Gliese 581g Planet Gliese 581g is one of six orbiting Gliese 581, an M (red) dwarf star about 20 light years from Earth. Steven S. Vogt et al. identified the planet after 11 years of observation. Citation Steven S. Vogt et al., The Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: A 3.1 M Planet in the Habitable Zone of [...]
Categories: Science
Tagged: exoplanet, Gliese 581, Gliese 581g, habitable zone, M dwarf, red dwarf, Steven S. Vogt
Republican rural states and Democratic urban states ─ so obvious that we forget Kathleen Parker’s column today focused on the differences in mindset between urban and rural places. It’s a good reminder of why our citizenry’s political divides are intractable. If you live in a large urban area, chances are you are accustomed to lots [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: blue state, freedom, Kathleen Parker, overpopulation, population density, red state, resources, rural, urban, When do rules for the common good cross the line?
Subtleties in natural selection go beyond simple “survival of the fittest” Altruistic behavior in human beings has been the subject of evolutionary study for some time. A form of the same has been discovered in Escherichia coli: Here we follow a continuous culture of Escherichia coli facing increasing levels of antibiotic and show that the [...]
Tagged: altruism, Bacterial charity work leads to population-wide resistance, E. coli, Escherichia coli, evolution, Henry H. Lee, kinship selection, natural selection, survival of the fittest
The more it stays the same Originally an historian, and now in my seventh decade, I have been impressed with how institutional inertia outweighs democratic inputs at almost every turn. Editorialist Ross Douthat wrote yesterday in regard to the Tea Party’s chances of effecting a national policy shift: It wouldn’t be the first time a [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Afghanistan, fiscal responsibility, Gitmo, institutional inertia, Iraq, Obama, Ross Douthat, Tea Party, The Seduction of the Tea Partiers
Former Vice President Dick Cheney was arguably wrong about many things ─ but not always (and that is important to recognize) Bob Woodward’s new book, Obama’s Wars, apparently exposes conflict and an unsettling “split the difference” attitude within the Commander in Chief’s conduct of the Afghanistan war. Even last year, Dick Cheney urged the President [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Afghanistan, Bob Woodward, Can a president lead with Woodward wathcing?, Dick Cheney, dithering, Kathleen Parker, Obama's Wars
There must be something in our water The Republican Party’s “The Pledge to America” is being dissected in news and opinion pieces. It stands out for its perfidious flight from reality. Paul Krugman’s take is representative and succinct: Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the [...]
Categories: Economy
Tagged: Downhill With the G.O.P., Paul Krugman, The Pledge to America
We Boomers may not have been such an awful generation, after all Michael Kinsley, a senior editor at The Atlantic, came up with a novel perspective of the post-War generation. He contrasted Boomers with their parents, whom Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation.” Extracts from Kinsley’s essay include: It was the Boomers, not the Greats, [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: Baby Boomers, civil rights, debt, environmentalism, Michael Kinsley, The Great Generation, The Least We Can Do, Tom Brokaw, Vietnam
Editor-in-chief of Make magazine knows a bit about education Mark Frauenfelder, editor-in-chief of Make magazine, wrote a short and persuasive article in The Atlantic about the value of hands-on education for kids (and pretty much everyone else). The ideal educational environment for kids, observes Peter Gray, a professor of psychology . . . is one [...]
Categories: Education
Tagged: Mark Frauenfelder, School for Hackers
Creatively chosen writing or oratorical themes sometimes illuminate puzzling phenomena ─ good stuff for effective opening or closing arguments Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen today took an entertaining, perhaps accurate, shot at the seeming insanity of the Republican Party’s leadership today. His opinion editorial revolves around the idea that the Party has been bewitched. Cohen [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Republicans under a Spell, Richard Cohen
Secular-oriented government appears to be slipping away Damon Linker, writing in the Washington Post, proposed that political candidates be asked four questions directed at eliciting their perspective of religion’s effect on their ability to govern. Paraphrased, Dr. Linker’s questions are: Would religious doctrines conflict with political duties? What if a church edit disagreed with the [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: A religious test all our candidates should take, absolutist, candidates, Damon Linker, disenfranchise, morality, religion, secular