Asimov with Moyers
Oct 7, 2011 Life, Science, The World
While fiddling around on YouTube the other day I came upon this set of videos. Awesome discussion, especially about education and learning styles, and especially given the date of the conversation.
Everyone is different. Love it.
This is Good
I admit I’m not sure what I should feel about it all. I want to be happy that Osama bin Laden is dead, and I am. It is a strange thing, however, to be happy that someone is dead. It gives me, perhaps, a very small sense of what it felt like to be alive in the US during World War II and the subsequent years. Still, there are ugly things that float in that stream of vengeance, things I don’t want to have in my psyche.
On the other hand, I saw a Mark Twain quote tweeted a bit ago that read “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.” This I get.
Sure, there will be someone to carry on for Osama bin Laden. Of course the “War on Terror” is still a false war, one that can never be declared over. This is not relevant to the issue. You don’t for example, let a child cheat on a test merely because you know that stopping one cheater is meaningless, that another will just grow in his place. We don’t let weeds grow in our yards merely because we know that removing them leaves room for another. Removing Hitler from Germany in 1938 would not have changed the environment that created and fostered him–who is to say that WW II wasn’t inevitable? And yet, I think it would be unusual to find a knowledgeable person who wouldn’t agree to give it a go without Hitler if they could go back in time and make it so.
There will always be conflict among humans, and as long as there is conflict there will be environments for terrorists and rebel freedom-fighters and whatever.
So-the-hell-what?
Today I’ve looked at video of celebrations, and I’ve heard the chants at games “USA, USA, USA!” and I’ve been filled with many emotions. Mostly I remember the events of that morning of September 11, and the aftermath. And in the end I think this is good. Yes. This is very good.
And They Said Ray Guns Were Hokey…
May 14, 2010 The World
It’s all just a matter of engineering now, eh?
Finding Fault
Oct 3, 2008 The World
Yes, I suppose it’s about $700B of corporate greed. And yes, I agree it’s not a good idea to reward bad decisions by paying off the big-wigs who made them. But I think that’as all missing the point.
I was talking to a co-worker the other day and I said: You know, I really don’t care how we get out of it. I just know we need to do something, and it needs to work. But what I want to know is this: who in the government is responsible? Is this really Bush thing? Did it start with congress? If so, tell me which congress folks. Are the culprits appointed? Who are these overseers and what were they doing?
We agreed that it would be nice to know these things.
All the fingers seem to be pointing to Bush–a lame duck president who isn’t well-liked at present, and for some pretty good reasons. But is he at fault here? Is it his administration?
I wanted to know, and neither one of us could really answer the question. So we agreed we were basically just angry.
Then Lisa sent me this: this.
I’m sure there will be more, but this makes me take some of the things the Dems have been saying with a few more grains of salt than usual.
I am, by the way, a currently undecided voter who is watching this race with quite a bit of spectator interest.
