a couple was stoned to death in Afghanistan for adultery. This is Stone Age barbarism.
How about the annual riots in France in areas the police are now afraid to go. Or Holland where a prominent journalist has his throat cut because he dared to question the beliefs of Islam. Even merry old England where on weekly basis the crazy imams curse and vilify the country that gave them shelter. How about the visceral hatred of Jews in the Muslim world. The leadership of many of the Arab countries believes the “Protocol of the Elders of Zion” to be factual, rather than the sick concoction of The Russian Czar’s Intelligence Service. How about the charter of Hamas which is begins with ”In the name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate” and then goes on to describe how Muslims have an obligation “to kill the Jews, all of them”. And the leader of Iran tells us that the Holocaust never happened.
Have the Lame street media ever wondered why their opinions have become trivial to the public and there readership in a dramatic decline. They like to pretend it is the internet but how does that explain the increase in readership of the Wall Street Journal or the explosion of Fox News. The truth is they pretend to be the face of reason but ignore reality. The simple truth is: Islam seems to breed a particular brand of insanity that the civilized world left behind 500 years ago. Not all Muslims of course subscribe to this insanity but because they fail to speak out in opposition to it they are assumed to be party to it. It is not the American people who are the fools and dupes it is the sick Lame street media, who dares to call us racist.
How about the daily murder of people in Iraq and Afghanistan by so called suicide bombers carried out in the name of Allah; with the belief that they will go to heaven and be given a bevy of virgins. Unfortunately it is not simply our problem but a world wide problem. A young girl in Iran is hanged at age 15 for having sex with an older man. In the US we would have arrested the man and sought treatment for the girl. In Iran today there is a woman awaiting a Sharia sentence of being stoned to death. Last week a couple was stoned to death in Afghanistan for adultery. This is Stone Age barbarism.
How about the annual riots in France in areas the police are now afraid to go. Or Holland where a prominent journalist has his throat cut because he dared to question the beliefs of Islam. Even merry old England where on weekly basis the crazy imams curse and vilify the country that gave them shelter. How about the visceral hatred of Jews in the Muslim world. The leadership of many of the Arab countries believes the “Protocol of the Elders of Zion” to be factual, rather than the sick concoction of The Russian Czar’s Intelligence Service. How about the charter of Hamas which is begins with ”In the name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate” and then goes on to describe how Muslims have an obligation “to kill the Jews, all of them”. And the leader of Iran tells us that the Holocaust never happened.
Have the Lame street media ever wondered why their opinions have become trivial to the public and there readership in a dramatic decline. They like to pretend it is the internet but how does that explain the increase in readership of the Wall Street Journal or the explosion of Fox News. The truth is they pretend to be the face of reason but ignore reality. The simple truth is: Islam seems to breed a particular brand of insanity that the civilized world left behind 500 years ago. Not all Muslims of course subscribe to this insanity but because they fail to speak out in opposition to it they are assumed to be party to it. It is not the American people who are the fools and dupes it is the sick Lame street media, who dares to call us racist.
Friday, August 20, 2010
What happened before the Big Bang?
The other night I awoke at 3 AM for my usual trip to the throne but when I tried to go back to sleep I found myself thinking about what is probably the most difficult problem in modern cosmology: can we know anything before the Big Bang? To put this in perspective we can trace back the behavior of the universe to 0.000,000,001 seconds after the Big Bang with a high degree of certainty and to 10 -35 seconds with laws of physics that at least make sense. The prevailing theoretical concept of the Big Bang is: it occurred as a tear in the fabric of space; but at the instant of the Big Bang space did not exist; at least for our universe. It therefore gives credence to the idea of a multi-verse (more than one universe) but that could not be true unless the universe had more than 4 dimensions; which supports Super String Theory.
The creation of the universe per the Big Bang requires a singularity which as we now know is common. For example at the center of every galaxy we have been able to study, there is a Black Hole which is by common definition a singularity. Another interesting speculation is: are the laws of physics the same on both sides of a singularity? Ex Is energy conserved? In our universe the sum of all energies equals zero because the gravitational force exactly cancels the mass of the universe!!! That supports the idea of the universe coming into existence through a tear in the fabric of space and explains how you get something from nothing. Unfortunately it doesn’t tell us anything about what preceded it.
Who else in this universe is pondering the same question? With 100+ billion galaxys each containing 100 + billion stars; there must be some other poor soul pondering the same question without being able to go back to sleep. If you have any ideas drop me a note.
The creation of the universe per the Big Bang requires a singularity which as we now know is common. For example at the center of every galaxy we have been able to study, there is a Black Hole which is by common definition a singularity. Another interesting speculation is: are the laws of physics the same on both sides of a singularity? Ex Is energy conserved? In our universe the sum of all energies equals zero because the gravitational force exactly cancels the mass of the universe!!! That supports the idea of the universe coming into existence through a tear in the fabric of space and explains how you get something from nothing. Unfortunately it doesn’t tell us anything about what preceded it.
Who else in this universe is pondering the same question? With 100+ billion galaxys each containing 100 + billion stars; there must be some other poor soul pondering the same question without being able to go back to sleep. If you have any ideas drop me a note.
Reaction to the Muslim Mosque Propossed in Manhattan
As I was driving home from the barbershop listening to Public Radio interview a very left of center lawyer discussing the “hate mongering” of those who believe the Muslims should not build a Temple at Ground Zero: I came to realize the extreme left still probably believes that 9/11/2001 was simply us getting our just dues. What is wrong with these people that they can believe that the 75% of the US population who believes that the Shrine should be built elsewhere are racists? The don’t seem to understand that it was a group of Muslims who murdered 3,000 + people in the name of their religion and Muslims on a world wide basis danced in the streets with joy. In spite of Osama’s apology to the Muslim world for past offences we supposedly have committed against them; they now hate us more than ever. That shrine is an offence to all of us.
The hate mongering that now goes on in the Arab world against Jews is as virulent as any Nazi propaganda that Goebel’s ever put out. Several days ago a young couple was stoned to death in Afghanistan and another woman is scheduled to be stoned in Iran in accordance with Sharia Law. These people are “stone age barbaric” and until we recognize that, and speak out against this insanity we are going to be perceived as Bin Laden said; as weak and pitiful. We need a Ronald Reagan President who is willing to start speaking the truth and calling a spade a spade. I have more respect for Benjamin Netanhu than I do for our own president and I hope he can do what we seem incapable of and that is to stop the nuclear insanity in Iran.
When Israel attacks Iran I sincerely hope they do the job that we should be doing but do it in a way that prevents Iran from threatening countries in the Middle East for a long long time. If that means destroying the power grid and infrastructure of Iran, I am all for it. Israel will be denounced on a world wide basis for whatever they do so I hope they do it thoroughly and at the same time take care of Hezbollah and Hamas. When Allied forces advanced in Europe during WW2 they would offer the towns the choice of hanging out white sheets or being destroyed by Allied armor. They generally chose white sheets. I personally don’t care whether Muslims hate us or not but I want to be sure they fear our power.
The hate mongering that now goes on in the Arab world against Jews is as virulent as any Nazi propaganda that Goebel’s ever put out. Several days ago a young couple was stoned to death in Afghanistan and another woman is scheduled to be stoned in Iran in accordance with Sharia Law. These people are “stone age barbaric” and until we recognize that, and speak out against this insanity we are going to be perceived as Bin Laden said; as weak and pitiful. We need a Ronald Reagan President who is willing to start speaking the truth and calling a spade a spade. I have more respect for Benjamin Netanhu than I do for our own president and I hope he can do what we seem incapable of and that is to stop the nuclear insanity in Iran.
When Israel attacks Iran I sincerely hope they do the job that we should be doing but do it in a way that prevents Iran from threatening countries in the Middle East for a long long time. If that means destroying the power grid and infrastructure of Iran, I am all for it. Israel will be denounced on a world wide basis for whatever they do so I hope they do it thoroughly and at the same time take care of Hezbollah and Hamas. When Allied forces advanced in Europe during WW2 they would offer the towns the choice of hanging out white sheets or being destroyed by Allied armor. They generally chose white sheets. I personally don’t care whether Muslims hate us or not but I want to be sure they fear our power.
Thoughts of a wanderer: Dishonest Journalism
Thoughts of a wanderer: Dishonest Journalism: "I guesss I am one of those who still expects journalists to be intelectualy honest, and I am still suprised when they fail. Is honesty and i..."
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Dishonest Journalism
I guesss I am one of those who still expects journalists to be intelectualy honest, and I am still suprised when they fail. Is honesty and integrity something we no longer respect? What is it that makes a journalist think that we will not scrutinize his or her writings for intelectual dishonesty. I am not interested in his opinions unless clearly stated as opinions not fact. Some of it may have to do with who we keep company with. If most of our associates hold certain opinions perhaps we conclude that opinions are reality; but that is sloppy journalism at best. I would like to see more newspapers use ombudsman with real power and use that power to demand honesty and integrity from journalists; but some of the cynics tell me I am expecting to much. What do you think?
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