The Kansas City Chiefs lost the AFC championship game last night to New England Patriots. For the first time, I felt so disappointed by this. It’s the negated game winning interception caused by a silly offside. It’s the sequential 3rd down conversions by Pats using essentially the same plays. It’s the sad ending in OT without any offensive play. It’s the ineffective clock management to give Pats too much and us too little. more »
If ever the cause of civil war comes up in conversations and the reason “States’ Rights” was put forth as the main cause. Here is an answer to how ridiculous that idea is. In 1861, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens gave a speech12 that laid out the fundamental differences between the constitutions of the Union and the Confederacy. One of the key difference (indeed he called it the “cornerstone”) is concerning the evil of slavery. more »
SHE by H. Rider Haggard Many people have read Jules Verne, but this book is the first time I’ve heard of this near-contemporary of Verne that wrote a fair number of fantastical adventure stories. It’s not high fantasy, but a mix of “voodoo” magic and the English gentlemen going for a safari. Kinda the basis of the modern Indiana Jones stories. As expected the language used is a bit archaic and takes more effort to read. more »
‘Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”’
“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.”
Isaac Asimov
Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
A Short History of Progress (2005) by Ronald Wright (sometimes misquoted to John Steinbeck)
Lock In By John Scalzi A sci-fi / police crime drama book I read recently. It’s an extremely readable book and hard to put down once I started reading. I finished it in 2 readding sessions. The book sets a background where a disease has taken over many millions of people all over the world. For some patients , this disease causes them to remain in a pseudocoma state. Thankful, our technology has advanced enough where these individuals can have a life using a surrogate - either a humanoid robot or a compatible person, known as an integrator. more »
The Home Front This is the third Audible Original I listened to 1. I enjoyed this series immensely. The intro for this series said “The Home Front: Life in America During World War II takes listeners into the lives of Americans at home who supported the war effort and sustained the country during wartime.” This is true, but the perspective of the series is quite different. There is a strong emphasis on “the home front” from a social issue perspective. more »