We commonly think of mathematics as an objective discipline. Regardless of one’s sexual turn-ons or aesthetic sensibilities of favorite novelists, 2 + 2 still equals 4. One might think this applies to political opinions, but here, things starts to get a bit twisted. (more…)
Just a bit more than half a century ago, the right wing here in the United States was represented by our popular Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who left us with this: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. (more…)
The pic here is a good example of what psychologists refer to as functional fixity. We so strongly assume the mistake is in the array of numbers that our minds are “fixed” and we find it difficult to look elsewhere.
The turning over of a new calendar year may be a good time for us to challenge our assumptions.
Hell, maybe Trump is a good and honest person and perpetual motion is possible. OK, let’s not get carried away.
Most of us don’t need an expert in crimes against humanity to tell us that what the United States has done to 5400 children and their parents on the southern border is disgraceful. For the rest of us, let me introduce Benjamin Ferencz.
This conduct is vile and heinous. It’s sickening.
From the New York Times: In just three years, the Trump administration has diminished the role of science in policymaking while disrupting research projects nationwide. Experts say the effects may be felt for years. (more…)
What would the American political scene be like if more people had the financial resources and emotional bandwidth required to immerse themselves into it?
Think about this, for example: (more…)
New Zealand is the fifth most admired country on Earth (the list goes: Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands). It’s hard not to love a nation that seems to do everything right when it comes to taking care of its people and the planet as a whole. (more…)
As I’ve mentioned, I’m one of more than 100,000 members of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, whose purpose is to promote its approach to putting a tax on carbon called “Carbon Fee and Dividend.” The organization was formed in 2007 by Marshall Saunders, who passed away yesterday at the age of 80. He was such a terrific person that I feel compelled to reprint this, an excerpt of the death notification that I received: (more…)
I often use this space to comment on the probable trajectory that the U.S. is likely to take in global competitiveness over the coming decades. And, though I normally look at this from a number of different perspectives, the meme here really says it all. (more…)
About half of the people living in Africa do not have access to electricity, and that 50% figure rises rapidly when we look outside the urban areas. This results in poor health, limited education, large, unplanned families, and low personal productivity which means perpetual cycles of poverty. (more…)
