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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

What the popular novelist and playwright Kurt Vonnegut wrote here is one interpretation of our need for religion, and I regard him as one of the most astute observers of human civilization.

Yet I submit the the principal driver of religion is fear. People who are terrified of death, or even chaos, need to believe in a celestial big brother to keep them from danger.

The rest of us would prefer to live in a universe that actually makes sense, and we accept that if that universe is indifferent to our well-being, as it most certainly appears to be, so be it.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

As tensions between China and the United States rise, U.S. military equipment is flooding into Southeast Asia, in places like the Philippines, Okinawa, Australia, and Guam.

Some suggest that building embassies, so as better engage in diplomacy, is a stronger idea than increasing the our firepower of weapons of war.

To many of us, this military build-up defies common sense.  To the degree that China feels threatened, the probability of war increases, and vice versa.

As novelist Margaret Halsey said, “The crucial disadvantage of aggression, competitiveness, and skepticism as national characteristics is that these qualities cannot be turned off at five o’clock.” 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I could be wrong, but I don’t think many people today accept what Arthur C. Clark said here.  I would guess that even the most pious folks out there recognize that there are atheists who are morally good, who live lives of kindness, honestly, and decency.

As with most aspects of religious, however, the devout tend not to examine this subject too closely.  If they did, they’d find themselves in the position that Bertrand Russell laid out in his talk (later transcribed and made available as an essay) “Why I’m Not a Christian.” (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

From The Independent: ‘That can’t be good’: Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch spark reaction by sitting together at Super Bowl.

There are so many tragedies every day, all around us.  Some are localized and are barely worth noting. Others are huge, in terms of scope, duration, and overall impact on human civilization.

I would argue that Elon Musk’s turning out to be a despicable human being is an example of the latter.  I would say that about anyone worth $200 billion who chose not to address climate change or world hunger but decided to make the world (at least the United States) a more hateful and ignorant nation, by supporting Fox News and Donald Trump.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

As much as I’d like to see strict gun control laws here in the U.S., driving down the stats on gun-related massacres is probably a more complicated issue.

In particular, Canada (and most of the rest of the world) has a culture where other people actually matter.

The rugged individualism that many Americans feel as the core of our society has, when coupled with hate and ignorance that is being programmed into us by the right-wing, “anti-woke” media, morphed us into a nation where we’re far more concerned about our own “rights being taken away” than we are about the rights of our kids to grow up without their bodies being riddled with bullets.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

If the United States is going to elect a president with extreme right-wing values, it might as well be Nikki Haley, who appears not to have all the same criminal sociopathic characteristics as Donald Trump.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I don’t want to be part of  such a world either, but at some level, it’s forced upon us.

If you had wanted to bet me 10 years ago, that by 2023, almost half of American voters would favor a party that makes fun of caring and decent people, you would have gotten some very long odds from me.

Of all the aspects of the anti-woke GOP that I find most nauseating, one of which is the prohibition against teaching our kids about systemic racism.  In fact, I would submit, as others have as well, that forbidding teachers from exposing children to the idea of systemic racism is the best proof that systemic racism is an extremely powerful force in our lives.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I have not checked out the authenticity of this meme, but I hope it’s real.

FWIW, I have noticed that there are bloggers hired by the Fortune 500 to make points similar to this one.

To whomever wrote this:  Well played. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Yes, but keep in mind that Twain’s memorable quote applies to people of self-respect, not to fresh human garbage who succeed by preying off rotting human garbage.

That the GOP has brought the U.S. Congress to this level must never be forgotten.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
Here’s a conversation on the Chinese spy balloon.  Readers, can you help me understand this?
Reader #1:  China could collect valuable information that could not be detected by satellites. For example, spying from within the earth’s atmosphere might offer more exact resolution. Perhaps heat detection of certain buildings might permit reliable data on the number of inhabitants. Or there may be other information available at the balloon’s level and speed of which laypeople like us have no knowledge. It seem ridiculous to believe that China would launch that thing as a symbol or strategic move.
Reader #2: A government satellite has some pretty good resolution that isn’t really going to get any better from a conspicuous balloon floating by and the number of inhabitants of a building at a random moment of time as guesstimated from heat signatures isn’t really all that valuable compared to just pointing a satellite at the location and just observing who goes in and out of it. Also, satellites already have infrared capabilities.
Me: So, is there any way we as common Americans can learn what actually happened here? As someone who knows essentially nothing about the subject, I’ll accept the idea that a balloon at 60K feet isn’t going to provide much more precise information than a satellite, regardless of what it’s looking for specifically. So what was it doing there?
What did Xi Jinping reply when Biden/our Pentagon asked him that?
What did he say when we told him we were going to shoot it down?
Is there some reason we can’t have answers here?
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