Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Bush "Bracing for Impeachment"
According to an article ("Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst", Insight, 23–29 January 2006) published by the conservative publisher of The Washington Times: The Bush administration is bracing for impeachment hearings in Congress. The article — surprisingly — makes it sound quite plausible, in fact, that The Bush administration is bracing for […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Leadership & Conviction
Molly Ivins is a bit ticked* off with the Democrats, but then, who isn't? What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want […]
Two Physics Questions
Angry Professor at "A Gentleman's C" asked two questions that caught my attention: Is there a difference between an electromagnetic field and an electromagnetic wave? Why does the addition of particle detectors in the two-slit experiment cause the collapse of the wavefunction? Good, physics type questions. Naturally I started thinking about answers. I was finally […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science
Christian Tyranny & Original Intent
I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. (Jefferson discussing the fight over the establishment of one form of Christianity in the U.S. to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800. Peterson, Merrill, ed. Jefferson: Writings. New York: Literary Classics of the U.S.: Distributed […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Who Owns What in America
Nancy Pelosi, current Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, published an op-ed this weekend in The Washington Post, calling for wider sharing of classified information between the White House and Congress as a means to better oversight by the Congress of intelligence-gathering activities understaken by the White House. This, of course, in light of […]
In: All, Plus Ca Change..., Splenetics
The Religious Lifestyle
Via Misty at Shakespeare's Sister, I've read the interesting news that the University of California is denying credit for some courses taught at a "Christian" High School. Skipping entirely over whatever merits there may be to the suit brought by the high school — for my money they're a bunch of cry-baby fundamentalists — I […]
Worried to Death
A few nights ago I finished reading the book Buried Alive*, which I found fascinating and informative and generally easy to read. One should note that it is, in addition, a comprehensive and credible work concerning the topic. Anyway, some things continue to puzzle me after closing the book on the last page. These are […]
In: All, Books, Curious Stuff
Indescribable Gay Sex
Pam at Pam's House Blend ("Out Mag: "Is Alabama really the worst place to be a gay person in Bush's America?") quoted Out Magazine quoting former-judge Roy Moore, the Ten-Commandment-Lover of Alabama: Alabama’s highest judicial officer declared homosexuality “abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature.” Gay sex, he wrote, is “an act so heinous that […]
Feeling a Little Derivative
I knew a mathematician who had a recurrent dream. He dreamt that he was a partial derivative. [Jeremy Bernstein, A Theory for Everything (Singer-Verlag, New York, 1996), p. 263.] This quotation no doubt tells you more about me than I expect, but when I read it I found it terribly funny. I also have the […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Laughing Matters
Nixon-Like Quagmires
I am rather enjoying reading accounts of the unravelling of the Bush Felonious Wiretapping Scandal, and find myself wondering, of the following, which is the more invidious comparison to become current for the administration: Calling the elective war in Iraq "another Vietnam quagmire"; or Callig Bush's escapades "Nixon-like"? Either would seem to me to be […]
Beginning One's Life Story
One of [Philip] Pullman's* beliefs is that your life begins when you are born, but your life story begins when you realize that you were delivered into the wrong family by mistake. [From: Laura Miller, "Far From Narnia", The New Yorker, 26 December 2005 & 2 January 2006 (double issue), p. 58.] ———- * Philip Pullman is […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation
Glenn Dale Azaleas
History of Glenn Dale Azaleas Ben Morrison, the first director of The National Arborteum, began a project which lasted from 1920-1953, to develop a broad range of evergreen azaleas which were hardy in the Washington area. He did the bulk of his hybridizing at the Plant Introduction Center, here in Glenn Dale. Over four hundred […]
Break a Leg!
Ecce homo! To my four regular readers, and to anyone else who might have noticed and wondered, I have now an explanation for my sudden and total silence in this space since 4 November. Put simply: in the late morning of that day, I slipped in our bathroom and landed on the little protuberance at […]
Lunar Abundance
Not so long ago, people were getting all excited about whether there might be a new planet for the solar system*, and now it seems that there are to be a new moon or two for Pluto. A NASA press release# (which has accompanying photographs showing the moons) describes things this way: Pluto was discovered […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, It's Only Rocket Science
History Near and Far
I'm beginning to realize that I may never be an A-list blogger, and I notice that I just failed another test. Namely, I forgot to celebrate the start of my blog. It was one year ago, on 18 October 2004, that I wrote my first posting. Tsk. It's an occasion that calls for creating an […]
Two Things
I made a note this past weekend of two little things I wanted to share. One we saw when we were walking in the Annapolis Mall (which has for some time been officially called someone's "Shopping Towne" or some such, but I don't pay much attention to those details anymore. Anyway, there was this little […]
The Gilded Age II
The Gilded Age has returned with a vengeance. Washington again is a spectacle of corruption. The promise of America has been subverted to crony capitalism, sleazy lobbyists, and an arrogance of power matched only by an arrogance of the present that acts as if there is no tomorrow. But there is a tomorrow. I see […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Writing
Now That We've Caught It…?
I'm beginning to think that passing middle age means living everything through words that I've already spoken, writings that I've already written, conversations that I've already had, or cartoons that I've seen. Case in point. I see where Brent Scowcroft says in the New Yorker (I'll read it sometime, but I'm about 3 years behind […]
Buying Civilization
But how to "deliver a minimum level of existance to all"?* I think that's the crux, actually. I don't think that I mind people's being rich, not even fabulously wealthy — it's all part of the American dream, although most of the wealthy are euro-style old-money wealthy. But then, I don't buy into the argument […]
Primates & Judicial Philosophy
Despite my proddings, some of you may still not read Bob Park's "What's New". But that's okay, since I tend to put the best bits here anyway. Recently he solicited readers' questions that might be suitable for appropriately probing the thoughts and positions of Supreme Court nominees regarding science. This week he revealed "the question […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Laughing Matters