Popular Science Shows Up Big with Cosmos 2014--A Much Anticipated and Needed Story of Our Existence!

I watched Cosmos when I was very young and loved it to the point that I used a tape recorder to capture the audio so I could listen to the fascinating information again and again. There was so much information that I needed more time to comprehend. This was some 30 years ago, beyond the lifespan of my cheap tapes, which I've long lost. It's amazing how much more we have learned since then or in the last 50 years.

Carl Sagan popularized science, because he knew how to explain it. The current host of the 2014 series, Neil deGrasse Tyson, was inspired by Cosmos and Sagan to become an astronomer, and he's great at explaining and inspiring. Of course, it's by purpose they chose to host this new Cosmos series on the Fox network, because they're trying to reach the scientifically illiterate or those on the fence. I can see that happening with a few people who aren't willfully ignorant, because the latter have already made an emotional choice to be blind to science and evidence-based world.

Dr. Tyson, who's an agnostic, tries hard to reach the Bible readers without dismissing their unscientific views. Listen to this interview on WNYC; 
this interview  aired after the premier of Cosmos. He says it's OK to have faith and read the Bible but not as textbook. Well, good luck with that. I won't ask, if the Bible is full of contradictions, ignorance, and dead wrong about the cosmos, then how could it be God's word? Never mind...

I think it's good to introduce some scale of the cosmos, time & space, because, perhaps, people could wonder whether the creator of the universe cares about what clothes we wear, whether we perform circumcisions, what we eat on what days, etc. The universe was not made for us nor are in the center of it all. 

Amazing facts

The universe is about 13.8 billion years old. Let's compress this time into 1 year.

• Jan 1:big bang. It takes about 200 million years to "cool down" so stars and galaxies can form.
• Jan 10. New stars; Jan 13 small galaxies; March 15-our own Milky way. Star stuff recycled. 

• Plus, 6 "months later" (6 billion yrs) on Aug 31-our own sun is born. Same month the Earth is formed

•  Sept 21^st, life (not human) appears in earth.  
•   Nov 9^th life was breathing, moving, eating, responding to environment. Microbes. Sex.  Tiktaalic [see link] moves from see to land (transitional fossil). 
• Dec 28th:  Flowers 
•  Dec 30^th Dinos extinction, rise of mammals. 
• Dec 31st, 9:45 new year’s eve…. Africa. Bipedalism. 
  
  
      Last hour, last day: humans appear at 11.59, 46’’  
  
  
  • 11:59 30,000 years, first cave paintings!  Read the stars, seasons.
  • 10,000 years ago. Agriculture. Middle East. First stable societies.
  • 14 seconds to midnight: humans;  
    

    6,000years ago: writing! Save our thoughts. 5’’ ago Jesus, 3’’ Mohammed, 1’’ ago science!!!
   
• In the last 14’’ seconds –all we know about humanity.
• Last second= recorded history! All the civilizations, all the ideas, art, science, wars, tribes, leaders, religions, technology, you and I, etc…

What do US Conservatives Want? Regression Bathed in Trickle Down Piss and Freedom to be Poor, Ignorant & God-fearing!

I watched snippets of the CPAC--the largest annual gathering of conservatives--and I kept wondering how in the hell so many people fall for this bullshit. Most of it was trite exhortations about freedom, God, patriotism; labels, simplicity, and rightwingnuttery in ample supply. These people are fit for the Dark Ages. Any politician associated with this circus isn't appropriate to lead the country forward. But, that's the point: they don't want to go forward, but backward to the "good ol' days".... making a brief stop to Reagan's 1980s, and then a fast rewind to the days when unbridled capitalism ruled, when most people who got sick died, when religious morality & freedom meant discrimination, segregation, and bigotry. Yeah, that's the kind of America the conservatives want.


More often than not, the conservative disposition can be explained by a sense of a personal loss or a price to pay if the "unworthy others" receive anything from the social safety net. They don't understand that in a proper civic society everybody receives benefits. Everybody! From the very top to the bottom. More so, for those ontop, even though they don't see it that way, as if they operate in the vacuum of space--where they make their money of course. 

The following statement is, sadly, typical not only of a conservative mind but also of a college student. Most--and I include both sides of the political divide--don't know how to write a proper sentence or explain simple ideas, let alone the fundamental beliefs they hold. 

In my personal opinion, our democratic system has so many holes in it, which is leaking, causing chaos in peoples minds. With the recent reelection of Obama, there was clearly havoc that rose among people who are against him; and in good reason. Obama wants to redistribute the wealth of others to people who did not necessarily own it and he wants the government to pay for expenses for people that cannot afford it by taxing the wealthier class.  The government is basically making people rely on others to provide for them without really trying themselves, thus making this one of the laziest generations. 

I can't count the times I hear this theme from conservatives; it's part of their narrative along with misguided patriotism and inability to imagine reality. Yes, conservatives can't think in the abstract very well. That's why they may change their minds only if they experience something themselves. Have a gay son, oh, maybe it's OK. Hurricane Sandy destroys your home, oh, where's the government to bail you out? Have a retarded baby, oh, yes, how come we don't spend more to find a cure and support such. 

The conservatives have opposed the abolition of slavery, desegregation, equal rights for women, civil rights, personal reproductive choice, science, access to voting, Social Security, Medicaid, food stamps, clean air, consumer protection, science (yes, even science irks them!), etc, etc, oh, and electrification!  All those things that make our lives better and are the norm in every advanced liberal-social-democracy!  But, listen to the CPAC speakers and it's clear what horrible society we'd have if they got their way. Of course you have to part the smoke & mirrors of misguided patriotism, and the empty slogans about freedom. On your knees, you pitiful, wretched creature.  

 A Typical Conservative Prescription Bad for Your Health

 Gail Collins in this NYT editorial shows how the conservatives think and operate. If you think it doesn't matter, think again. Elections have consequences, from the state and local to the national and the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Texas is moving on to Step 2. As of September, it will require the clinics, which perform only simple early-term abortions, to have all the equipment, space and special air and water filters necessary to do a surgical procedure like a hip transplant. Miller determined the cost of complying would be in the neighborhood of $3 million per clinic.

There’s been a vague attempt to cloak all these new laws as health care imperatives, but, really, the cover is pretty thin. During the debate on the Texas bill, State Senator Dan Patrick told his colleagues to ask themselves: “How would God vote tonight if he were here?”

I am mentioning Patrick because this week he came in first for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, campaigning as “a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third.” He has also been desperately busy ginning up anti-immigration sentiment; this is the guy who claimed illegal immigrants were threatening Texas with “third world diseases” like leprosy. The lieutenant governor, by the way, is possibly the most powerful public official in the state.

Well, turnout for the primaries was very low. It was freezing down there on Tuesday. Once again, we leap at a chance to blame the weather.

The social right has been waving the banner of religious freedom lately. What that generally means is the right to impose one’s theology on other people. Particularly, it seems, when sex is involved.

For instance, the Supreme Court is scheduled to decide, in its next big Obamacare case, whether the craft-store chain Hobby Lobby can refuse to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives on religious grounds. Hobby Lobby actually already covers its employees’ birth control pills. Its owners just object to a few things, like intrauterine devices, because they have religious convictions against preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. Scientists disagree that’s what an IUD does, but what the heck? It’s their theology.

The Texas conservatives are not alone. Again, take a look at the CPAC conference [here's their official site so you can watch their videos]where all the major conservative and Republican leaders attend and make speeches about the kind of society they want. 

Lincoln's Decision to Use Silver to Kill Vampires & Warewolves Instead of Buying Slaves Cost the Nation Dearly! (Enjoy Your Black History Month)

We like to believe what makes us feel good; it's called confirmation bias. So, why look any further? Oh, I don't know, it might be OK to keep in touch with reality, because understanding reality may have something to do with the decisions we make in real life.

How about history, the past? Bygones let them be bygones. There's no harm in revising history to fit a narrative we promote in contemporary politics. Racism, bigotry? All in the past. No need to have legal protections for people who may have had problems in the past--as the conservatives on the Supreme Court now tell us when they rule that racism is practically over, and that uninhibited access to voting, especially in the South and in GOP-dominated areas is good and dandy.

Personally, I find willful ignorance annoying. Those who spread stupidity and lies--like almost everyone at Faux News--are doing a disservice to our country. If I were to use their rhetoric, they're like Hitler holocausting history, and committing treason for betraying our country's noble mission statement, all men are created equal, and of-by-for the people.

 Revisionist history of the worst kind. The bullcrap of Faux News

 Just before Black History month ends (February), the vile opinionators (like that ass judge Napolitano in this video) at Fox News attempt to distort reality again. Jon Stuart's show has the perfect comeback.

President(s)' Day Thoughts.

President(s)' Day today honoring... well, whatever states want, though the federal holiday is about George Washington who was born not today (2/17th but on the 22nd). Several states mark the occasion differently. Guess what? Lincoln's birthday (2/12) is included in this except in the South. I wonder why. So the third Monday in February is set for "president(s)" to sell all sorts of consumer stuff and some patriotic version of history.

The General with a maid in his headquarters, Newburgh, NY

I feel patriotic, so stop the caustic emails. But, this doesn't prevent me from trying to learn about the truth--as much as it can be ascertained--and examine causes and effects. Let's start by asking, what is patriotism? And, where, why did it start? The notion of patriotism begins with the notion of patris--country. So, how did the British citizens in the 13 colonies see themselves in the 1770s?

Musket warfare

Under the mercantile economic system, there was a zero-sum game: for every winner it had to have a loser. The colonies were a source of wealth for the then empires, and under imperial policy, the colonies were there to exploit the local resources and populations for the benefit of the mother country. It was forbidden for the colonies to trade with anyone else. But, that didn't prevent the American colonists from breaking the law to enrich themselves. When Britain turned the screws, they rebelled. Yes, the economic elites in the colonies had an economic reason for self-governance and thus a revolution.

The Tea Party rebellion? Well, it was triggered by Britain's decision to give the East India Co. the monopoly of the tea trade, thus crippling American economic interests, not withstanding that the EIC tea was cheaper and of better quality. The colonies had enjoyed a relative independence to conduct their own "internal" affairs and the New World had unique conditions, like the reality of the expanding frontier. All these factors made for a different breed of a citizen. 
 

Harbrouck House, New Paltz, NY.

Yet, even at the break of the revolution, most Americans in the colonies [let's not forget they were other "Americans" in the continent too] were British citizens. Even the Declaration of Independence demonstrates that the colonists believed they were denied their British rights of life, liberty and property, and, therefore, had a right, indeed a duty, to replace a government after a "long train of abuses."

The ideology of liberalism with its "natural rights for every man" that came out of the Enlightenment was used as the foundation of the regime of the new country to be. But, it would take a long time to turn those Americans into patriotic United States of America citizens. Patriotism primarily evolved along with the formation of the modern state in the last 2-3 centuries. Allegiance was to one's own tribe, ethnic or religious group, and later to a city-state or a larger state, like New York. Most Americans then identified their loyalties to their particular states, not the US. Fully 1/3 of the colonists remained loyal to Britain; most were expelled, many were killed, a few remained.

Class System, Order of the Universe

The belief that the universe had an ordained, divine order was widespread. A rigid class system prevailed too. Yes, it was possible for merchants to elbow their way into the upper caste--like the despised nouveau riche by the "old money" aristocracy--but everybody "knew their place." Old Europe operated on this scheme, so it's amazing that the ideas of liberalism sprouted and even used as ideals for a new state/country. Of course, anyone who has watched docudramas of the last 200 years or has visited the mansions of the rich knows how society worked those days.

The elites often went to war against each other for power and wealth, but they had their code of honor which meant that death would be visiting primarily the lower-class soldiers and civilians. It was against military honor to shoot at officers of the opposing army! George Washington could have been killed by British snipers on a couple occasions but he was spared because he was an officer. The Americans didn't shoot at British officers either...  Well, some American riflemen, often despised by both sides, broke this code by indiscriminately killing British infantry and officers. Nowadays, taking out the enemy command is standard military strategy; not back then, which is incredible if you think about it. The thinking, I'm going to let the enemy generals be so their army can be more effective against me and my side, is totally crazy unless....

At first, it seems natural that the French would side and aid the American colonists in their war of independence. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as they say. But, it was a troubling decision since rebelling against the crown was a no-no among all royal houses of Europe. Yes, royal factions could engage each other, even in civil war, but challenging the notion of monarchy was evil. 

George Washington could have been king after the revolution, though to his credit he did not wish it and admonished those who proposed a monarchy for the new country. While in Newburgh, NY, he communicated with many domestic leaders and urged for a constitutional republic. The constitution of 1787 provided a blueprint for a federal country, which is still evolving today. Many of the good changes and ideas come from the top, the educated elites, but also as the result of bloody conflicts.

The country the presidents we're celebrating today knew is much different today, and I think for the better. It's OK to appreciate the effort and the good ideas of past leaders, but I don't think we need to idealize-idolize them. Some were very progressive while most were trapped in their time & culture. There's no divine order in human society; it's what we make of ourselves, our understanding of the important issues, and the policies we can muster for a good life for every citizen, indeed a human being.

Fictional rendition of the Delaware river crossing (note the "U.S. flag")

Darwin Day: February 12th. A Celebration of the father of Evolution and the Scientific Method

One of the strongest scientific theories we have is that of evolution, whose fundamental tenets have been confirmed by several scientific disciplines, from archaeology to forensics, and from genetics to geology and biology.

Recently there was a debate on the ..validity of evolution between Bill Nye and Ken Ham. [link] I'm all for reasonable debates but when there are not standards of evidence and reason, I think it's futile to argue with the creationist. I've done it on occasion on panels and other events. I now bring with me the "magic box" so I can--for the purpose of demonstration--make any claim I want, no matter how ridiculous, and then point to the box to say, the answer/reason/method are in that box!

Those who refute evolution point to their own magic box, the holy books, to argue that all they need to know is in that box, which, conveniently, has the inscription that everything within it is absolutely true!

..

Charles Darwin was born on February 12th, 1809, and 50 years later he published the ground-breaking theory of evolution. [Here's a great BBC documentary on Darwin's Tree of Life with David Attenborough]

When I was little I couldn't understand the concept of billions of years. I looked at those over 30 and thought they were too old! It was the time I believed in Santa Claus and in superheroes with fantastical supernatural powers. Then I slowly began to learn all sorts of wonderful stuff about history, science, and critical thinking. Eventually I was exposed to the theory of evolution. Eventually this led  me to ask one of my teachers when the soul entered the human body in this long chain of changing forms--from the very primitive to modern humans--a question I've asked anyone who tries to reconcile evolution with creationism; I haven't gotten a satisfactory answer.

The teachings of religion used to be the source to explain everything. Science has replaced this, at least, for those who have answered the question, which knowledge is more reliable? There are gaps or unknowns, but a scientific method is the best tool we have to discover and understand the world around us. It's a matter of self-confidence to accept notions like, I don't know, and, it remains to be seen, rather than opting for a "sure thing" that's based on irrational conjecture at best.

It's amazing that it took so long for humans to come up with a rather obvious theory of adaptation, survival, and changing forms in response to environmental conditions. Since the domestication of animals and plants, our ancestors could see evolution taking place in their lifetimes, yet, they stuck with the religious notions that everything was designed in its present form! 

These remnants of thought-inhibitors are still erecting obstacles to progress today. How else can you explain the current debate about contraception? The bishops say contraception is bad, because they figured out that what the maker of the universe wants, so they're part of the debate and given political considerations! Oyvey.

I tip my proverbial hat to Charles Darwin for having the courage (to go against his family and the prevailing social views) and the intellectual fortitude to formulate such an important scientific theory--by observation, testing, factual investigation, reasoning--and advance important knowledge for humanity.


Science depends on people who understand its importance and on people who value it so they're willing to support such an endeavor. I'm saddened though that we have not succeeded in teaching the most important thing science is to every person in the US, and indeed the world: skepticism, rational thinking, and inquiry.

Goodbye Pete Seeger. Many Thanks to this Great American Patriot

At the Strawberry Festival, Beacon 2013

The machine that kills hate! Pete's banjo

Sad news today that a symbol of civic activism and engaged citizenship has died. Yet, Pete Seeger lived a full life, inspiring several generations of Americans (and not only) to affect change to benefit the poor and the middle class. I met the man several years ago, when I moved to the Hudson valley and kept bumping into him at various events. He lived in Beacon, NY, where he had built his own cabin decades ago.

I wasn't really surprised the see a 90+ year old man to lead one march of the Occupy Wall Street when that movement sprouted a few years ago in NYC. It was Pete's kind of thing to support such causes.

I took this picture at the Strawberry Festival in Beacon, 2012

A self-described communist (with a small "c") and a people's advocate, he was often persecuted by various authorities in the US. We like to think that our country always had the best democracy and copious amounts of freedom, but it ain't true. Pete was given one year sentence for contempt of Congress after he refused to cooperate with Congress's witch hunt of those engaged in "un-American activities." Later this sentence was overturned. But, he was blacklisted and

"Backstage" but always ready to perform

barred from radio and tv for many years because of his political beliefs and activism. No matter, he continued to perform all over the country to big audiences. At it is often the case, radicals of one era are venerated later and recognized for their contributions. In 2009, Pete performed at the inauguration of Barack Obama.


The Hudson river is one of the great rivers in the US. I live by the beautiful Hudson so I take the time to look at it every day from my house, and of course sit by it for long periods at various locations up and down, on either bank. Pete loved the river and helped many efforts to clean it up. He supported the Clearwater Sloop--a boat and an organization devoted to the preservation of the river. The Clearwater Festival takes place in Croton on Hudson, usually in June; two days of music and awareness. Great place to be. Pete was there last summer. Pete liked to tell lots of stories and I'll always treasure those and our brief chats about political activism.


We'll miss him. 


*Click on the pictures above to make them bigger. I retain the rights to these pictures.

The Problem We All Live With. Some Thoughts on This Martin Luther King Day, 2014

Norman Rockwell's "The Problem We All Live With"

On the occasion of the MLK day, I've read and heard several speeches of the slain civil rights leader and, of course, most of us today wonder why American society was so opposed to equal rights, or more specifically to blacks having equal treatment under the law and equal opportunity like anybody else.

It's conservatism! Being conservative is a disposition--an attitude towards change and something new. Conservatives exist in all political parties. This was particularly true in the 1950s and 1960s in the Democratic party. Many of the opponents to the Civil Rights acts, most from the old South, left the party and joined became Dixiecrat Republicans. President Lyndon Johnson said that the South would be lost for his party after he signed the CRA. It's been certainly true, but a couple states like Virginia and North Carolina may be trending the other way now.

There's a difference in disposition between conservatives and liberal-progressives. I think we have a better imagination and we are more confident over all. Why is imagination necessary? To evaluate abstract scenarios, to imagine change, whereas a conservative prefers the "tried and true," tradition, familiarity and can't imagine a different world. Blacks having same rights as whites? Oh, goodness, traditional society would collapse, a way of live (which included either slavery or later discrimination and separation of the races) of the old was preferable to a new order.

PBS's documentary, Slavery By Another Name, is a must-watch *

Confidence? Well, sameness is comforting. Confirmation bias, solidarity of thought and action is soothing to a conservative.  We all have this trait to some extent. We like to see our choices, thoughts, beliefs, customs, etc, confirmed; it validates our life...   Yet, some of us are willing to accept correction; we're open to revision, and seek the truth even if it's uncomfortable. Confidence doesn't mean stubbornness of a closed mind, but it means that the new, the different doesn't necessarily make us uncomfortable. And we can image a world with all races, creeds, and sexual orientation.

Isn't the same approach and the also the difference between the conservatives and liberals when it comes to same-sex marriage? My heterosexual makeup isn't threatened by homosexuality. My heterosexual marriage or relationship isn't threatened by homosexual unions or marriages. The right to marry a person of your choosing is having equal opportunity and treatment under the law. End of story (for a liberal).

Speaking the Tongue of the Natives

MLK was a great leader and even a better orator and thus motivated lots of people to meaningful action for civil rights. He spoke like a preacher, which, for me, isn't my favorite elocution. I don't want to be preached at. I don't want to be told that a certain action is good because it has the blessings of a god, or the God.  However, MLK spoke the language of religion in a deeply religious land, whereas both sides had used religious language to justify their positions.

But, many people on both sides were practicing confirmation bias--using the Bible to justify their positions. Guess what? The Bible has a little for every one. Am I glad that MLK's Bible quoting and religious messaging worked to help bring about change? Certainly! Because, this was a much-needed change. 

However, it should be noted that the Bible condones slavery! [source]  I would expect a messiah to preach against the evils of slavery, but Jesus didn't. The Gospels in the New Testament don't advocate for a slave-free world. On the contrary. Women's status? Subservient. We're talking about divine morality here. The word of God, good then, good today, and unalterable in the future!

Anyway, we have a long way to go despite our advances, many of which have been forcefully opposed by conservatives of all types. We're still very primitive in how act, think, and often treat each other. 

 
 * This PBS documentary examines the conditions of servitude that existed until the second part of the 20th century in the US. It's definitely worth a watch.

Is Net Neutrality Dead? Who Says You Should Have the Freedom to Move About Freely? Stop Complaining! We Live in the Most Free Country in the World!

This past Tuesday a US Court of Appeals closed the door to the free internet and gave a huge victory to the telcos, which now could control the flow of information and commerce on cyberworld. But, this situation can be reversed if enough citizens mobilize and pressure the FCC and Congress to change this. Net Neurality ought to be the platform for the internet; common carriers shouldn't be monopolies or oligopolies.

Amazingly this is an issue--for net neutrality--that has attracted a very diverse coalition, from the conservative to the liberal side, because most people appreciate the equal access to the world wide web, without restrictions. In the past, there has been such large coalition that beat back the telcos efforts, but due to the lax and politicized FCC, the issue wasn't settled in favor of the consumer and for the citizens.

It is about good citizenship when anyone could go to any site at the same speed, through the same toll road. I could even argue why access to the internet should be completely free--as it is in some cities who have such networks. Nowadays, the internet is essential to finding a job, being informed, communicate, organize, know what our government is doing, and enhance the notion & practice of citizenship.

Tolls, bridges, roads

Imagine if a bridge is built, especially with government initiative, subsidies, and other beneficial regulations. Now the bridge is private and the owner can allow certain vehicles/people to cross it. And, that if you're allowed on the bride, you're put on a very sloooooooooow lane. Oh, yes, much, much slower that any other place in the advanced industrialized world. [the US lags way behind other countries in internet speed & infrastructure]

Let the free market operate, is the mantra of many talking heads on Fox and CNBC (and I'm sure elsewhere). How would companies invest if they don't know how much they'll make because of regulation?... they add. Bullshit, I say. Unregulated capitalism leads to monopolies (NO competition), child (slave) labor, no consumer protection, etc. It's been tried before you know. Any serious advanced country regulates the market place. American sports franchises do this to ensure competition. The NFL divides its huge media profits in 32 equal ways--a communist practice if you asked me. But, it works!

Imagine if you were told that once you paid the toll to get on the highway, you couldn't just take any exit, or that some exits cost more than others. Or, that you could travel on certain roads as a package. You know, like when you have the choices (not) of cable tv. It's an oligopoly at best--whereas there are two choices available. Where I've lived in the last several decades when cable tv was available, I had NO choice. One provider, and an expensive one at that.

Free Press has more information and course of action, but be alert in the near future. We have to retake this freedom from the telcos, so please mobilize and engage in active citizenship. It is about freedom, political and consumer. Everybody who uses the internet is affected.

Arctic Vortex Has Laid a Frozen Blanket in the Northeast. However, It Has no Effect on the Frozen Brains of Conservatives.

In the last several days it's been very cold around here, but it gets my blood boiling when the willfully ignorant keep arguing that this situation disproves climate change/global warming. Of course, the usual suspects are conservative voices, like their hired gun, Fox News, which has no credibility other than to reliably serve spiked coolaid to the already converted. 

Jon Stewart effectively mocks the stupid opinions of Fox News

When 97% of climate scientists say that the globe's weather has been adversely affected by human activities, it's most likely true; and it's prudent to act now in order to save our own species. How about the other 3% of doubting scientists? Many of them are paid by the fossil industry and rely on dubious studies or may have a good counter-argument. But, what should a prudent person do? Which advice should they take? At any rate, we cannot afford to be wrong in case our planet goes into a convulsion because of our activities. The opposite scenario, if true, doesn't have the same consequences.

Much of the United States was in the grips of the arctic vortex, or whatever voodoo magic libruls have conjured up.

 

As far as I'm concerned, I do not like the cold, but I don't like extreme heat & humidity either. Besides, with cold weather, even this deep freeze, there are remedies for most of us who can generate warmth and dress in warm layers of clothing. Personally, I can fight this cold, though it limits my activities outdoors.

On the other hand, extreme heat and humidity, say close to or over 100F makes it unbearable. Many hot days are very uncomfortable, almost suffocating. I read somewhere that subconsciously people prefer the very hot to very cold because of other associations, like vacations, longer daylight time, etc. OK. I'll buy that. 

Here are a few pictures I took in my neck of the woods in the last week or so. I checked today, and there's lots more ice everywhere. My fingers almost got a frostbite while taking these pictures as the wind was gusting at 30-50 mph.

The Hudson river, looking south. It's more frozen now.

Ft Montgomery area, where the river is relatively narrow, thus heaving a stronger flow, but still there's lots of ice.

The widest part of the Hudson river, looking north.

It's going to warm up in the next few days. Tomorrow it'll be around the freezing mark and go up a bit over the weekend. I missed my chance to throw a hot water in the air to see it vaporize. Ah, well. Stay warm.

Happy Holidays 2013

Merry Xmas! There, I said it. And, happy holidays to all. This is a nice time of the year to be spent with friends and family, as there are several common days off. I hope you had a nice winter solstice (Dec. 21st). Festivus, Humanlight, New Year, Kwanza, and whatever else you desire to celebrate may all come with good times and health! Let's eat, drink, hang out with the good people around us, and enjoy.

Humans have tried to make sense of the natural world but in the absence of knowledge they made up stories about spirits, gods, and thought they knew the order of the universe through revelation. Slowly, we grew up--well, some people who asked questions, sought evidence, applied reason, and were able to revise in the face of conformity and tradition.

Why so many humans are still in the dark ages after dawn of the Enlightenment is amazing. We have a modern state, with relative stability, affluence, education & access to information, plus a good amount of scientific knowledge, and yet, so many choose to live by edicts and observations of small-minded ancestors of the bronze age!  Why isn't obvious that the god in the Bible, Koran, and any other "holy text" is so outdated.  It's so clear that what's in those books came from the mind of people who were ignorant, superstitious, homophobic, genocidal, misogynistic, slave holders, and fearful of nature.

It bothers me to high heaven when modern people have their opinions informed by those ancient texts. And, they draw some perverse morality from those. The vile rant of the clan leader of Duck Dynasty, the reactions of conservatives against same-sex marriage (the same cons who applaud Uganda's capital punishment for homosexuals), are all informed by passages in the Bible.  Ridiculous, simply ridiculous.

But, I love the federal judge's ruling that Utah's banning of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. This is a strike at the heart of a very religious state and against the efforts of the Mormon church that has spend lots of money, even out of state, to defeat equal treatment under the law. It is about equality. Progressives aren't threatened by this change of tradition, only the conservatives are. 

Back in 2004, I wrote in this blog that there would be a clash between the progressive forces and the reactionary conservative/religious forces. I hoped that the former would prevail, and I'm happy to see that it's happening. Not at the pace I'd like, but we've come a long way in the last quarter of a century, indeed in some 10 years since I wrote that post.

So, let's celebrate our progress and look forward to a new year ahead when we can do much more; we do have to keep fighting for a system that delivers for the 99%, and for a society that promotes the good life, access to opportunity and conditions that allow for an individual to fulfill their own potential.

Best,

George

Ricky Gervais: Beliefs Don't Change the Facts, Facts Should Change Beliefs. Happy Festivus!

I've been caught up with lots of work as this year is coming to an end, or as some of us are looking for a new light on December 21st when the winter solstice takes place and the days begin to get longer.

New York is bracing for a big snow storm over the weekend, so we will, most likely, have white xmas. Over at Faux News they're obsessed with white Jesus and white Santa, because, hey, you've got to respect the facts and history as we like it. Megyn Kelly is another conservative ignorant puppet. When she took Hannity's slot some said she was not as rabid. Yes, amid the nonsense, the willful distortions, and cranking of the propaganda megaphone, she had acknowledged a few facts here and there. Like when she called Ohio for Obama in 2012 after everyone else had done except Karl Rove. Wow. Maybe she should be given some kind of award for this!

The documentary, The Unbelievers, opens in NYC on Friday, on a very limited schedule in a few cities. I've seen bits of the Dawkins-Krauss tour around the world promoting the scientific view and pounding ignorance & prejudice. "Beliefs don't change the facts, facts should change beliefs," as Ricky Gervais is quoted.

Of course you've heard of the newest fake holiday, Festivus, but like xmas, Santa and his elves, Kwanza, Saturnalia, etc, people should be free to celebrate, create meaningful events and ceremonies without the state (government) discriminating or favoring one over the other. In the rotunda of the Florida state capitol--where the legislature designated it as a public space--now stands a Festivus pole made out of pvc plastic and empty beer cans!  I love it. [Here's the NPR story] Oh, and there's a pending application from a Satanic cult to put up something next to the nativity scene!  The Wicka should also be represented. I think the Greeks in Florida should set up shop there too. Zeus has been so maligned and ignored. It's a shame that the god of gods who presided over the birth of western civilization not be part of every public worship display.