1776: He plays the violin
An evening pause: What was happening while Thomas Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, according to Broadway and Hollywood.
Author: Robert Zimmerman
A high school production of To Kill a Mockingbird cancelled due to political correctness
Freedom of speech alert: A high school production of To Kill a Mockingbird was cancelled because of the play includes the word “nigger.” The absurdity of this is incredible. Not only was this how people spoke during the time period described in the book, Harper Lee’s book was central in bringing about the end to racial discrimination.
ACLU suing NJ Transit for firing worker who burned Koran at protest
Good news for freedom: The ACLU is suing NJ Transit for its firing of a worker because he burned Koran at a protest
Update on Mount Merapi eruption
More on the continuing eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia. Key quote:
The Volcano Mitigation and Geological Disaster Agency warned of worse in store as magma pushed towards the surface from depths of 6-8km, compared with a maximum 2km deep when the mountain previously erupted in 2006. “This is the scenario I dislike the most, because the deepest magma is pushing up now,” said the agency’s chief, Surono. “The eruptions haven’t stopped, the tremors are getting stronger and one big explosion could be the result. I’ve never seen it act like this. We don’t know what to expect.”
The Great Dictator
An evening pause: Charlie Chaplin, making glorious fun of Hitler and all egomanical dictators, in The Great Dictator (1940).
Election Result Could Increase Pressure on NASA Budget
More bad news for NASA’s future: There are more indications in the House that the election results will increase the pressure to cut NASA’s budget.
Cassini goes into safe mode
Cassini went into safe mode on Tuesday, November 2nd. At the moment engineers expect it to take at least another week to get the spacecraft back to normal.
Volcano eruption in Indonesia
The worst volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia in a century has gotten worse.
Discovery’s launch is postponed until no sooner than November 30
Discovery’s launch is now officially postponed until no sooner than November 30.
Thor’s well
California – the Coming Collapse
Another government budget disaster: California – the coming collapse.
Bankruptcy of U.S. government “mathematical certainty” says banker
The former CEO of one of the nation’s largest banks says that unless the federal government gets its budget under control, bankruptcy is a “mathematical certainty.” I especially like this quote from the CEO, John Allison, in describing the past history of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack:
“I was on a committee, a Financial Services Roundtable, for nine years trying to do something about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,” said Allison. “You couldn’t help but see it coming,” he said. “You ran the numbers, particularly the last several years, and it was mathematically certain Freddie and Fannie were going bankrupt.”
“We met with Congress. We met with [House Financial Services Chairman] Barney Frank and [Senate Banking Chairman] Chris Dodd and they absolutely wouldn’t see it,” said Allison.