If Trump’s 2020 campaign is going to succeed, it will require a huge amount of ignorance, as the Republican rallying cry is aimed to convincing voters that there is no difference between a country whose government addresses its citizens’ needs and Stalinist communism. (more…)
As discussed before, it hasn’t been a good last 75 years for philosophers. In the middle of the 20th Century, if you wanted to know the basic nature of the universe around us, you asked a philosopher, perhaps a metaphysician; now you ask an astrophysicist. Similarly, if you wanted to know how the human mind perceives the outside world, or the limits of human knowledge, you asked a philosopher, maybe an epistemologist; now you ask a neurologist. (more…)
According to this, Electric 19-seater commuter-class aircraft is the next big step in electric flight.
There is no doubt that our civilization, certainly the United States, is experiencing a rise in hate at this moment, so let’s take a look at the factors that may lie behind that phenomenon.
Russian involvement. All 17 U.S. intelligence agencies tell us that the Russians are hugely invested in campaigns, focused on both the 2016 and the upcoming 2020 elections, to polarize Americans, to pull us out of the political middle, and firmly into either the left or right. (more…)
Below is yesterday’s “poem for the day” from Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac.” There’s a lot to like here, but one thing that I want to comment on is “Don’t think that progress exists. It doesn’t.”
Well, that’s a downer, and one that I would have rejected out of hand until a few years ago, with the rise of tribalism and greed, coupled with authoritarian governments popping up all around the globe. (more…)
Scientists will be discovering new effects of global warming, most of them harmful, for an indefinite period of time into the future.
My wife, devotee of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, came across this just now, pertaining to reproductive health of broodmares, and the fact that there is an increase in still births and foal deaths, always a heart-breaking phenomenon. (more…)
Denmark’s history of growing apples and berries in public places for all its citizens to enjoy goes back more than 500 years. Now, as shown here, Ottawa and Adelaide are joining Copenhagen in making this happen in modern times. (more…)
It is true that dismissing Bernie Sanders as a “communist” reveals “profound ignorance,” but just how important a mistake is that, in a land in which almost half of the electorate believes that Trump is a honest and stable genius? The United States in the year 2020 isn’t a nation that merely dabbles in ignorance; we frolic in it; we bathe in it. (more…)
This is another of those posts inspired by the artwork of Maurizio Rega, who, as if it needs to be said, specializes in trees.
Fun facts: Trump, the only world leader who denies the theory of anthropogenic climate change has rolled back 95 different environmental regulations. But he wants to plant lots of trees, and astonishingly, bills himself as an environmentalist.
Are the following excerpts from an online survey from the NRA (National Rifle Association in the U.S.) a sincere attempt to understand Americans’ sensibilities vis-a-vis gun rights? Here are a few sample questions, along with some things to think about.
Question #1: Do you agree that the Second Amendment guarantees your individual right to own a firearm? (more…)
